Born September 25th, 1979, Rashad Evans grew up in New York State and was quite gifted at sports early on. During schooling at Niagra-Wheatfield High School, Evans wrestled (two-time all-state wrestler) and played multiple positions for the football team (running back while on offense, and safety while on defense). After graduating from high school in 1997, Evans attended the Niagra County Community College until 2000. While there he continued wrestling and won the National Junior College championship. In 2000 he transferred to Michigan State University where he finished his degree in Psychology.
His MMA career began in 2004 when he entered five professional matches (Dangerzone and GC promotions) and walked away the victor from each. This earned him the attention of the UFC and they offered him a chance to win a three-year, six figure contract by competing on the second season of Ultimate Fighter as one of nine Heavy Weight contenders. Evans made it all the way to the finals which was a live-broadcasted event on Spike TV on November 5th, 2005. His opponent, Brad Imes, had also avoided elimination during the show’s run and was up for the same contract that would only be awarded to the winner of the fight. Evans and Imes went toe-to-two for three rounds but in the end Rashad would win by split decision and walk away with the contract and the keys to a new car.
His first contracted fight within the UFC took place on April 6th, 2006 against Sam Hoger who was a semi-finalist on the first season of Ultimate Fighter. Since his victory over Imes, Evans had taken the opportunity to drop down in weight class (from Heavy-Weight to Light-Weight) believing that he would have a better advantage in the ring (his size had made him one of the smallest Heavy-Weights in the octagon). Though he was nearly defeated in the second round by submission, Evans survived all three rounds and defeated Hoger by split decision.
On June 28th, 2006, Evans was matched up against another contender from the first season of Ultimate Fighter, Stephan Bonnar. Though Bonnar survived all three rounds with Evans, Evans was clearly the dominate fighter, displaying a large number of take-downs and body slams against the struggling Bonnar. Though he criticizes Evans for stalling on the ground, fight commentator Joe Rogan believed that Evans deserved to win by unanimous decision instead of ending in a split decision.
His most recent fight occurred on September 23rd, 2006 against Jason Lambert. This would be the first victory that Evans earned that was not by decision, pummeling Lambert from a mounted position until a technical knock-out was called. The results of the fight have fueled speculation that Evans may be up for a shot at the Light-Heavyweight title (currently held by Chuck “Iceman” Liddell) sometime during 2007.
Though he still has permanent residency in his college town of Lansing, Michigan, Evans often trains out of Albuquerque, New Mexico, along with several other contestants from various seasons of Ultimate Fighter.
Fight Record - 10-0-0
- 01-25-2007 - Defeats Sean Salmon, UFC FN 8, KO Round 2, 1:06
- 09-23-2006 - Defeats Jason Lambert, UFC 63, KO Round 2, 2:22
- 06-28-2006 - Defeats Stephan Bonnar, UFC FN 5, Majority Decision
- 04-06-2006 - Defeats Sam Hoger, UFC FN 4, Split Decision
- 11-05-2005 - Defeats Brad Imes, TUF 2 Finale, Split Decision
- 06-03-2004 - Defeats Jaime Jara, GC 27, Unanimous Decision
- 06-03-2004 - Defeats Hector Ramirez, GC 27, Unanimous Decision
- 06-02-2004 - Defeats Bryan Pardoe, GC 26, TKO Round 1, 3:24
- 04-10-2004 - Defeats Danny Anderson, DCF, Submission Round 1, 3:09
- 04-10-2004 - Defeats Dennis Reed, DCF, Submission Round 1, 0:50
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