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Rashad Evans Explains MMA Return: “For Me To Compete Is My Reward”

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans is humble ahead of his return to MMA at an upcoming Eagle FC event next month.

Evans will compete in his first fight back on Jan. 28 against a to-be-determined opponent. Eagle FC is the promotion t…

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans is humble ahead of his return to MMA at an upcoming Eagle FC event next month.

Evans will compete in his first fight back on Jan. 28 against a to-be-determined opponent. Eagle FC is the promotion that former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is the lead promoter of, and this will be the first Eagle event on U.S. soil in Miami, FL.

Evans retired in 2018 after a string of losses to some of the best contenders at light heavyweight and middleweight. His return to MMA may be surprising to some after Evans hinted at a possible transition to boxing against either Logan or Jake Paul.

During a recent interview with SiriusXM, Evans explained what his motivation is ahead of his highly-anticipated return to the cage.

“I’m not crazy, I know what this is and what this is about,” Evans said. “It doesn’t take away the significance of it. Sometimes we get to the mindset where we’re like ‘if I’m not chasing the belt, then I’m not chasing anything’. But for me, to compete is my reward. For me to do it in a way and a shape that I want to, that’s all I need to be honest. I just see life differently. I know what I’m capable of when I’m at my best and I just want to feel that feeling again.”

Rashad Evans Has Changed A Lot In His Approach To Competition

Evans was once thought to be arguably one of the brashest and cocky fighters in the UFC at one point in time. Stemming from his time on Season 2 of The Ultimate Fighter, many fighters in the sport took issue with Evans’ attitude.

But Evans has clearly changed over the years as he’s taken on a mentor role for many top MMA fighters, including UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. He’s also remained an integral part of Sanford MMA down in south Florida and has continued to train.

Evans’ first fight back in the cage could potentially be the start of something special for the former UFC star. Despite being 42 years old, the result could go a long way in determining his next move in combat sports.

What are your thoughts on Rashad Evans’ return to MMA?

Continue Reading Rashad Evans Explains MMA Return: “For Me To Compete Is My Reward” at MMA News.

Rashad Evans To Return At Upcoming Eagle FC Event

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans plans to make his return to the octagon in Eagle FC on Jan. 28. Evans, a UFC Hall of Famer, hasn’t competed in MMA since he fell to Anthony Smith at UFC 225. The loss capped off a five-fight losing streak before he opted to retire entirely from […]

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans plans to make his return to the octagon in Eagle FC on Jan. 28.

Evans, a UFC Hall of Famer, hasn’t competed in MMA since he fell to Anthony Smith at UFC 225. The loss capped off a five-fight losing streak before he opted to retire entirely from the fight game.

Evans will now return against a to-be-determined opponent as a part of the latest event of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Eagle FC promotion. The card will be capped off by the main event featuring Tyrone Spong and Bigfoot Silva.

Evans’ return to the cage will also feature Eagle FC’s first card in the United States, as the fight will take place in Miami, FL. He had been rumored to target a move to boxing but ultimately decided to give MMA another try.

Rashad Evans Was Once Considered One Of The Top Fighters In The World

Evans won Season 2 of The Ultimate Fighter during a heavyweight season in 2005. Three years later, he would go on to pull off one of the most infamous knockouts in UFC history by finishing Forrest Griffin at UFC 92.

Evans also earned wins over the likes of Michael Bisping, Chuck Liddell, and Rampage Jackson during his time in the UFC. After losing to Jon Jones at UFC 145, he would earn wins over Chael Sonnen and Dan Henderson before struggling to keep up at light heavyweight and middleweight.

Nowadays, Evans had been seen mostly as a UFC analyst for the promotion’s various events. He’s been a staple of ESPN’s desk coverage for UFC pay-per-views along with serving as a mentor to top-level fighters such as Kamaru Usman.

It’s unclear if this will be a one-off for Evans or if this will be a new start to his MMA career.

What are your expectations for Rashad Evans’ MMA return?

Eagle FC’s US Debut Gets Main Event Replacement With Bigfoot Missing

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s MMA promotion Eagle FC will debut in the U.S with a few former UFC fighters.

Following his retirement from MMA competition in 2019, Khabib Nurmagomedov hasn’t strayed too far from the sport. He is still coaching the next wave …

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s MMA promotion Eagle FC will debut in the U.S with a few former UFC fighters.

Following his retirement from MMA competition in 2019, Khabib Nurmagomedov hasn’t strayed too far from the sport. He is still coaching the next wave of Dagestani fighters and has even opened his own MMA fight promotion. His Eagle FC is based out of Russia but is planning to begin holding shows in the United States next year. The very first event already has a location in Miami FL, and now has a headliner.

As first reported by ESPN, former UFC heavyweight Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva was scheduled to take on Tyrone Spong in the main event. However, Silva will no longer be taking part in the event and has been replaced by Russian heavyweight Sergei Kharitonov (30-8) to face Spong.

Silva, who is 42 years old, has not won an MMA bout of any kind since 2015. Although he has still been active he has now lost six in a row, five of which were by KO or TKO. Silva’s last fight was in June against Quentin Domingos for Megdan Fighting.

