Six months ago there weren’t a lot of people talking about Rashad Evans’ title shot prospects, as the former light-heavyweight champ was coming off a disappointing, unanimous decision loss to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Although Evans was only one fight removed from his loss to reigning champ Jon Jones, who had ended his four fight win streak, there were even some folks writing “Suga” completely off.
While Evans narrowly got by Dan Henderson at UFC 161 with a split decision win, he’s ended his two fight losing streak and is still a top five ranked 205ér (#4). So, if Evans can score an impressive win over Chael Sonnen at UFC 167 on November 16th, then things could get interesting for the 34 year-old next year. While speaking to Fighters Only Magazine recently about his current aspirations, here’s what Evans had to say:
“I hit a bit of a slump losing two fights in a row, so now I am getting back on track with my win against Dan Henderson. I want to get back in the race, I want to get another fight with Jon Jones, he’s at the top right now and I want to work my way back up there and get another chance to fight him.”
Now a win over Sonnen won’t secure Evans a title shot, and Jones is going to be busy with Glover Teixeira and then likely Alexander Gustafsson, but it would be a big step in the right direction. Evans also offered his take on the thrilling UFC 165 war between Jones and Gustafsson, which saw the champ emerge with the UD win.
“I thought Gustafsson won. It was a great fight but I thought he did more than Jones. And he surprised Jones; that’s the worst thing that can happen in a fight, when you didn’t expect a guy to be as tough as he is. Jones experienced that and had a hard time adjusting to it.”
That’s an interesting take on it. As far as UFC 67, it’s going to interesting to see how Evans looks to engage Sonnen, who of course is coming off a win over a former champ in “Shogun” Rua. It’s definitely a big fight for both vets.
Stay tuned to MMA Frenzy.com for all your UFC news and coverage.
Front-Page Photo Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sport
Related Topics: How To Close Apps On Ios7 911 Memorial taylor swift true blood project runway
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.