UFC 145: Evans on the right road to title

Rashad Evans (17-1-1) certainly has endured the long road to get to this weekend’s light-heavyweight title fight against current champion Jon Jones (15-1).

The 32-year-old figher has suffered minor setbacks, missing out on several shots since March 2011, where he was originally meant to have faced the then-champion Mauricio ”Shogun” Rua (20-6).

The events that transpired around this fight with Rua – the injury of Evans and subsequent replacement and success by Jones – have sent Quinton Jackson’s former training partners on a collision course within the division.

They have also aided the creation of one of mixed martial arts’ (MMA) fast-rising training camps – the Blackzilians from Imperial Athletics – culminating in this weekend’s fight.

For Evans, it was important for the Blackzilians camp, which he co-created with several detached American Top Team fighters, to share a positive environment.

He mentioned to The Roar that they have a “great work ethic, great overall mentality, great coaching staff and the best coaches.”

While basing himself away from the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas, Evans’ has still found it challenging with his approach to the bout.

This has been made further difficult by the requirements of a Ultimate Fight Championship (UFC) main event, mentioning that there is “pressure to try and make the UFC documentaries and behind-the-scenes footage” while preparing physically and mentally for the five-round battle.

Evans hasn’t been shy of large fights, though. His UFC career spans seven years and includes two weight classes, a season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), a record of 12-1-1 and experience against heavy-hitting competitors such as Tito Ortiz, Rampage Jackson, Michael Bisping and Forrest Griffin.

What makes this fight a little unusual is the fact that even with an impressive resume, Evans is quite the underdog going into his UFC 145 bout.

This doesn’t seem to phase him, though, with Rashad acknowledging that being the underdog is “something that is not new to me”, before quickly adding that “I don’t pay that much attention”.

The combination of having a fight postponed and being the underdog isn’t new to Evans either, with the current fight drawing a similarity to that he had with Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell at UFC 88, back in 2008.

That fight resulted in a knock-out win for Evans.

While not looking to make comparisions Evans does acknowledge how similar they are.

“This fight is a different product; firstly Jones is the champion,” he adds.

Given that this is the first UFC event to be held in Atlanta since the Liddell KO, surely history could be well onto repeating itself and we may see Evans crowned as the light-heavyweight champion for the second time.

To win his first championship title, Evans overcome a season-one TUF fighter and then-champion Forrest Griffin to win via a technical knock-out in the third round at UFC 92, in December 2008.

It was a battle of TUF winners, with Evans successfully taking out the competition in season two.

In fact, Evans is one of two fighters from the early seasons of TUF (the other being Michael Bisping) who are still a threat to their division’s titles.

For Evans, he does look fondly on his journey through the TUF route, mentioning that “TUF helped a lot; it reminded me of NCAA division 1 wrestling in college and having to constantly fight”.

“While it does help it may not give me the edge,” he said.

Whatever edge is needed to face Jones, Evans certainly has it.

He is not one to back down in hyping the fight, with the rivalry with Jones and the Jackson’s MMA training camp constantly mentioned.

As Jones himself seems to have successfully polarised the MMA-fan community, have fans turned to Evans, who has experienced his own amount of booing crowds in his career?

“I have noticed that I am receiving more support” he answers, “whether or not it’s because I am fighting Jon Jones or have become familiar within the UFC since I have been in it for seven years”.

Evans does go on the say that “some people may have been upset in the beginning because I beat some of their favourites”.

Whatever the story there certainly is a push of support for the Blackzilian fighter, who is looking to be the more relaxed and a more experienced fighter in the lead-up to this highly anticipated title fight.