CRUSH SHOT SPORTS BOXING NEWS & SPECIAL LINKS
Story by Victor Perea
Once again UFC light heavyweight contender Rashad Evans prepares to enter the octagon, and in now customary fashion, the TUF 2 heavyweight winner will enter the cage a doubted underdog.
“I never really cared,” said Evans from his training camp at Jackson’s Gaidojutsu in Albuquerque, N.M. “It never really mattered because the only ones that really matter to me, know what I am capable of. My fans know my abilities.”
Evans (15-0) will once again put his unblemished record on the line when he takes the former UFC light heavyweight champion “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz (16-5) on UFC 73: STACKED, this Saturday in Sacramento at the Arco Arena.
“Of course the UFC is the biggest stage for our sport,” says Evans. “The entire card is really good. I know a lot of people will be watching—and I’m sure many of them will recognize and root for Tito. But that doesn’t matter.
“Fans can’t stop a takedown.”
UFC President Dana White has stated on several occasions that one of his biggest mistakes was doubting Evans when the former Michigan State graduate first wrestled his way into the UFC.
“There were several guys on that show I thought would beat Rashad,” says White. “But it didn’t work out that way and I’m glad.”
Instead, Evans, a light heavyweight fighter, decisively made his way through the heavyweight tournament, winning the show and landing a UFC contract.
Criticized for his lack of finishing power, after winning all his fights on the show, as well as his first three UFC fights by decision, Evan has erased any doubts that he can end a fight having spectacular knockout finishes in his last two UFC outings.
“You never want it to go to a decision,” says Evans, “because no matter how you think the fight went, it’s never a sure thing. But you can’t always have it that way—that’s why you have to come in prepared to go three full rounds every time.”
With a victory over Ortiz at UFC 73: STACKED, Evans will undoubtedly place himself next in line for a shot at newly-crowned UFC light heavyweight champ Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
“Ortiz is a good wrestler but I think the best wrestler I’ve faced in the octagon is Mike Whitehead,” says Evans. “I’ve made a lot of sacrifices to get where I am in my career. I moved out here to Albuquerque to train with the best camp in the world . . . though my dog is still in Michigan. I miss my dog.
“But Ortiz knows how to talk, and that’s what he knows, and he can do that all he wants—I’ll be waiting in Sacramento.”
