Rashad Evans Discusses UFC 170 Injury, Daniel Cormier & Vitor Belfort

Former UFC light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans was inked to welcome Strikeforce crossover Daniel Cormier to the 205 pound division at UFC 170. ‘Suga’ took a bad injury in training and was forced from the card just 10 days out.

Evans stopped by with the MMA Hour to talk about when he sustained the injury:

“It was in my last wrestling practice of the camp. I thought I wouldn’t train, but I thought I’d just push myself. I was doing a wall drill and my partner landed wrong on my knee and messed it up pretty bad. I went and got an MRI, and it didn’t feel too good but I was hoping I would be alright. I got a call and said that it was badly injured.”

“I was aggravated (during the UFC 170 conference call), some of the questions seemed stupid, but it was more because I was frustrated on not being able to fight. I had to go to L.A. to get surgery for a torn ACL. I didn’t think it was that serious, I was walking after training and I thought it was just a little sore.”

Evans’ replacement was the unknown Patrick ‘Durken’ Cummins, and the result was a rather predictable first round TKO for ‘DC’. ‘Suga’ continued:

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“I honestly thought (Cummins vs. Cormier) was a fight that could work. I brought him up to train with me two years ago for Phil Davis, and I thought he might be able to push Cormier and get the win. DC made quick work of him and I thought he looked pretty good. He looked pretty good at 205 man, he is a competitor. DC definitely is gonna be a contender at 205.”

Cormier would have likely got a title shot with a win over Evans, and his lofty number two ranking at heavyweight translated to a number six debut at 205 pounds with the win over ‘Durkin’. ‘Suga’ was then asked how he felt about DC’s rank at lhw, and if he thought Alexander Gustafsson had broken Jon Jones at UFC 165:

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“Cormier definitely deserves to be in the top five. I’d rather not fight him at all, we are friends although we don’t train together, but we are in the same weight class.”

“I don’t think Gustafsson broke Jon Jones, but maybe he woke him up a little. He shook the idea that (JJ) was invincible. (Jones’) next fight will show us what that fight did to him, whether it had a negative affect on him. This is going to be the fight that shows us which way he will go.”

Jones’ scheduled UFC 173 bout against Glover Teixeira will serve as a litmus test on how the ‘Mauler’ fight has impacted ‘Bones’. Physically, UFC 165 was very draining on the champion, and I agree with Evans in that GT will expose any weaknesses. Rashad then commented on Vitor Belfort’s TRT/title shot situation:

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“The fact he had to pull out is because it takes at least 12 weeks to come out of his system. I don’t think he needs to compete with TRT, he is such a great athlete. People have made him the face of TRT, which isn’t fair. I hope he gets the chance to fight for the belt and prove that it wasn’t just the treatment.”

As Evans looks to come back from the increasingly common ACL injury, the question remains on whether he will face Daniel Cormier on his return. The chances are are pretty high that they will eventually fight, perhaps even for the title?