Rashad Evans fighting at UFN April 6th - Fight Forum - MMA - UFC - Boxing - K1

IYAOYAS · 01-30-2006, 01:39 PM

MMA Weekly is reporting that Rashad Evans is fighting Sam Hogar on Ultimate Fight Night April 6th at the Hard Rock Casino in Vegas. Should be good fight for Evans. Any other ideas?

dagenhamdave · 01-30-2006, 01:44 PM

Still don't understand how Whitehead and Jardine are fighting on a PPV event this week and the winner of the show is fighting in April. Also not sure how Brad is rumored to be fighting before Rashad on a PPV event. Then they give Rashad a TUF1 loser?

angryjonny · 01-30-2006, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dagenhamdave

Still don't understand how Whitehead and Jardine are fighting on a PPV event this week and the winner of the show is fighting in April. Also not sure how Brad is rumored to be fighting before Rashad on a PPV event. Then they give Rashad a TUF1 loser?

That's what I was thinking. I would much rather see Rashad fighting than Whitehead. I can't wait to see Rashad dispose of Sam. Hopefully they won't feel the need to invite him back yet again.

I think I read somewhere that Brad is rumored to be fighting Gonzaga. I am not sure how that one would play out. Gonzaga is definitely better than he showed up against Jordan. At least his previous fights showed that. Supposedly Gonzaga had a bunch of stuff going out in his life that prevented him from being ready for the fight. Should be a good one though.

Unknown · 01-30-2006, 01:57 PM

Rashad ain't that popular. Guess the UFC knows that and is going with the people who they think will get them more money. Kinda sucks for Rashad but that first fight really hurt him.

GSPALLTHEWAY · 01-30-2006, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unknown

Rashad ain't that popular. Guess the UFC knows that and is going with the people who they think will get them more money. Kinda sucks for Rashad but that first fight really hurt him.

i agree.... i could care less to see him fight, and its not supposed to be like that... diego, forrest even stevenson (to a lesser degree) i was excited for... at least if he fights hogar someone will lose, unless its like rashads first TUF fight , where everyond loses.

lwbfl · 01-30-2006, 02:51 PM

I think Rashad knows he has something to prove to everyone. I think maybe he's been training hard and will show us a new game.

Gygax · 01-30-2006, 02:53 PM

There are likely a few reasons why Evans is fighting after Whitehead/Jardine. The fight is at 205 and Evans may feel he needs more time to get down to that weight from his previous 225 and still feel strong. And lets not forget about televised/non-televised fights. Its unlikely we will see the Whitehead/Jardine fight at the PPV unless there are a bunch of early finishes. The Evans/Hogar fight however will be shown on the UFN special as he is the TUF2 winner.

dagenhamdave · 01-30-2006, 03:12 PM

Gygax, the Whitehead / Jardine fight is taking place at 205 as well so I don't think weight is a factor. They will be on the undercard so they will be televised after the main event.

I think the popularity argument above holds water. And Rashad beat 4 guys to win so he deserves credit and certainly has less to prove than Whitehead who looked like a chump in his fight against Rashad.

subgenius · 01-30-2006, 09:39 PM

I kind of like Rashad. I did not like some of his antics in his early fights (Matt Hughes didn't like it either). But, he did show that he had heart and that he could win. A match with Sausage Tits should be a good one... I think Rashad will be a lot more effective at 205.

angryjonny · 01-30-2006, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by subgenius

I kind of like Rashad. I did not like some of his antics in his early fights (Matt Hughes didn't like it either). But, he did show that he had heart and that he could win. A match with Sausage Tits should be a good one... I think Rashad will be a lot more effective at 205.

I can see why a lot of people didn't like Rashad after his first fight but I think he went in there thinking he had to do something like that to get attention. He was trying to hard to be something he isn't. You can tell because all his other fights he was focused and like you said showed he had heart. Especially fighting with his messed up hand against his toughest opponent. He should do very well at 205.

Gygax · 01-31-2006, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dagenhamdave

Gygax, the Whitehead / Jardine fight is taking place at 205 as well so I don't think weight is a factor. They will be on the undercard so they will be televised after the main event.

I think the popularity argument above holds water. And Rashad beat 4 guys to win so he deserves credit and certainly has less to prove than Whitehead who looked like a chump in his fight against Rashad.

Can you guarantee the Whitehead/Jardine fight will be shown? Sorry, you can't. If the main event and other scheduled televised fights go even close to the distance, you'll never see that fight. Liddell-Couture, Mir-Cruz, Babalu-VanArsdale, and Riggs -Diaz are all guaranteed televised. And the other fights hold generally more interest than the Jardine-Whitehead matchup. There's a reason its the last fight listed. Unless there is a huge rash of KO's submits, we'll won't see that fight. The Rashad Evans fights will likely be a sub-main event on UFN and definitely shown.

Everyone deals with weight differently too. Though Evans was confident he could get down, maybe its turning into something a little more difficult than he imagined. Everyone is different in weight cutting.

