Recently in Rashad Evans Category

By Brian Knapp, sherdog.com:
Former International Fight League heavyweight champion Roy Nelson "called his shot" when he ousted Internet street-fighting legend Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson on the latest episode of "The Ultimate Fighter" Season 10. Consider it his ode to the Sultan of Swat.

"I called it the night before," Nelson said during a Thursday teleconference. "I just wanted to point out to the guys that this was how I was going to win. And guess what? That's how I won. I did a Babe Ruth. I hit my home run."

Pegged as the Season 10 favorite by many pundits, Nelson strapped Slice in a crucifix and finished him with strikes on the ground in the second round of their heavyweight scrap, which aired to record ratings on Spike TV. According to preliminary figures, the episode drew 5.3 million viewers and peaked with 6.1 million during the actual fight.

from The Vancouver Sun, 9/4/09:
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship world light heavyweight champion Quinton (Rampage) Jackson is in Vancouver to star as BA Baracus in an upcoming movie version of The A-Team.

Jackson has been removed from the UFC 107 card where he was set to face Sugar Rashad Evans in an Ultimate Fighter finale showdown, so he can appear in the film. He was spotted on Robson Street Friday afternoon, signing autographs for fans.

Right now, the two LHWs are coaches on the set of The Ultimate Fighter 10 (which is actually for heavyweights, but whatever) and ever since their in-Octagon confrontation a while back, can't stand each other.

from mmaweekly.com:
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans spoke out for the first time about his loss to Lyoto Machida at a media day for the tenth season of "The Ultimate Fighter."

Evans, who will coach opposite Quinton Jackson, said he accepted the reality show position to move beyond the loss, refusing to wallow.

"I got my ass whooped, so, I was like, you know what, I could sit in the dark and cry myself to sleep every night... or I can do something about it," he said in a green room of the "TUF" training center. "I think that me losing was probably one of the best things for me just because it helped me see a lot of things clearer.

I just watched the UFC 98 weigh-ins and although I had the sound down for most of it, it looked like everybody made weight.

There were no confrontations when the fighters squared off, although Hughes and Serra did not shake hands. No surprise there.

For the main event, Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida got a warm welcome from the crowd, but LHW champ Rashad Evans got a mix of boos thrown in. As Joe Rogan said, maybe it has to do with the fact that Evans has beaten two of the most popular UFC fighters of all time (or "of all times" according to Dana White) in Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin. Or it could be his in-cage antics, which are seen by some to be cocky and arrogant.

Anyway, Machida made a good stab at English in his post-weigh-in comment to Rogan, and that probably endeared him to the crowd as well.

When Evans and Machida squared off, Evans chose not to raise his hands. Machida, on the other hand, struck a Shotokan stance and put his right fist up to Evans' face. He bowed deeply to Rashad before and after he did that though.

A quick look at the life of Lyoto Machida, who takes on LHW champ Rashad Evans at UFC 98.

Video chronicles the LHW title fight between Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans, plus the ultimate grudge match, Matt Serra vs. Matt Hughes.

by Tom Hamlin - MMAWeekly.com
UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans can relate to middleweight champion Anderson Silva, if it's the case that the record-setting fighter is bored with his job.

"I've been out there and felt like not even fighting," he told MMAWeekly.com. "You never know who's going to show up on fight day. You go out there, and that night, you just don't feel it. Sometimes you just walk into the arena, and you're like, 'you know what, man? Today, I just don't feel like it. I don't feel like I got that same spring.' It just happens like that. Maybe he just woke up and felt like he was rhyming slow that day."

MAIN CARD

* LHW Champion Rashad Evans vs. Lyoto Machida
* Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra
* Dan Miller vs. Yushin Okami
* Frank Edgar vs. Sean Sherk
* Josh Koscheck vs. Chris Wilson*

PRELIMINARY CARD

* James Irvin vs. Drew McFedries
* Kyle Bradley vs. Phillipe Nover
* Pat Barry vs. Tim Hague
* Houston Alexander vs. Andre Gusmao
* Brandon Wolff vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
* David Kaplan vs. George Roop

The story from ufc.com:
Las Vegas, NV (USA) - In the UFC® light heavyweight division, the most talent-rich weight class in all of mixed martial arts, every bout is a Super Fight. This will never be more evident than on Saturday, May 23rd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, when champion "Sugar" Rashad Evans defends his crown for the first time against fellow unbeaten Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida in the main event of UFC 98, which is presented by Tequila CAZADORES.