Nurmagomedov promised that he would be bringing Eagle FC to the States and with it some former UFC and Bellator athletes. Former UFC lightweight champion Rashad Evans will also be competing on the card.

Evans will be coming out of retirement for this Eagle FC card. He will be fighting at Lightheavyweight according to MMA Junkie. His opponent is not determined at this time.

Towards the end of Evans’ UFC career, he was on a five-fight losing streak against top opponents. His last bout was a 53-second knockout loss to Anthony Smith at UFC 225. Following his retirement, the former light heavyweight champ was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.

This Eagle FC event will be taking place on Jan. 28 at FLX Arena in Miami, FL. The event will be shown on UFC Fight Pass.

Will you be tuning in to watch Eagle FC on Jan. 28?

Continue Reading Eagle FC’s US Debut Gets Main Event Replacement With Bigfoot Missing at MMA News.

Rashad Evans Explains What Will Cause Jon Jones Problems At Heavyweight

Rashad Evans knows Jon Jones is arguably the best fighter of all time but he says the heavyweight division could cause him some problems. After Jones narrowly beat Thiago Santos and Dominick Reyes to defend his light heavyweight belt, he vacated the st…

Continue Reading Rashad Evans Explains What Will Cause Jon Jones Problems At Heavyweight at MMA News.

UFC Hall of Famer Rashad Evans Says He’d KO Logan Paul in Boxing Fight

As Logan Paul licks his wounds from his fight against Floyd Mayweather, UFC Hall of Famer Rashad Evans has a message for the YouTuber: He wants next. “I most…

Rashad Evans Believes He Is ‘The Fight For Logan Paul’

While he may have retired three years ago, the love of fighting never left Rashad Evans. Make no mistake, Evans is living comfortably in retirement. He’s made a seamless transition to the analyst desk at ESPN and Fox, and has moved on to coaching such fighters as Greg Hardy. But still, that desire to step […]

While he may have retired three years ago, the love of fighting never left Rashad Evans.

Make no mistake, Evans is living comfortably in retirement. He’s made a seamless transition to the analyst desk at ESPN and Fox, and has moved on to coaching such fighters as Greg Hardy. But still, that desire to step into the ring again remained, and as Evans told MMA Fighting, he believes that the time off will have served him well once he competes again.

“What needed to happen was I needed to let some of the dust settle,” Evans explained. “I was still having a lot of residual non-clarity on what was driving my impetus to want to fight. Because it’s one thing to want to fight because I miss the sport and everything else like that. It’s another thing to want to fight because I have that hunger and that desire, that same kind of mindset that led me to become champion. There’s a difference.

“Because there’s work that you can put behind it,” he continued. “When I’m competing for the latter, or when I’m training for the latter, when my mindset is on, I enjoy doing it so I enjoy the grind of it, then I don’t mind doing the grunt work. Grunt work is where you grow. If I’m just doing barely enough to cover the practices to say I’m in shape, then I’m not going to reach that upper echelon of skill set that I have. I need to be able to drive that extra percentile out of myself and the best way to do that is just mentally being dialed in and mentally wanting to fight for the right reasons.”

With the world seemingly coming to a halt during the COVID-19 pandemic, it gave Evans time to reflect on his career and whether he would ever fight again. Though he knows his days as a title contender have come and gone, he believes there are still a number of fights out there that offer different opportunites.

“I know my fighting days are behind me for the large part, but I would just love to go out there and put the gloves on a few more times just to enjoy myself and really end the sport the way that I want to end the sport,” Evans said.

“I felt as if my last few fights I was competing, I was there, but I really wasn’t there to compete. I was just going through the motions. If I can have a few more fights where I just go in there and just fight from my heart, then I can die a happy man.”

Throughout his career, Rashad Evans was known for his combination of wrestling and boxing. It’s that latter skill that he is hoping to capitalize on late in his career, especially after seeing YouTube celebrities like the Paul brothers rise to prominence in the sport. While he was initially skeptical of the inexperienced brothers making the leap to the boxing realm, he admits he is impressed with what he’s seen.

“I’m going to be honest, at first I thought these guys were going to go in there and not take the sport serious and just clown around and just do what they do, be a prankster about it,” Evans said. “But they took it serious. They actually look like athletes. They look pretty good. Jake Paul looked pretty tough to be honest. Logan looked pretty decent in his last fight, too. They’re showing like they’ve got a lot of potential and I really like what they’re doing by fighting guys who are fighters but at the same time aren’t boxing guys and it gives them a chance to have somewhat a chance in the fight. It makes it interesting.”

With Jake Paul already scheduled to face Tyron Woodley, Evans wants to throw his hat into the ring to fight the older, bigger Paul brother.

“I think I am the fight for Logan Paul,” Evans said. “If Logan Paul is serious about fighting then he’ll fight me. If he wants to play around he can fight somebody else. But if he really wants to fight, he wants to really grow himself, then he’ll fight me.”

“Let’s see what he’s really about. I think his next fight has to be what he’s about. It can’t just be about surviving. He’s really got to go out there and try to put it on somebody. He doesn’t want to keep fighting all these guys, all these legit boxers who’s got all these skills. He might as well try his hand with me.”

Do you want to see Rashad Evans fight Logan Paul? Let us know!