Rashad Evans out of UFC 205 bout with Tim Kennedy due to medical issue
Rashad Evans admits feeling the itch to compete in MMA again, but explains why it likely won’t happen
UFC Hall of Famer Rashad Evans admitted he still feels the itch to compete in MMA again, but he explained why a comeback likely won’t happen.
Evans, the former UFC light heavyweight champion, has not competed since a June 2018 knockout loss to Anthony Smith at UFC 225. Not long after that, he announced his retirement from mixed martial arts and was soon inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. Them, in September 2019, there were reports that Evans had asked the UFC for his release and that he was pursuing opportunities in other organizations. However, it’s been nearly 18 months since those rumors emerged, and there is still no word of a return for Evans, who works these days as an analyst as part of the UFC on ESPN team.
Speaking to UFC.com, Evans broke his silence about potentially fighting again. “Suga” admits that while he still thinks about fighting once or twice again, ultimately the 41-year-old Niagara Falls native doesn’t see the point of coming back when he has other parts of his life that he wants to focus on.
“I got itchy, but then I had to sit down and have an honest discussion with myself because, at the end of the day, it’s, okay, where does this lead? I do one more fight, two more fights, what’s the point? I think right now, it’s time for me to really focus on the other parts of my life that I wasn’t able to do as a fighter, and those are the parts that are really gonna carry me for however long I’m gonna live. So that’s where I’m really focusing,” Evans said.
Throughout MMA history, many of the sport’s greatest fighters and legends have walked away only to return later in their careers, often to devastating results. It doesn’t sound like Evans wants that to happen to him, too. While he would more than love to get back in there and snap his five-fight losing skid and get a taste of action again, at the end of the day, Evans truly has nothing left to accomplish.
Do you think Rashad Evans will ever fight again?