"With 32 wins and no losses between them, this may end up being one of the most memorable UFC title fights of all time," said UFC President Dana White. "Neither guy has learned how to lose yet, and I'm interested to see if Rashad is the first fighter to figure out Machida's style, as well as if Machida can withstand the striking power and wrestling of Rashad. The winner of this one is truly the best 205 pounder on the planet."

After all that trash talking, it may be two undefeated fighters - Lyoto Machida and UFC LHW Champ Rashad Evans - who go at it at UFC 98.

by Lotfi Sariahmed of sherdog.com:

Despite every assurance made during Saturday night's UFC 96 pay-per-view broadcast, UFC light heavyweight champ Rashad Evans doesn't believe Quinton "Rampage" Jackson will be standing across the Octagon to face him at UFC 98 on May 23.

"As I learned, 'Rampage' might need time off," Evans told the Sherdog Radio Network's "Beatdown" show on Monday. "It'll probably be Lyoto Machida, but I haven't gotten a confirmation on that."

Jackson, who earned a hard-fought decision over Evans' teammate Keith Jardine in the main event on Saturday, told reporters afterward that he needed time to evaluate the May title bout offered to him that night before he'd give his answer.

Rampage

Evans

from fannation.com
UFC president Dana White on a radio show appearance Monday expressed his interest in seeing Rashad Evans make his first light heavyweight title defense against former champ Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. "I'd love to see Rashad and Rampage," White said on The Carmichael Dave Show on Sports 1140 KHTK. "I think that's a fun fight." A concern with Jackson in a title situation is that the fighter is currently facing two felony (driving recklessly, evading police) and three misdemeanor charges (hit and run) that could place him in jail for up to three years. However, White is confident that Jackson's legal problems will not be an issue and will not play a part in the UFC's matchmaking process.

Ted's Take: Will Rampage get the shot next? If he can clear up his legal troubles, probably. He's a bigger draw than Lyoto Machida or Thiago Silva, who will fight at UFC 94 on Jan. 31. The winner of that fight - both are undefeated at 13-0 - should really be the next contender for the LHW title, but Jackson, being a former champ, and given his recent destruction of Wanderlei Silva, will most likely get it. I don't see Jackson getting the better of Rashad in their match-up, but I do see Rashad losing the title to Machida in late 2009, if my crystal ball is working - ha-yow!

Here's some great tid-bits on Mir/Lesnar, Liddell's return, Rashad Evans' first title defense, opne door for Arlovski and update on The Ultimate Fighter, from a story on CBS Sports:

Now that Mir defeated Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira to win the interim heavyweight championship and Brock Lesnar defeated Randy Couture to win the heavyweight championship, the stage is set for Mir and Lesnar to have a rematch. The big difference in the two bouts is that this fight is to unify the UFC heavyweight championships.

When they first fought in February 2008, Mir defeated Lesnar by submission in just ninety seconds. The matchup was Lesnar's second mixed martial arts fight and his debut in the UFC.

After Lesnar defeated Couture in November, he made it very clear who he wanted to fight next.

"I'm going to have to say that I need a rematch with Frank Mir," said Lesnar.

With Mir defeated Nogueira, Lesnar could hardly control his excitement about the opportunity to avenge his only defeat in four professional fights.

"I got my wish -- my rematch against Frank," said Lesnar. "This time I'm going to beat his (expletive)."

The unification matchup will take place sometime in the spring of 2009.

I just watched the UFC 92 weigh-ins on msn sports. Let's get right to the grudge match of the night, Wanderlei Silva vs. Rampage Jackson:

Wanderlei came out first, had his head shaved, and looked cut. He weighed in at 203. Then Rampage came out, and he looked pretty cut too, much better than his fight with Griffin, and weighed in at 206.

Then came time for the stare-down, and you just knew sparks were gonna fly. The get about three inches from each other, maybe less, and Wanderlei starts with his classic stare-down, moving his head back and forth, his eyes boring into Rmapage. Rampage is smiling, and then he says something to Wanderlei, who then shoves him and I believe, then walks off the stage.

The camera focuses on Rampage, who faces the crowd, does the throat slash, and then the thumbs-down sign.

Joe Rogan then said, "I'll tell you what, ladies and gentlemen, that is going to be a crazy fight!"

So we've got some pre-fight fireworks, just as everyone expected - Wanderlei trying to intimidate Rampage, Rampage trying to get inside Wanderlei's head, even though he's lost to the guy twice. So, was Rampage's psych-out thing just a cover for the doubts he has going into the fight? Who knows. Did Rampage's antics have an effect on Wanderlei, maybe get him steaming through the night, making him use up valuable energy? Again, we'll see tomorrow night.

