Rashad Evans’ 53-second loss at UFC 225 could turn out to be the final Octagon appearance of his legendary career.
Evans suffered a nasty first-round knockout loss to Anthony Smith on Saturday night at UFC 225, a setback which extended his current losing streak to five straight. Afterward, UFC president Dana White said that he spoke to Evans in the aftermath of the Smith fight, and he indicated that Evans could be at the end of his 13-year run with the promotion.
“When he lost, I had him come back to my room,” White said at Saturday’s UFC 225 post-fight press conference. “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.”
Evans, 38, is one of the longest tenured fighters in the UFC. A former light heavyweight champion, Evans began his Octagon career in 2005 with a triumphant run on The Ultimate Fighter 2, then racked up a sensational 12-1-1 record over his next seven years with the company. During that time, he picked up notable wins over the likes of Michael Bisping, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, Quinton Jackson, Phil Davis, and Forrest Griffin — the last of which came at UFC 92 and earned Evans the 205-pound title.
But Evans has fallen on hard times in recent years, compiling a 2-7 record over his last nine fights and losing his last five in a row, including a pair of split-decision setbacks to Daniel Kelly and Sam Alvey in a short-lived run at middleweight. Prior to his return at UFC 225, Evans admitted that his matchup against Smith could potentially be the final fight of his career. And while Evans has yet to publicly speak on the matter, White indicated that Evans told him that he was hanging up his MMA 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.”
Evans released a long statement Sunday morning, but did not say if he would retire.
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