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Rashad Evans looks forward to date with the Iceman after string of no-shows |
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Written by Neil Davidson, THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Wednesday, 27 August 2008 |
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Rashad Evans is spoiling for a fight. The unbeaten light-heavyweight has not seen action since November, with injuries to possible opponents playing havoc with his schedule.
Evans' wait will be over Sept. 6 in Atlanta when the mixed martial arts fighter, winner of Season 2 of "The Ultimate Fighter" reality TV show, faces off against MMA icon and former champion Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell at UFC 88.
"A lot of unfortunate circumstances happened. But it only makes you stronger as a fighter," Evans said of his recent bumpy road. "It tests your will.
"I've been training since, man, since the beginning of the year. I've been training for a while for this fight."
Initially Evans (16-0-1) was preparing for a May bout with Brazilian Thiago Silva. Then he was brought in to replace the injured Mauricio (Shogun) Rua against Liddell at UFC 85 in London on June 7. But that fell by the wayside when Liddell tore his hamstring training in April. James (The Sandman) Irvin was brought in as a replacement opponent but then broke his foot.
"Roller-coaster, man," said Evans. "It's just been crazy. ... It's kind of disheartening at times.
"You just have to constantly readjust your focus and keep your eyes on the prize and know that it's just a business. Sometimes it's like that."
Evans eventually dropped off the UFC 85 bill totally, taking a two-week break to rest his body. Then it was back to training - and biding bided his time until Liddell (21-5) was healthy again.
The Iceman could be a case of 'be careful of what you wish for' for the 28-year-old Evans, who at five foot 11 is smaller, less experienced and perhaps shorter on firepower than the six-foot-two Iceman - although the UFC, in pumping up the bout, instead refers to Evans as "younger, faster and undefeated." But a win over the 38-year-old Liddell would vault Evans towards the front of the line of 205-pound contenders.
Evans hopes his youth, strength and explosiveness "will put him (Liddell) to the test."
Liddell, however, has knockout power in both fists and feet and, as a counter puncher, loves opponents who come at him. He also has one of the best takedown defences in the business and rarely leaves his feet.
Evans has been able to get up close and personal with many of his opponents. That may not be the case with Liddell.
"That (on his feet) is exactly where he wants to be," said Evans, "but I think that he's also going to try and switch things up and maybe try to take me down or even just put pressure on me to see if he can make me shoot (for a takedown), take a bad shot."
Liddell lost his title by TKO to Quinton (Rampage) Jackson at UFC 71 in May 2007 and fell another notch when he dropped a split decision to Keith (The Dean of Mean) Jardine at UFC 76 in September 2007. But he showed signs of the old hard-hitting Iceman when he won a unanimous decision in a slugfest with Wanderlei (The Axe Murderer) Silva at UFC 79 in December.
There is no bad blood here. Silva and Liddell were cordial when they joined forces for a pre-fight news conference in Atlanta at the end of June.
"It was good. He was very cool and just laid-back," said Evans. "There's a lot of respect there. He's very confident in his skills. He's where he wants to be. But then at the same time he's not overlooking me, he's not disrespecting in any kind of way, so it's just business as usual. Nothing personal."
Evans is 6-0-1 in the UFC, with five of the fights going the distance. But the two he ended early were impressive. He knocked out Jason (The Punisher) Lambert at UFC 63 in September 2006, mounting Lambert and then leaving him out cold after 20 unanswered blows to the head. He followed that up in January 2007, sending Sean Salmon to la-la land with a kick to the head just 66 seconds into the bout.
The Evans' express slowed down the next two fights, although he preserved his unbeaten record. He fought Tito Ortiz to a draw at UFC 73 in July 2007 but needed a point deduction to Ortiz for holding onto the fence to do it.
And Evans seemingly ran out of gas and options in a split decision over Michael Bisping, winner of Season 3 of "The Ultimate Fighter," at UFC 78 in November. Bisping promptly moved down to middleweight.
Evans had expected a rematch with Ortiz, saying he was "messed up" mentally when he had to fight Bisping instead.
"I had in my mind that I was going to get that fight (with Ortiz) back and then when I didn't, I was kind of upset and depressed about it and I didn't really have the proper motivation to going in to fight somebody. So you go in there and you have a performance that's just subpar. Taking nothing away from Michael Bisping, he fought a great fight, but it just wasn't the best that I could do."
This time, however, he has no complaints about the Liddell matchup.
"Liddell's a class act, he's a great guy to begin with," Evans said. " To fight somebody who's an icon of the sport, who has accomplished as much as has and to fight somebody who is or was where I want to be, is a great honour.
"It's a great test for myself to see if I've really got what it takes."
Evans, a native of Niagara Falls, N.Y., has Canadian ties. He trains with the Greg Jackson camp in Albuquerque, N.M., which is also a training base for UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre of Montreal. Evans has a daughter who lives in Montreal so he spends a lot of time there, seeing her and training with St. Pierre.
"I love Montreal," he said. "It's a great city, one of my favourites. I like it because I know my way around and I can get to wherever I need to."
His French, however, is "not good at all."
"But I have Rosetta Stone," he said with a laugh, referring to the language-learning software. "So I'm going to surprise people."
NOTES - There is confusion over whether the UFC is headed back to Montreal later this year, as had originally been suggested by president Dana White. Now there are reports that the November show is slated for Portland instead of Montreal. "We are still up in the air. It changes daily," White said of the Montreal date .... The Edmonton-based Maximum Fighting Championship is adding a featherweight (145-pound) division.
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