Rashad Evans is one of the most successful light heavyweights in UFC history, a former champion. Yet, over the last year, he has labeled himself a loser.
Evans has fallen in his last two UFC fights, including arguably the worst effort of his career against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. But his feeling of inadequacy has nothing to do with his performances in the cage.
Evans, 33, has been going through a divorce that just recently has been hashed out.
“I felt like a failure in life,” Evans said at a media luncheon this week. “I felt like I failed my kids and I failed a lot of things. It took a lot for me mentally to put myself in a place where I was able to compete. I had to forgive myself and let myself know it was OK that things didn’t work out, and move on from that. It was definitely something that I had to put my mind to and focus on and do.”
The Niagara Falls native is hoping all of that mental gridlock has been put in the rearview mirror. Evans meets dangerous veteran Dan Henderson in the main event of UFC 161 on Saturday night in Winnipeg.
It’s not a must-win for the man who has beaten the likes of Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. But it’s close. Henderson is 42 years old and coming off a loss to Lyoto Machida. Evans cannot afford to fall Saturday night if he hopes to one day challenge again for the light heavyweight title. And he knows it.
“I can’t beat anybody with my legacy,” Evans said. “I can’t go in and say, ‘Alright, guy. There’s my résumé. That means you should lose.’ People don’t give a f— about that. It doesn’t help me right now, because it doesn’t help me win a fight.”
The divorce has also separated Evans from his kids for long periods of time. His oldest daughter lives in Montreal and his two youngest children live in Chicago. During training camp, he has no time to visit, but he plans on dedicating his whole summer to them.
The changes in Evans’ life have also taken him to Florida after he left Jackson’s Gym in Albuquerque, N.M., before his title fight with former teammate Jon Jones last year. Evans now has his own team, the Blackzilians, near Miami.
“Everything was just so new,” he said. “The change in environments, moving to a new place. Pretty much having a new life, a new life altogether. It was different for me, because I really didn’t know where to go, where to turn, what was wrong with me, how to dissect it, how to even address it for the most part.”
Evans hopes to get back to basics against Henderson. He’ll be the faster, more athletic man. Though Henderson was an Olympic wrestler, Evans’ style of wrestling is better suited for MMA. He knows he’ll have to be versatile and show the grizzled veteran a variety of attacks.
But the biggest difference must come from between his ears. At the end of the luncheon, a reporter asked Evans what advice his mother has given him.
“Bring some of that swag back,” Evans said, impersonating his mom.
No matter whose voice those words are in, they’re something to follow in this crossroads bout.