Former Champ Rashad Evans Officially Announces Retirement From MMA

Former UFC champion Rashad Evans finally announces retirement from MMA competition after a 13-year career.

Evans is coming off a knock out loss to Anthony Smith (28-14 MMA, 5-3 UFC) at UFC 225. It pushed Rashad’s losing skid to five fights. He hasn’t tasted a win since November 2013.

Evans appeared on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, where he said he decided to retire after having some time to think following his loss to Smith. (Via MMAMania)

“I feel pretty good. I took some time to settle my feelings and just get my mind around everything that happened and just be honest with myself. I feel like I have thought about things and had the time away with my own thoughts to make a real evaluation on what the next step is. I am going to retire. At one point in my life I felt fighting was everything and I put life second. But now life is taking over and fighting has become second. Competing in a sport like MMA where you have a lot of guys who havn’t been to the top of the mountain and haven’t experienced the things I have, they are really hungry for it. Me, I was just lukewarm. I have been through a lot in the sport, a lot of fights and I don’t look at the sport the same way. It’s hard, man. I didn’t want to go out losing, but at the same time it’s what I need to do because I feel like I have other things in life that are calling me to go to. I thought about how hard it would be for me to say these words and say it out loud, but, I needed to, this is part of the healing and part of me accepting what is. And I can’t fool myself any longer about it. The hard part about it is that physically I feel good enough to compete though I did get knocked out in 56 seconds. I still feel there is a part of me, that desire, that competition. But at the same time, I just don’t have that in me no more to want to do it again.”

“Suga” debuted in MMA back in 2004 and stayed unbeaten in his first 13 bouts.

He scores the UFC light heavyweight title via a third-round knockout win over Forrest Griffin at UFC 92 back in 2008 before losing the strap in his next clash to Lyoto Machida.

After that, he racked up four straight wins and had a chance to win a title against Jon Jones at UFC 145 in 2012, but he ultimately came up short via unanimous-decision. After this loss, his disappointing run never stops with MMA record of 19-8-1.

Published on June 26, 2018 at 12:00 am
Stay up-to-date with the latest MMA news, rumors, and updates by following the RED Monster on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, don't forget to add MiddleEasy to your Google News feed Follow us on Google News for even more coverage.

Related

Leave a Comment