Even though Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight middleweight Rashad Evans (19-5-1) is on possibly the worst streak of his career, that’s not going to change his positive attitude ahead of his debut at 185 pounds for the UFC’s first trip to his home state of New York at UFC 205.
While Evans was on “UFC Unfiltered with Jim Norton and Matt Serra,” he discussed a few topics, including his upcoming bout against Tim Kennedy (18-5), his recent loss against No. 3 ranked light heavyweight Glover Teixeira (25-5), and his current mindset about fighting.
“Suga” revealed some details about the pressure he put on himself heading into fights, saying, “I used to get so, just so into my own head about ‘I have to win this fight and this has to be this and this has to be this’ and, you know, so much about the results of everything that I kind of would give myself too much anxiety about it.”
The current No. 8 ranked light heavyweight, who is in the midst of changing divisions, is on a two-fight losing skid and has lost four of his last six bouts. His last fight was a devastating loss to the hands of Glover Teixeira, who knocked out Evans within two minutes of the very first round. Rashad informed Norton and Serra of how he responded to that loss.
“After I got knocked out by Glover Teixiera, I got knocked out in like a minute and-a-half and I’m just like overwhelmingly embarrassed, and then more importantly, just disappointed because this was the fight!” said Evans. “That was the fight! That was the night I was gonna come back and I was gonna show the world that I still got it and, you know, they slept on me and everything, I was like that, and that was the fight. And I went and sh*t the bed and I’m like ‘f**k’, you know what I’m saying? I just couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t wrap my mind around it because, in my head, I just knew I was gonna win the fight.”
Since the crushing loss to the Brazilian, Evans has had some revelations about competing in mixed martial arts (MMA). He delivered some revealing and insightful things to say regarding how he has reverted his old mindset heading into a fight.
“I had to trust the fact that whatever has happened in the past and, you know, my depression after I lose, it all works out,” said Evans. “It all works out no matter what, you know what I’m saying? There’s not a loss that I had that I can’t come back from, you know? And then from going through that experience to help me to understand that I can still go out there and compete. I can win, I can lose. But at the end of the day, I’m not going to be less of a man if I lose, and training myself to that mindset has allowed me to enjoy this sport a lot more.”
Aside from his feud with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, where most were siding with Jackson, Evans has always been one of the more likable fighters in the UFC. Hearing humanizing material like this from him only makes him more appealing to everybody. We’ll have to see if his new mindset is going to aid him to victory against Kennedy inside of “The World’s Most Famous Arena”, Madison Square Garden on Nov. 12.
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