Why Rashad Evans Is More Dangerous Than Ever

During UFC 108, Rashad Evans fought against Thiago Silva, but for Evans, this was more than just a fight. One can imagine how difficult it is for a previously undefeated, title-holding fighter to recover from being unexpectedly knocked out and having his belt taken away all in one night. Rather than getting back into the Octagon as soon as possible, Evans instead chose to focus on his integrity as a fighter, covering previous holes and recognizing where he went awry in his fight against Lyoto Machida.

Evans went about eight months before fighting in the UFC again, and during the drought, he candidly discussed how the loss psychologically affected him. He stated that, "It was tough, I've never not won in a full year before. To be dominated the way I was, it's the most humbling, worst feeling in the world. And not having a chance to out and prove yourself again, not only to the fans but to yourself, that's what hurt me so bad."

However, in his match against Silva, Evans came back even stronger; but the reason he deserves a lot of credit is because he did it in a way many other fighters never do: by changing up his fighting style. Having deciding to return to his wrestling base, Evans took Silva--a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu blackbelt--down to the mat in the very first round.

The new, improved Evans demonstrated his wrestling expertise by landing four out of seven clinch attempts as well as four out of nine takedown attempts, successfully gaining side control twice and mounting Silva once at the very beginning of the match. And although he nearly took Silva's back, effortlessly mounting his skilled opponent counted enough to show the world that Rashad Evan is not only back but more dangerous than ever.

Many of Evans's critics probably expected "Sugar" to shrug off his loss to Machida as a mishap. Silva probably expected him to try to make up for his knockout by being an overconfident boxer. Silva also probably counted on Evans to hastily return fire after blatantly taunting him in the third round when he knew Evans had some wobbly legs after getting rocked. However, having learned, Evans tamed himself and went for the win. Had he not learned from his fight with Machida and fell for Silva's trap, Evans probably would have lost as he had wobbly legs from getting rocked way too late in the fight for full recovery.

Evans realized the risk involved and, having been humbled once, decided to focus on his long term goal of once again becoming champion by first sealing a victory against a very tough opponent, one who had never been beaten before a synonymous defeat that was also from Machida. Such versatility and adaptation is the mark of an excellent fighter since in the previous three fights to his bout with Silva, Evans had only attempted one takedown. He was beginning to rely too much on his standup game and thus learned a hard lesson from his loss to Machida.

The lesson was that in the UFC, it's possible to be the top dog while mainly utilizing only one aspect of the game, but not for long. Machida capitalized off of Evans's overconfidence and aggression, but Evans used the loss to take a hard look at what he used to get to the top in the first place. The new and improved Evans proves to be a much more challenging fighter as his wrestling is very sound and his striking has progressively improved.

What's next for Evans? He is more of a wholesome fighter than he has ever been. I would like to see him attempt more submissions since he's never submitted another fighter in the Octagon. He has speed, skill, and accuracy--and that's just his standup game. By adding his wrestling into the mix to first subdue his opponents before giving them a beating, Evans could very well be the most dangerous fighter in the light heavyweight division. And one thing is for certain: "Rampage" had better come prepared for a battle.