Donald Cerrone And Rashad Evans Find Their Form At UFC 167

Rashad Evans came away from UFC 167 smelling of roses; he dominated Chael Sonnen, finished him in the first round and proved that he still means business. It started to look like ‘Suga’ was losing his edge in 2013; having been battered by Jon Jones for five rounds the previous year at UFC 145, Evans looked to come back strong against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. The end result was anything but a strong performance.

Evans looked sluggish and out of shape for the first time in his UFC career and paid the price, losing a unanimous decision and prompting retirement talk from MMA fans and pundits. His next bout was a very close decision win against Dan Henderson at UFC 161, again ‘Suga’ was not at his best.

What we saw at UFC 167 was a revival of the Rashad Evans that knocked out Chuck Liddell at UFC 88, that went unbeaten for his first four years as a pro and that beat three former and one current UFC Champions between 2008-11.

Evans is now being linked to a potential scrap with Alexander Gustafsson or Glover Teixeira, although GT is preparing for a title fight with Jon Jones; anything can happen. I would be very interested in seeing ‘Suga’ take on ‘The Mauler’.

Another fighter that looked to be in beast mode at UFC 167 was Donald Cerrone. If you haven’t caught the fight yet, I’d watch it. Cerrone looked like an assassin in MMA gloves as he dispatched Evan Dunham in two rounds, using his footwork and Muay Thai to wear down Dunham and eventually wrapping up a slick triangle choke.

Cerrone has also been taking some heat from the MMA community after getting pasted by Rafael dos Anjos in August this year. He looked unmotivated and, although he seemed in shape, was unable to get his shots off properly; something that coach Greg Jackson has commented on before.

I’d argue that if the UFC 167 Cowboy had shown up to face dos Anjos, well it may have been Cerrone getting talked about for a contender match. If Cerrone can keep this form, the sky is the limit.