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Rashad Evans Shocking UFC 128 Announcement

By Sean Farrell

Rashad Evans was pulled from his bout at UFC 128 with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua after suffering a knee sprain during training. The light heavyweight championship bout will still take place as Evans’ teammate Jon “Bones” Jones is stepping in for the injured Evans after demolishing Ultimate Fighter winner Ryan Bader at UFC 126. It was recently reported that Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was supposed to receive the title shot but refused citing lack of time to prepare for the bout as it’s scheduled for March 19, 2011. “Rampage” being offered the title shot was reported after he declined. Although UFC President Dana White said there was no backup plan for Rua after Evans was injured there clearly was. With that recent development, Dana White is making it quite evident nothing he says should be believed. With Jones set to face Rua for the title, a dillema arose between Evans and Jones.

It’s no mystery that the path Evans’ UFC career is on will be affected by what happens on March 19. Should Jones (12-1) be victorious and become champion, Evans (15-1) has plenty of moves he could make. That can include making a trip to middleweight or even returning to heavyweight. Doctors have recommended that Evans stay off his knee for six to eight weeks, but that period could be shorted to three weeks if the Evans is feeling well enough by then. UFC president Dana White said that he conceived the Jones vs. Rua fight cageside just prior to Jones’ bout with Ryan Bader took place. Jones submitted Bader in the second round and the White surprised him by offering him the title shot. Jones was very emotional and accepted the bout without pause. That brought on speculation about Jones emerging victorious from the Rua bout, Jones has been a training partner of Evans’ since he started training with Greg Jackson’s camp.

Evans’ manager Malki Kawa spoke on the matter saying “Rashad wants to fight for a championship, He doesn’t want some regular fights or whoever it might be. A fight that interests me a lot, and I thought would be a really big payday for him, is a fight against Anderson (Silva).”
Anderson Silva, of course, is MMA’s pound for pound king and recently knocked out Vitor Belfort with a front kick in the main event of UFC 126. White has stated that the reigning champion is expected to be in for a superfight with Georges St-Pierre if the welterweight champion emerges victorious from his bout with Jake Shields at UFC 129. That being said Evans vs. Silva seems highly unlikely and probably too costly to the UFC’s biggest fight ever from happening, as Evans is too dangerous an opponent for Silva to face and could ruin the UFC’s plans to expand their pocketbook. Evans in all sincerity would prefer a move back to heavyweight where his career began even if Kawa disagrees. “I personally like him better at middleweight better than I do at heavyweight,” Kawa said.

Nothing will be set in stone and decided for Evans until Jones vs. Rua is settled. “The thing is, him and Jon have become really tight, and I was never really for them not fighting. But after seeing them, and after seeing what Rashad did when his knee was hurt when he encouraged Jon to go get the title shot, I respect Rashad a lot more. If Rashad says, ‘I don’t want to do something,’ I understand it. The guy’s a class act.” Evans no matter where he decides to fight next has earned the respect of many more fans than he ever set out to attain with this selfless act. Evans is nothing but a class act and goes to show you not every fighter is out for themselves and mixed martial arts is not full of barbarians.

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