Rashad Evans lagkamrat Anthony Johnson kommer snart att möta Jon Jones om lätt tungviktstiteln i maj och detta har gjort att Evans nu börjat fundera på att gå ner till mellanvikt.
Det här berättade Evans, via ”MMAJunkie”:
When Anthony wins, I’m not going to fight Anthony. I’m just going to help him be the strongest champ he can be. At that point, I may go down to 185 or do some superfights or whatever.
I’ve got to chase the belt. I can’t just be hanging around, doing these fights for money. I’ve got to fight for something. At that point, if he wins, I’ll probably drop down to 185.
Evans skulle ha varit med under UFC Fight Night 61 under söndagen, men blev sedan tvungen att operera sitt knä en andra gång. Han kommer nu vara borta tills slutet på året och när han kommer tillbaka kommer det att ha gått nästan två sedan han senast gick en match.
Under den tiden har Johnson klättrat upp i rankningarna och har blivit Jones näste titelutmanare. Evans tror att Johnson tar hem titeln med hjälp av sin knockout-kraft.
Det här berättar Evans:
If Anthony wins, I definitely would strongly consider moving down to 185. One of the biggest problems for me is just being able to cut down. Believe it or not, I’m pretty heavy. I get up to like 240 (pounds). If I went down, it would have to be over a period of time, and I’d have to do it like Machida did it.
Machida went down and stayed down and kind of chipped away at it. That’s what I would have to do: Reset my body to go lower and lower and then kind of stay lower. It would be a hard cut for me cutting from 240 all the way to 185.
Det finns ett scenario där Evans ser sig själv i lätt tungviktssdivisionen med Johnson som mästare, då han berättar att han är intresserad av att gå en returmatch mot Jones:
I want to compete against the best, and if Jones loses, I definitely want to fight Jones again. We were teammates. We competed against each other, and it was a great time, but I still am competitive, and I would like to get that fight back. No matter what, I want to get that.
Evans mötte senast Chael Sonnen under UFC 167, då han segrade via knockout.
