Inside MMA Mixed Martial Arts

MMA ? Profile MMA fighter Rashad Evans

Rashad Evans is one of the premier fighters in the Mixed Martial arts circuit of today.  He is originally from Lansing, Michigan, and was born on September 25, 1979.   Evans has had an interesting and fulfilling MMA career so far and looks to continue improving his record and his skills.  He is currently a part of the Ultimate Fighting Championship where he has some notable wins against skilled opponents such as Forrest Griffin and Chuck Liddell.  He is a former Light Heavyweight Champion but lost the title to Lyoto Machida in UFC 98.  He is a part of Jackson's Submission Fighting gym and trains in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Rashad Evans began his professional MMA career around 2004 where he won 5 MMA fights under the teachings of Dan Severn.  This got him a gig on the Ultimate Fighter 2, which was a Spike television reality show.  Throughout the course of the show he beat competitors Tom Murphy, Keith Jardine, Mike Whitehead, and finally Brad Imes in order to secure a three-year UFC contract.

Once the show was complete, Evans dropped to a light heavyweight and fought his first fight against Sam Hoger on April 6, 2006.  Evans won that fight and followed it with another victory over Stephen Bonnar on June 28 in 2006.

Evans next big career milestone was when he defeated Chuck Liddell in a convincing victory at UFC 88 in 2008.  The fight ended with Liddell trying to uppercut him while he countered with a large right hand and landed it clean to bring him down.  It was considered one of the great knockouts of the year and secured Evans as a premier fighter in the league.

In 2008, Evans got the chance to fight Forrest Griffin for the UFC light heavyweight title belt.  The fight was scheduled for December 27 and had a lot of hype around it.  The first two rounds were all Griffin as he kept Evans at bay with a barrage of low kicks and precision striking.  The third round was where Rashad got his break and dropped Griffin and finished him off with some old fashioned ground and pound.   He captured the title and was even considered fighter of the year.  The glory was not to last, however, as he lost the belt to Lyoto Machida after being knocked out by a flurry of well executed punches.

Ever since that loss to Machida, Evans has been on the long road back to getting his belt back.  He was scheduled to fight Thiago Silva in UFC 108 and was told that if he could beat him that he would have a chance at taking on Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.  The day of the fight, Evans would announce that he had achieved his Jiu Jitsu black belt that morning and would go on to beat Silva by a unanimous decision.  Throughout the match he would use a variety of grappling holds to bring Silva down and keep him frustrated.

The next challenge for Evans will be his fight against Rampage Jackson at UFC 114 on May, 29, 2010.  He will need to execute well and get Jackson down early in order to beat him in the match.  If he can beat Jackson he will continue his legacy as one of the best MMA fighters in the world.