KIDWCKED
01-02-2010, 10:48 PM
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this is a c\p
by Thomas Gerbasi
December 12, 2009. Rashad Evans was in Colorado, just another fan checking out the fights as UFC 107 aired from Memphis, Tennessee. But with each passing bout, the realization hit home that this was one night that should have belonged to the former light heavyweight champion.
“Seeing how well BJ (Penn) performed, and Kenny Florian and everybody looked so good, I was like ‘I could be out there, I could be done right now,’” Evans told UFC.com. “They had a great crowd in Memphis, the energy was there, and I was like ‘damn I wish I could have been there.’”
He was supposed to be, facing off against his Ultimate Fighter 10 coaching rival Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, but when Jackson opted to make his Hollywood debut in the upcoming A-Team film, Evans was left without an opponent for the UFC 107 card. Yet when everything came down in September, it didn’t come as a complete shock to Evans.
“At first I was kinda surprised, but then I thought back to being on the show and how much time he (Jackson) was dedicating to going to acting classes,” said Evans. “They didn’t show it on camera, but a lot of times he would miss practice and just have (assistant coach) Tiki (Ghosn) and those guys run practice because he was taking acting classes. So in hindsight, it kinda made sense.”
It didn’t make much sense to fight fans who wanted to see the bout, and as the taped episodes of The Ultimate Fighter hit the Spike TV airwaves, anticipation grew even more as week by week, the tension between the two former 205-pound champs escalated. Yet all Evans could do is look on helplessly.
“Watching the show and all the talking, I was like, ‘man, all of this was just for nothing,’” he said. “Sometimes, I could tell what my mindset was when I watched it on TV and I slowly saw my mind change and how really angry I’m getting. When it started it was a little playful banter type of messing around. Then it got really serious and then it got to the point where all I kept thinking about was punching him in the face every time I saw him.”
On Saturday night, Evans will step into the Octagon to punch somebody, but it won’t be Jackson. Instead, “Suga” will face off against Brazilian powerhouse Thiago Silva in a bout that marks his second straight Christmas away from his family.
“This is the second time in a row I’m gonna miss the holidays, but it’s gonna be worth it,” he said. “I’m gonna go in there and enjoy being out there and make this my Christmas and my New Year’s celebration.”
It’s the perfect mindset for Evans to be in, and he sounds genuinely excited, not just about the fight, but about who he’s fighting. It’s not for the reason you think though, as while Evans wouldn’t mind getting one back for his good friend and training partner, Keith Jardine, who was halted in a single round by Silva, his motivation centers more on testing himself against a fighter who has gotten a lot better and scarier since they were first scheduled to scrap back in 2008.
“I was supposed to fight him a couple years ago, and then I got to fight Chuck Liddell,” recalled Evans. “I was kinda excited to fight him then, and now he looks like he’s gotten a lot better, and he looks like an animal now. He got that loss (to Lyoto Machida), and now he’s hungry and doesn’t want that to happen again.”
Evans (18-1-1) is in the same position, hungry to erase the lone loss of his career, which ironically also came to the current light heavyweight champ. He even goes as far as to say that the two may be mirror images of each other.
“I see a lot of myself in him,” said Evans of Silva. “We’ve got a lot of similarities as far as our road in the organization and where we’ve come from.”
this is a c\p
by Thomas Gerbasi
December 12, 2009. Rashad Evans was in Colorado, just another fan checking out the fights as UFC 107 aired from Memphis, Tennessee. But with each passing bout, the realization hit home that this was one night that should have belonged to the former light heavyweight champion.
“Seeing how well BJ (Penn) performed, and Kenny Florian and everybody looked so good, I was like ‘I could be out there, I could be done right now,’” Evans told UFC.com. “They had a great crowd in Memphis, the energy was there, and I was like ‘damn I wish I could have been there.’”
He was supposed to be, facing off against his Ultimate Fighter 10 coaching rival Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, but when Jackson opted to make his Hollywood debut in the upcoming A-Team film, Evans was left without an opponent for the UFC 107 card. Yet when everything came down in September, it didn’t come as a complete shock to Evans.
“At first I was kinda surprised, but then I thought back to being on the show and how much time he (Jackson) was dedicating to going to acting classes,” said Evans. “They didn’t show it on camera, but a lot of times he would miss practice and just have (assistant coach) Tiki (Ghosn) and those guys run practice because he was taking acting classes. So in hindsight, it kinda made sense.”
It didn’t make much sense to fight fans who wanted to see the bout, and as the taped episodes of The Ultimate Fighter hit the Spike TV airwaves, anticipation grew even more as week by week, the tension between the two former 205-pound champs escalated. Yet all Evans could do is look on helplessly.
“Watching the show and all the talking, I was like, ‘man, all of this was just for nothing,’” he said. “Sometimes, I could tell what my mindset was when I watched it on TV and I slowly saw my mind change and how really angry I’m getting. When it started it was a little playful banter type of messing around. Then it got really serious and then it got to the point where all I kept thinking about was punching him in the face every time I saw him.”
On Saturday night, Evans will step into the Octagon to punch somebody, but it won’t be Jackson. Instead, “Suga” will face off against Brazilian powerhouse Thiago Silva in a bout that marks his second straight Christmas away from his family.
“This is the second time in a row I’m gonna miss the holidays, but it’s gonna be worth it,” he said. “I’m gonna go in there and enjoy being out there and make this my Christmas and my New Year’s celebration.”
It’s the perfect mindset for Evans to be in, and he sounds genuinely excited, not just about the fight, but about who he’s fighting. It’s not for the reason you think though, as while Evans wouldn’t mind getting one back for his good friend and training partner, Keith Jardine, who was halted in a single round by Silva, his motivation centers more on testing himself against a fighter who has gotten a lot better and scarier since they were first scheduled to scrap back in 2008.
“I was supposed to fight him a couple years ago, and then I got to fight Chuck Liddell,” recalled Evans. “I was kinda excited to fight him then, and now he looks like he’s gotten a lot better, and he looks like an animal now. He got that loss (to Lyoto Machida), and now he’s hungry and doesn’t want that to happen again.”
Evans (18-1-1) is in the same position, hungry to erase the lone loss of his career, which ironically also came to the current light heavyweight champ. He even goes as far as to say that the two may be mirror images of each other.
“I see a lot of myself in him,” said Evans of Silva. “We’ve got a lot of similarities as far as our road in the organization and where we’ve come from.”