Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans had a Hall of Fame induction to remember last night (Fri., July 5, 2019) from inside The Palms as a California earthquake shook the Las Vegas venue.
The 6.9 quake originated near Ridgecrest, Calif., at around 8:16 p.m. PT and made its way to Vegas. Right about the same time, Evans was delivering his speech to be inducted into the UFC’s Hall of Fame. Evans had to pause his speech due to the shaking and ad-lib one of the most important moments in his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) career.
“Oh … it’s an earthquake,” shouted out Evans (shown above courtesy of ESPN MMA). “Oh, man – I feel it. Yeah. Wooo … OK. Earthquake, baby. All right. Hey – that’s me bringing the heat. That’s me bringing the heat.”
While Evans was likely hoping to bring the house during his induction into the UFC Hall of Fame’s modern wing he probably didn’t expect to delivery something so ground-breaking. But considering the 39-year-old New Yorker made a living out of split-second decisions and timely defense his reaction to the quake shouldn’t come as a surprise.
The earthquake itself is the second recorded in the Ridgecrest area in the past week, as a 6.4 quake struck just a few days ago. It was the largest to hit the Southern California area in the past 20 years until last night’s quake, felt by Evans all the way out Vegas, surpassed it.
Some hell of a Hall of Fame induction, huh?