I agree that he's simply not popular and that may be affecting the decision, but I cannot be convinced that Jardine or Whitehead are any more popular. Similarly, Joe Stevenson is pretty popular and we have not seen him yet. Jason VonFlue has fought on UFN however, though an untelevised bout. Koschek fought before Diego did though Sanchez won TUF1. Koschek was much less popular than Diego with a style many hate. So while popularity certainly factors into it, its not an overriding theme IMO.

dagenhamdave · 01-31-2006, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gygax

Can you guarantee the Whitehead/Jardine fight will be shown? Sorry, you can't. If the main event and other scheduled televised fights go even close to the distance, you'll never see that fight. Liddell-Couture, Mir-Cruz, Babalu-VanArsdale, and Riggs -Diaz are all guaranteed televised. And the other fights hold generally more interest than the Jardine-Whitehead matchup. There's a reason its the last fight listed. Unless there is a huge rash of KO's submits, we'll won't see that fight. The Rashad Evans fights will likely be a sub-main event on UFN and definitely shown.

Everyone deals with weight differently too. Though Evans was confident he could get down, maybe its turning into something a little more difficult than he imagined. Everyone is different in weight cutting.

I agree that he's simply not popular and that may be affecting the decision, but I cannot be convinced that Jardine or Whitehead are any more popular. Similarly, Joe Stevenson is pretty popular and we have not seen him yet. Jason VonFlue has fought on UFN however, though an untelevised bout. Koschek fought before Diego did though Sanchez won TUF1. Koschek was much less popular than Diego with a style many hate. So while popularity certainly factors into it, its not an overriding theme IMO.

I agree it's possible we wont even see their fight but it is unlikely considering how quickly the last few PPV events have gone. Almost no fights go the distance anymore it seems. Rashad wrestled in College at 174 so again, I think it would be harder for Whitehead to cut from 250 to 205 than Rashad from 220 to 205.

Joe was injured (torn clavicle) before UFN finale and needed time to recover so that is probably the best reason he has not fought yet.

Maybe I should say popular with Dana more so than the fans. He seems to have his favorites in my opinion and Rashad is not one of them.

Gygax · 01-31-2006, 09:20 AM

Stevenson is scheduled for that same UFN show on April 6th. While MMAWeekly lists his debut being at a PPV, Joe's own website says April 6. His clavicle came away from his sternum, an injury that heals real nice with a month of rest. I don't think its a coincidence that they are debuting both TUF2 winners on the same night.

I saw Rashad wrestle in college, especially his huge upset of #1 undefeated Greg Jones at the NCAA's. He's pretty talented wrestler, when he wanted to be. Unfortunately, it was hard for his coaches to consistently "light a fire" under his butt.

GSPALLTHEWAY · 01-31-2006, 09:37 AM

rashad wont last long in mma IMO... at 205 he will dance around or lay and prey on his OPP, and i believe alot of his fights will go the distance. you have to be able to finish someone now a days to advance, and he seems very limited in his abilities.... his peak is right now, where diego and forrest still are moving up

subgenius · 01-31-2006, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GSPalltheway

rashad wont last long in mma IMO... at 205 he will dance around or lay and prey on his OPP, and i believe alot of his fights will go the distance. you have to be able to finish someone now a days to advance, and he seems very limited in his abilities.... his peak is right now, where diego and forrest still are moving up

That may be true, but Rashad was the smaller fighter of all the HWs on TUF2. Most of his opponents were bigger. I think that played into why Rashad did not KO anyone. At 205, however, Rashad should be in a situation where he is the bigger fighter. He has good boxing and stiking. He did impress Matt Hughes by the end of the show...

dagenhamdave · 01-31-2006, 12:02 PM

I agree with subgenius. Rashad will be much better at 205. Remember he dropped Jardine with a jab during their fight and hurt him a couple of times in general. He has more power than we saw with him fighting "skyscrapers." He also made Whitehead look like he never wrestled in his life and wrestling is Mike's base. I think Rashad will do pretty well at 205 but I'm not convinced he could take on most of the top 10 right now.

St.Pierre_is_the_best · 01-31-2006, 05:17 PM

The only real reason a lot of people won't like Rashad is because Matt didnt like them. Most people want to be like Matt so they would hate Rashad just because Matt did. I think Rashad is a good fighter but he needs a better fighter then Hoger to push the pace of the match. Whitehead vs Jardine, Jardine should be fighting, WhiteHead shudn't. Like for Tuf1, Nate fought before Diego did and on the same ppv of Forest. Jardine is good enough to fight in The UFC, but if Mike chokes on a smaller fight, he will choke infront of many people. Brad vs Gonzaga, I was praying that Gonzaga would be gone from the UFC for a long time, i think it would be better for Brad to fight a more interesting fighter like Wes Sims maybe or another big fighter like Sean Gannon. Nobody is going to have an interest in fighting Gonzaga or Jordan ever again.

Unknown · 01-31-2006, 06:18 PM

No, the reason most people don't like Rashad was because of his first figth. Most people could care less if Matt liked him or not. Just like The shaman and Gonzaga. Look at Mike Whitehead. Matt liked him but he was a bad fighter.

andrewleckie · 01-31-2006, 06:27 PM

i cant wait to see rashad back in action seing him outstrike brad was awsome.

sure brad is a rookie himself but rashad was giving up alot of weight

and you could tell brad really wanted to end rashad early in the fight but he

helled in there,glad to see him back i just wish it was sooner

GSPALLTHEWAY · 01-31-2006, 08:41 PM

i dont think anyone dislikes rashad because they want to be like matt lol.. maybe the middle schoolers on this board (no offense to that age group lol) and yes rashads first fight was sickening... it left an awful taste in everyones mouth including mine... and even beyond that i havent ever seen him fight anyone half decent. and i dont like any of his skills except his wrestling... thats about it