Rashad Books Gabriel Checco in MMA Return

Former UFC champion Rashad Evans is coming out of retirement and his opponent will be Gabriel Checco.

The two will compete for Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Eagle FC promotion in their US debut on the January 28th card according to ESPN.
Evans (19-8-1) retired following a loss to Anthony Smith at UFC 225 in June 2018. The Florida resident will try to snap a five-fight losing streak upon his return.

Rashad, inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2019, explained why he made the decision to return to competitive mixed martial arts in an interview with SiriusXM:

“I’m not crazy, I know what this is and what this is about,” Rashad Evans said. “ It doesn’t take away the significance of it. Sometimes we get to the mindset where we’re like ‘if I’m not chasing the belt, then I’m not chasing anything’. But for me, to compete is my reward. For me to do it in a way and a shape that I want to, that’s all I need to be honest. I just see life differently. I know what I’m capable of when I’m at my best and I just want to feel that feeling again.”

It’s a risk for him to enter the cage again after three and a half years away, but it’s one he’s willing to take.

Evans, 42 years old, is a former UFC light heavyweight champion – but his last win came against Chael Sonnen back in November 2013. Since then, he’s lost five straight and has been knocked out by both Glover Teixeira and Anthony Smith.

Gabriel Checco, 35 years old, has won two of his past three fights and is coming off a first-round TKO win over Simon Marini. Two of his recent fights have come against current UFC fighters: a TKO loss to Jordan Wright and a knockout loss to Ian Heinisch.

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RIP Ultimate Fighter

What sloppy ass record keeping. Who mixes grappling matches with fights? They need to put that stuff in sections.

ttt

And since Rashad has never been submitted in his entire career (Sam Hoger came oh-so-close to submitting him), I’m liking this matchup.

All I wanted for Christmas was Rashad coming out of retirement, and the Eagles making the playoffs.

Already got one - and I really like my chances of getting both.

#RashadIsTheMan #RashadFights4Me

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Pour some Suga On It

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UFC Hall of Famer Rashad Evans is rapidly approaching his first fight in more than 3.5 years, and he feels good about his decision to come out of retirement.

Evans (19-8-1), who meets Gabriel Checco (12-5) in a light heavyweight bout at Eagle FC 44 on Jan. 28 in Miami, will step back in the cage after a long absence from the sport. At 42, many will question why he’s doing it, but Evans said he’s totally “rejuvenated” and is returning to competition for the right reasons.

“I’ve been trying to get myself into a fight for a while now,” Evans told MMA Junkie Radio. “(I’ve been) just training with it for a while, having fun with it and came to the point where I’m like, ‘Maybe we’ll get a few more in and see what happens.’ (I’m) just excited. It’s been a lot of fun to get back into it and to start to train again like old times.”
The run leading up to Evans’ retirement was far from ideal. The former UFC light heavyweight champion and Season 2 winner of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series lost five consecutive fights to end his memorable UFC career, albeit to some top competition including Anthony Smith, current champion Glover Teixeira and current Bellator heavyweight champ Ryan Bader.

Evans was approaching his 40th birthday at the time he hung up the gloves, and despite the losses stacking up on paper, he said his choice to retire never sat completely right.

“When I got done from competing, I felt as if, like, I didn’t really give everything that I could give,” Evans said. “I kind of stopped not when it was my biggest choice to. I more or less stopped based on just the emotion of how I was feeling at the time. I couldn’t really figure things out on a certain level and I was like, ‘I can’t compete like this.’ As soon as I did some soul-searching and just kind of figuring some things out with myself, I got the desire to compete again.”

As Evans enters this next chapter of his career and life, he said he’s not going to limit himself as to what’s possible. He envisions more than one fight in his future, but said it’s all going to depend on how the clash with Checco plays out.

“It can definitely be more than one time,” Evans said. “For sure it can be more than one time. But I’m 42 years old, so I just take my time – take it one fight at a time.”

You may be interested to know that Checco is picked to win on tapology by 81% to 19%, despite the fact that Rashad beat Keith Jardine (in the TUF 2 semifinal), who has beaten Francisco France, who has in turn beaten Checco.

Is this at 185? Rashad looks like a 155lber nowadays.

I don’t care how much money he needs, he should stay retired.

bumppp

The last thing Rashad Evans wants in his return from retirement is to become a cautionary tale.

The former UFC light heavyweight champion will compete for the first time in nearly four years while serving as the co-main event for the upcoming Eagle FC 44 card in Miami where he faces submission specialist Gabriel Checco.

While Evans certainly isn’t the first fighter to hang up his gloves only to put them back on again, he’s being realistic about his comeback without making any grand declarations when it comes to his future.

“It’s one [fight] and let’s see what happens,” Evans said on The Fighter vs. The Writer . “I’m 42 years old and I’m not disillusioned to the point where I’m thinking I’m going to go on another five years of being able to competing at the highest level.

“I’m competing against guys who are a lot younger and have different ambitions where they want to be in the fight game. So it’s different. I’m working at a disadvantage here in that sense but at the same time, I do enjoy it and I still want to go out there and still show what I got.”

When he called it a career back in 2018, Evans was on the tail end of a five fight losing streak in the UFC including a brutal knockout loss to Anthony Smith in what was his final appearance inside the octagon.

After retiring, Evans focused on being a dad, building businesses, serving as an analyst on UFC broadcasts and eventually coaching the next generation of fighters near his home in Florida.

It was through those training sessions that the former Ultimate Fighter season 2 winner started getting the hunger to compete again and he recognized that right away because it’s something he didn’t feel in the last few fights of his career.

“Ever since I retired, I’ve been making my way back to MMA as far as my love for it and the feeling I had for it when I originally started,” Evans explained. “Because towards the end of my career, I kind of fizzled out to the point where I really didn’t want to be in there. I wasn’t really connected to the fight. I really wasn’t bringing forth the part of myself that I know I can bring forth.

“It was bittersweet towards the end of my career in the UFC but through the years of training afterwards, I started to find that love again for fighting and fighting for MMA.”