Morning Report: Rashad Evans isn’t ready to retire yet, wants to ‘explore’ 185

There is still some fight left in Rashad Evans.

Two weeks ago, Evans was brutally knocked out in 72 seconds by Glover Teixeira in the main event of UFC on FOX 19. The loss had many, including UFC president Dana White, believing Evans would hang up his gloves and transition permanently to his desk job as an analyst for Fox Sports. But in an interview with Inside MMA on AXS TV, Evans reaffirmed his desire to continue competing and talked about what he needs to change to right the ship.

“There definitely needs to be a change. And the hardest thing about that fight is the fact that it was only a minute and a half. When they’re so short like that, it’s hard to find that black box to see where things went wrong. And who knows what would have happened if it would have gone longer and you have all these questions in your mind that you keep on saying. It’s hard because I felt like I had a great camp. I felt like I was physically strong and my timing was good and I really have no excuse. I can’t think of one thing to say ‘this is an area to look at that I need to get better [in]’. It’s disappointing and it’s really frustrating for me because this is the second time in my career I’m riding a two-fight losing streak.”

Not only is Evans on a two-fight losing streak, he has lost four of his last six. Prior to the Teixeira loss, he dropped a unanimous decision to Ryan Bader. He went into that fight riding a two-fight winning streak, a stoppage of former middleweight contender Chael Sonnen and a very close split decision over Dan Henderson that many thought he deserved to lose. Prior to those bouts, he lost back-to-back decisions to Antonio Rogerio Noguiera and Jon Jones in a UFC light heavyweight title fight.

After his loss to Teixeira, Evans admits to feeling low, but despite his recent set backs he is still believes he is supposed to continue fighting.

“I’m definitely gonna come back. The biggest test for me was this. You know, after I lost I was very upset and I threw a little pity party. Went and hung out with my family. And then about 3 in the morning. 3:30. I had a feeling inside, it was just anxiousness. I got up, put my running shoes on, and I ran for three hours. I just ran and I ran and it was just, I needed to kinda just cleanse my mind and just move past it and that was my sign that I need to continue to keep on fighting.”

Since Evans still wishes to compete the question becomes who would be a suitable next opponent. Evans is currently the No. 7 ranked light heavyweight contender with losses to half the men ranked ahead of them and he won’t fight another one of them (his training partner Anthony Johnson). Should he choose to stay at light heavyweight, a potential match-up against the recently defeated Ovince Saint Preux could materialize, but Evans posed another idea.

“After that I was like ‘you know what, I’m gonna make some changes.’ Possibly drop down to 185. I feel like I can compete at 205 of course, but at the end of the day I want to be able to physically be able to dominate if I need to and I feel like at some point I may have lost that a bit at 205. I just want to do something to kinda switch things up to be a little bit fresh. I’ll still take fights at 205 and whatnot but I might explore the idea of 185 a little bit more.”

Dropping weight to compete in a lower weight class is one of the most widely used tools a fighter has to rejuvenate his career and 185 could be a good fit for Evans who has always been an undersized light heavyweight. It also opens up some new possibilities for him and could potentially be the genesis of another title run in a division still looking for more contenders. (Interestingly, it would also mark the fourth fighter Jon Jones defeated during his first light heavyweight reign who either previously was a middleweight or later dropped down to 185.)

Evans has no timetable for his return to the cage but if he does drop to middleweight it would mark the third weight division he has fought in in the UFC, having entered the promotion by winning The Ultimate Fighter 2 heavyweight tournament final by defeating Brad Imes. But regardless of the weight class, Evans is not ready to …

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