The last thing Rashad Evans wants in his return from retirement is to become a cautionary tale.
The former UFC lightweight champion will be competing for the first-time in almost four years. This event also serves as co-main for the Eagle FC 44 Miami card, where Gabriel Checco (submission specialist) is the opponent.
While Evans is not the first to throw his gloves up and put them back on, he has been realistic in his approach to his return without making grand statements about what lies ahead.
“It’s one [fight] and let’s see what happens,” Evans said on The Fighter vs. The writer . “I am 42 and not so disillusioned that I think I can compete at the top level for five more years.
” I’m competing with guys that are much younger than me and who have very different goals. 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 Evans called it quits, he was at the end of his five-fight losing streak in UFC. This included a devastating knockout loss against Anthony Smith. It was also his last appearance in 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. It was not something I felt connected with. It was not the same part of me that I am capable of bringing 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.”
Although Evans was physically in good shape, he wasn’t mentally prepared to handle the mental strains that comes with mixed martial arts.
Looking back now, he recognizes that all the preparation in the world couldn’t have helped him get the job done when he just wasn’t mentally present in those fights.
” That’s why Evans retired. Evans said, “I felt like I couldn’t really bring it mentally anymore.” Cause being a fighter, being physically ready is one thing but being ready mentally is a whole other thing in itself. It is crucial to know the ‘why’ behind your actions. When you don’t reassess that ‘why’ and you don’t have that focus on why you’re doing it, you can kind of get lost in the sauce of it all.
” If you are not involved with the sport .”
, it can be very difficult to get connected. The nerves and what you’re getting prepared to do start to weigh heavily on your body.
According to Evans, another major component in his comeback came during the past two years while the world has been trying to survive a global pandemic.
” With the COVID situation and the various restrictions that COVID is still imposing, it almost feels like we are running out of time for the things that truly matter to us,” Evans stated. Every day, we are getting closer and closer to being subjected to more restrictions.
” Many people are uncomfortable thinking about this. Although many people are reluctant to discuss it, the truth is that there is no world where this freedom is possible. If I could do it .”
, this would be a sign that someone truly values freedom and expression.
Because he’s been around the sport for so many years, Evans has seen more than enough examples of fighters returning from retirement for all the wrong reasons whether it’s just financially motivated or simply not being able to walk away from being a competitor.
For Evans, he’s absolutely approaching his second chapter from a selfish place because this is just something he wants to do for himself.
Evans doesn’t want to place unreasonable expectations on his return. He’s simply saying that he is back for at most one fight, then we’ll see where it leads.
“I’m just doing it for me,” Evans said. “That’s what this whole journey from when I retired has been about. The journey, my whole life. It was about finding me again, not just in the sport. Competing from that place where I’ve come to learn myself from because I feel as if when I was competing, I started out one way but then just getting caught and being part of the flow of things and getting caught in the fame of it all.
” You lose some of the self-confidence that you had when you started. The one that enjoys every single part of it and just yearns to do it on a different level. That was the part that I had lost touch with. It’s now that I love it back and am in love with fighting again
