UFC light heavyweight Rashad Evans (19-3-1) spoke recently with the Las Vegas Sun’s Case Keefer, and made some promises.
“Every time I get a chance to go through that experience, it kind of reminds me why I started fighting,” said Evans. “I started to do a bit of soul-searching and started to think about the reasons why I enjoy fighting and the reasons why I started this journey in the first place. It was the simplicity of challenging myself again.”
“I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do it again after the second surgery. I didn’t know where it was going to put me — as far as my body was concerned was one thing but just the desire to keep training and putting my body through it was another thing entirely. Sometimes, I would want do it, and sometimes, I’d be like, ‘I’m done. I don’t feel like doing this anymore.’”
Bader poked at the pudge on the former champion via his twitter saying Evans was starting to resemble Daniel Cormier. Rashad fired back.
“He should know one thing: I would never get into the cage looking fat,” said Evans. “But he should hope for that version of me because by him doing that, he’s messed up. He’s going to get the Rashad Evans that showed up and whipped Chael. Too bad for Bader.”
Evans had been on a two-fight win streak when he got injured. A win over Bader could get him a shot at the winner of Cormier vs Gustafsson. But Evans doesn’t think Bader is ready for a title fight.
“I don’t think he has the high-level wins consistently to warrant a title shot,” said Evans. “He’s shown he has become a little bit smarter fighter, but honestly speaking, Bader used to be the dumbest damn fighter in the UFC.”
“I love the trash talking and everything else. It’s just a part of the sport and I laugh about it because, when it’s all said and done, these are the memories I’ll remember the most.”