On to the rest of the weigh-ins for the main card:

-- Mike Massenzio, 184 vs. CB Dollaway, 186.
-- Mustapha Al-Turk, 237 vs. Chiek Kongo, 233. Kongo did a head-thrust toward Al-Turk as they squared off, but Al-Turk seemed unfazed.
-- Frank MIr, 251 vs. Antonio Minotauro Nogueira, 246.
-- Rashad Evans, 203 vs. Forrest Griffin, 205. The two had a very respectful stare-donw, shaking eachother's hands a couple times.

Thanks to Tracy Lee from combatlifestyle.com

Rampage Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva

Forrest Griffin vs. Rashad Evans

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Frank Mir

Now that's a photo: Three fighters in UFC 92's triple main event, training together: Wanderlei Silva, who fights Rampage Jackson in the sport's biggest grudge match, Forrest Griffin, who defends his LHW title against Rashad Evans and Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira, who defends his interim HW belt against Frank Mir.

from Wand's Web site:
Along with coaches Amaury Bitetti and Rodrigo Artilheiro, Rodrigo Minotauro set off this Friday (December 12) for Las Vegas, where the final of the eighth season of the The Ultimate Fighter reality show will take place. In the USA, Minota will only return after his December 27 challenge against Frank Mir. And for this UFC fight to determine who will challenge Brock Lesnar for the definitive UFC heavyweight belt, the Brazilian will count on a big-name buddy: Wanderlei Silva.

In the past the news would be hard to believe, since the two fighters belonged to teams with a fierce rivalry - BTT and Chute Boxe, - but the current MMA panorama makes it clear those days are gone. These days professionalism comes first and, as the two will go to battle on the same day (Wanderlei faces Quinton Jackson), so they decided nothing could be better than making a union between compatriots.

"We're going to be in the corners for the final fights of the TUF house. After the event, we'll stick around till Minotauro's fight," said coach Amaury Bitetti, who added:

"We should train at Wanderlei's gym, in Las Vegas, and use the structure he has set up there. Rafael Alejarra, who's a really cool guy, and Wanderlei himself invited us. We'll train together and put together a strategy. We'll be mostly swapping information," said Bitetti, who, when asked if Nog and Wand would be training together, responded:

"That's right. United we stand!"

Click here to see the site.

I don't know much about betting, but looking at what the odds are on a fight can sometimes give you insight into how other people view the fights.

So, what I've picked up is that the guy with the "-" in front of his name is favored to win over the guy with the "+" in front of his name. You'd think it'd be the other way around. Anyway, here's something you don't see often - Silva and Jackson are even. As much as I like Wanderlei, I have to agree - the fight could go either way.

from mmamania.com:

Mir +225
Nog -350

Jackson -120
Silva -120

Griffin -150
Evans +110

An extended look at Nogueira-Mir, Griffin-Evans and Silva-Jackson.

Forrest breaks down Rashad's game and talks about his own. One thing he said was he will "Be prepared to go five and to go five hard." That might be a slight advantage for Forrest. He's done that and Rashad hasn't.

Nice video from the guys at mmatraining.com. They went over to Xtreme Couture just before UFC 91 and shot this. We see Forrest, Sam Stout, Chris Horodecki, Jay Hieron, JUnie Browning and others, along with drill sergeant Shawn Tomkins stalking the mat. What a great training facility.

Here's some new stuff from the kings of MMA:

The Web site is up for UFC 92, which airs Dec. 27 and has three main events: Nogueira vs. Mir, Griffin vs. Evans and W. Silva vs. Jackson. See it here.

Also, several of the major MMA Web sites/blogs are reporting that the battle of two undefeated LHWs, Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva, has been rescheduled for UFC 94 on Jan. 31.

In addition, a possible match-up for UFC 95 on Feb. 21 is Anderson Silva vs. Chuck Liddell.

from Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports:
As recently as Monday, UFC president Dana White said there were "lots of moving parts" as he tried to complete the company's end-of-year fight cards.

On Wednesday, he at least got the top three fights of UFC 92 finalized. The co-main events will feature the interim heavyweight title match between champion Antonio Rodrigo and Frank Mir. Forrest Griffin will defend the light heavyweight title against Rashad Evans and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson will meet Wanderlei Silva, who defeated him twice when they fought in PRIDE.

The Jackson-Silva card had been considered for UFC 91, when the card was slated to be in Portland, Ore., as well for UFC 94, which will be Jan. 31 in Las Vegas.

But White said he wanted to "stack" the UFC's traditional New Year's Eve weekend card and managed to do so by putting four of the company's most popular fighters on the card.

The UFC has officially moved the fight card across Las Vegas Blvd. from Mandalay Bay to the MGM Grand Garden.

