He has a story that read like a blueprint to MMA success until it started to look like a typical tale of when fighter’s don’t know when to quit. “Suga” Rashad Evans’ decorated career took a hit last weekend when he took his fourth consecutive loss to “Smile’n” Sam Alvey.
“Smile’n” Sam who you might ask?
Well, he is a middle of the road fighter that just rebounded from a loss against Thales Leites, the former light heavyweight champion. Evans lost a split decision against Alvey in Mexico City on the undercard which is an indictment of Evans’ puttering career.
Chris Crawford on Twitter
Rashard Evans is done. Go start pumping gas for a living
At one time Evans was the picture of UFC success. He won The Ultimate Fighter Season 2 as a heavyweight, following up the epic Forrest Griffin vs Stephan Bonnar season 1 which put the UFC on the map for many. Evans followed that up by going an undefeated 12-0 into his championship bout with then champion Forrest Griffin. He had just knocked out Chuck Liddell in Atlanta at UFC 88 in the second round and looked to cement his rise with a strap.
Evans then was seen as the unapologetically black fighter with dynamite in his hands. He was an astute wrestler but rarely had to show it because his fists settled all matchups. At the time his manager, Jervis Cole, was a former international professional basketball player who helped get Evans a deal with Microsoft. You might remember his Bill Gates mugshot walkout shirt at UFC 88; it was just as polarizing as him at the time.
Fight Night Tampa: Timeline – Rashad Evans
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans takes you back through the big moments from his career beginning with his win on the Ultimate Fighter all the way through his championship victory over Forrest Griffin.
Not surprisingly, he demolished Griffin with a third round TKO and was immediately considered an undefeatable light heavyweight juggernaut. But then Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida came and dethroned him with a second round knockout at UFC 98 and the world saw he wasn’t flawless. Still, Evans had shown true grit and he rebounded accordingly compiling four wins in a row after. But it really wasn’t until his leg injury in 2014 that Father Time began to catch up to Evans and his status went from temporarily rehabbing an injury to sidelined indefinitely.
From 2015 to today he has four consecutive losses and is now not even headliner worthy in a rapidly changing UFC environment. A fighter like Rashad Evans, who has been so successful for so long, might find it hard to know when to throw in the towel but a loss to a person like “Smile’n” Sam Alvey should sound the alarm. Either way, he’s a future Hall of Famer that deserves respect and should not lower his head to a career ending on a losing streak.
