Rashad Evans Releases Statement On Fighting Future

Last night (Sat. June 10, 2018) at UFC 225 former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans suffered his fifth consecutive loss in three years.

He was finished in just 53 seconds of the first round by Anthony Smith by way of a devastating knee. In the UFC 225 post-fight press conference, Dana White noted that he spoke to Evans after the fight and hinted this could be the end of his fighting career (quotes via MMA Fighting):

“When he lost, I had him come back to my room,” White said“We hung out and talked, and yeah, it’s sad. Rashad was on season two of The Ultimate Fighter, so he was around through the whole building of this company. We all get old, man, and this is a young man’s sport.

“But if you look at what he [did], he won The Ultimate Fighter, he became a world champion, he [built] this team where he was like the guy and built all these young up-and-coming fighters. He’s been in big, huge fights. He’s been on the ride with us the whole way and he got to close it out in his hometown of Chicago, so not a bad run.”

The UFC boss also let it slip out that Evans had told him he plans on hanging up his gloves for good:

“Yeah, he did. Yeah,” White said. “Again, I don’t want to stomp on his — if he was going to retire or whatever, I don’t want to steal the thunder from him. And obviously after a fight like that, he’s super emotional too. So yeah, I hope he does.”

Earlier today Evans took to Instagram and posted a lengthy statement in regards to his fighting career, but didn’t confirm whether or not he was in fact officially retiring:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj2WWO0jmn5/?utm_source=ig_embed