Jackson will be fighting for the first time since losing the light heavyweight belt to Griffin at UFC 86 on July 5 and a bizarre traffic incident on July 15 in suburban Los Angeles. Jackson was driving on the wrong side of the road and on sidewalks and fled even while being chased by police.

He was charged with two felonies and three misdemeanors and has pled not guilty. He has a Nov. 3 court appearance scheduled.

White has said no drugs or alcohol were involved and that Jackson's actions were fueled by "delirium" caused by days of little sleep, little food and water and excessive intake of energy drinks.

As much as I respect and like Chuck, these were too good to pass up. I hope he gets back to form and goes out with some more devastating KOs under his belt.
In the meantime, I found these on the Sherdog forum ...

from mmajunkie.com:
If it weren't for his stunning overhand right that sent Chuck Liddell to the canvas for one of the UFC's biggest main-event upsets, Rashad Evans would likely be fielding questions about two other topics.

Why exactly was he twisting his nipples during pre-fight introductions? And what was up the Bill Gates mugshot T-shirt Evans sported throughout this past weekend?

On today's edition of TAGG Radio (www.taggradio.com), the official radio partner of MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com), Evans said they were just inside jokes that originated at his home with Team Jackson.

All right, so by now you've probably heard that Rashad Evans knocked out Chuck Liddell. Cold. With one punch. As much as I don't care for Evans' showboating, you have to respect his abilities.

The first question is where does this leave The Iceman? Fighters can come back from devastating knockout losses. Wanderlei Silva did it - he had back-to-back knockout losses, courtesy of Cro Cop and Hendo. Before the fight with Rashad, Chuck talked about making another run at the title, implying that it would be a great way to end his career, but he also talked about fighting for years to come - a little Randy Couture, anyone?

Maybe it's time to get a new trainer. I know Chuck considers John Hackleman family, but something might need to be fixed. Jerod Phillips, who owns Tap or Sleep fightwear, hit the proverbial nail on the head: They finally started figuring Chuck out. He throws looping punches, and he keeps his hands down low. Couture, in their first meeting, got inside and dirty boxed him, evading the looping, yet dangerous bombs that Chuck can unleash.

I just watched the live weigh-ins for UFC 88-Breakthrough. All the fighers made weight. Chuck Liddell looked more cut than usual at 204 pounds, although he still had a little of his trademark "beer gut," as some would call it. I prefer to think that's where he gets his power. The Power of the Gut.

Liddell and Rashad Evans had a curt handshake and an intense staredown.

Rich Franklin looked good at jumping up to 205. Jason Lambert, dropping from 205 to 185, looked like he made the right move. And Rousimar Palhares, Dan Henderson's opponent, looked huge and cut. He's short, but has the physique of a bodybuilder.

Chuck Liddell and Rashad Evans squared off at the press conference held earlier today for UFC 88 - Breakthrough in Atlanta, Ga. Rich Franklin and Matt Hamill, who also meet in a light-heavyweight bout, seemed like old friends - and they do go back a ways - at the presser. A great display of sportsmanship, one I see more often in MMA than any other sport out there.
Thanks to mmaweekly.com for the photos.

Liddell and Evans

Franklin and Hamill

Sherdog member "TanMan" started a thread on sherdog.com about MMA's current win streaks:

Fedor Emelianenko (WAMMA heavyweight champion)
26 Fight Win Streak

Paulo Filho (WEC middlewieght champion)
16 Fight Win Streak

Miguel Torres (WEC bantamweight champion)
15 Fight Win Streak

Lyoto Machida (top contender to UFC light heavyweight title)
13 Fight Win Streak

Thiago Silva (top contender to UFC light heavyweight title)
13 Fight Win Streak

Urijah Faber (WEC featherweight champion)
13 Fight Win Streak

Anderson Silva (UFC middleweight champion)
8 Fight Win Streak

TanMan writes: Anyways I have Thiago going down next. IMO Machida has better stand up, ground game, and game planning on his side. If Faber ever moves up I have him also

Ted's Take: TanMan forgot UFC light heavyweight Rashad Evans, who is fighting Chuck Liddell at UFC 88 - Breakthrough on Sept. 6. I say Rashad goes down first before anyone else on this list. I guess you could argue that Evans (11-0-1) does have a slight blemish on his record (a draw with Tito Ortiz), but he has yet to be defeated.

Here's the site. Looks like some good names, like the return of Rich Franklin at 205 where he takes on Matt Hamill, Pa.'s own Tim "The Barbarian" "The Replacement Killer" Boetsch, Dan Henderson, and Karo Parysian.