Rashad Evans could be calling it a career again.
The 42-year-old former UFC champion Rashad Evans might be heading into another retirement. Evans made a quick comeback to MMA recently when he fought on the main card of the Eagle FC 44 card.
Evans faced Gabriel Checco and walked away with the victory. It was the first win for Evans in quite a while. And now that he has gotten that win he was looking for, he may be ready to enjoy his retirement.
Evans had a great run in the UFC during his time there. He came to the UFC back in 2005 when he won The Ultimate Fighter Season Two. He later went on to win the light heavyweight title. Towards the end of his career, Evans ran into some trouble. He finished his UFC career with five straight losses. He spoke recently in an interview with BJPenn.com about why he chose to return to fighting.
“It was a few different things, ending my career the way I did, it didn’t sit well with me,” Evans said. “Just doing a lot of soul-searching over the past few years brought back that competitive edge and also some of the things, the pandemic put things into perspective. It made me want to compete. It felt like we were running out of time to do the things we truly love to do.”
Evans made the decision to return from a three-year retirement and join Khabib Nurmagomedov's promotion for one last shot at going out on a win. Now that Evans has gotten the win he was looking for, he doesn't feel the need to do it again.
“I don’t know, I keep asking myself if I’m going to compete again or leave it as it is. It feels good to be on this high note, a big part of me just says stay here,” Evans said. “At this point in my life, I feel as if I don’t have much to fight for. Fighting for me has always been about the personal journey and I feel like I have passed the test I needed to pass. I’m still in the gym, training and working, I’m sure maybe somewhere down the road something will pop up for me where I’m just like, let me get one more. I’m going to take my time with it. I’m 42-years-old, we’ll see. That is a big part of it, that is a huge part of it on if I will do it again. I got the win I have been so desperate to get. Now that I got the win, I don’t want to trade places and get a loss.”
Evans was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2019. He also can be seen behind the desk for various ESPN commentary media duties.
Do you think Evans is done fighting for real this time following the win?