While his confidence had risen after seeing the difference in speed and physical output he was used to, the nights would bring out the mortal in Evans. After each day of training had come to an end, insomnia and anxiety would get the best of Evans. The future light heavyweight champ would go to sleep with recurring hopes and worries.
“There were so many times where I was just kind of curled up in that bed and wished that this whole experience would go the way I want it to,” Evans said. “I didn’t know if I was going to win, so I would hope that I would be able to go and at least represent myself well.”
At the time, MMA was learning how to walk in the mainstream media. There weren’t countless organizations a fighter could fall back on if the UFC didn’t come calling. Falling off the horse in a TUF performance in 2005 was almost falling off the Earth altogether.
It was no wonder Evans was never able to breathe easy all the way to his final matchup with Brad Imes.
Just when it seemed the road would get easier after taking out the first two overall picks, Evans was in the center of the Octagon staring up at his 6-foot-7, 250 pound opponent from the MMA powerhouse Miletich Fighting Systems team. With only one fight left separating him from a six-figure UFC contract, the mountain had never seemed so high.
With his hopes to stay out of a wrestling battle, as well as represent himself well firmly in mind, Evans did what seemed impossible. “Suga” Rashad won by split decision and was holding up the TUF trophy with a whole new life ahead of him.
He proved everybody and his own self-doubts wrong. The three hardest opponents to beat, Evans not only beat them but went the distance in every fight. The size, power and skill of his three opponents had proven to him that risking it all at heavyweight was the best decision of his life.
With success at both light heavyweight and now heavyweight, Evans could make a career out of either weight class, right?
Well…
“I knew immediately I was going back down when it was all over,” Evans laughed. “When Brad Imes got a hold of me and he just shook me like a rag doll, I was like, ‘Oh no, I can’t do this.’”
For Rashad Evans’ journey through TUF 2 and every UFC bout in his Hall of Fame career, sign up for UFC FIGHT PASS TODAY!