Rashad Evans; buy or sell?
by Hendo_One-Shot on Dec 20, 2009 2:35 PM EST
Email
PrintFinally back! This time discussing one of my favorite fighters and Former light heavyweight champ, Rashad Evans.
via mmacesspool.files.wordpress.com
With UFC 108 a few weeks away, I’d like to hit a few points on what is one of the biggest questions for UFC 108; is Rashad for real? Pre Machida, the answers across MMA news sources varied dramatically. Post Machida, one can only assume it has generally been less positive. Given that we really haven’t been able to see much of what he is able to do in a while, I find it odd that he is a healthy favorite to win this fight on the betting lines. With Thiago Silva showing he is back with an impressive KO win over Rashad’s good friend and teammate Keith Jardine, I have at least a glimpse of what he is bringing to the table. Although Rashad did impress in most of his fights in the UFC, his boxing game never really looked all that tight. He moves his head a lot, and although this may impress Mike Goldberg, his head movement isn’t going to be dazzling any top flight competition. The two things he really has going for him, are his timing and his KO power. With all the off time given from being on the latest season of TUF, it’s reasonable to believe he has tightened up his game since then. Will he be a totally different fighter? maybe, who knows.
Read the Rest, at The MMA Cesspool
The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.
29 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Honestly I’ve always thought rashad is a bit overrated. Not to say he’s bad… he’s fast and hits hard. But up till the winning KO he was losing the Griffin fight, losing the Liddell fight, and would have lost the Ortiz fight if not for a fence grab. He’s good enough to be a factor at 205 but I just don’t ever see him getting past Shogun, Machida or Jackson
Evans’ strength of record shows that his best win is against Forrest Griffin (who’s best wins are against Shogun and Rampage). He is a consensus top five Light heavyweight, but he is just so new to the top of the division. He really needs to fight more top ten Light Heavyweights to justify his ranking. He was outclassed in his fight against Machida, but besides Shogun, everyone else has been outclasses by Machida. I feel that Evans is a top light heavyweight, but we will see if he gets past Thiago if he is a top five light Heavyweight.
But they won't fight each other, right?
Jardine, Bones and Rashad all train at Jackson’s, and I think they’ve all said they couldn’t fight each other because it would be ‘like fighting your brothers.’
There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.
I don’t think you understand his point- Jardine keeps fighting Rashad’s opponents before Rashad does, kinda like a test drive to see their strengths and weaknesses.
The only thing Jon Jones does better than Matt Hamill is hear.
(And smash faces)
by ufc4 on Dec 20, 2009 11:47 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
No
Rashad’s KO power is gimmicky. I’m not buying it.. he didn’t even try to wrestle with Machida, in fact, he was scared before the fight started. Rashad is very overhyped and getting +180 on Silva for this fight is great value. In 2010, top five light heavyweights will be four Brazilians and Mousasi, if Bones Jones doesn’t crack the list. Rampage, Rashad, and Forrest will never contend for the title again.
machida, shogun and who else?
and what has thiago silva done that makes you see him as top 5? he was getting beat by irvin before the knee blowout, he was getting beat by mendes…i dunno…i’m not convinced of him yet.
by Matthew Roth on Dec 21, 2009 8:48 AM EST up reply actions
Anderson said he's done with 185
and Vitor will eventually fight at 205 as well, that’s where the money is
by SteelerStuckintheSouth on Dec 21, 2009 2:19 PM EST up reply actions
where is the interview that anderson said he’s done. I haven’t heard that.
by Matthew Roth on Dec 21, 2009 3:17 PM EST up reply actions
The thing about Rashad is that he is constantly improving his game. Every time he fights you can tell he has gotten better and more relaxed in the cage. I think his loss to Machida is only going to give him more motivation to do better in his next fight.
for all intents and purposes, just consider all my posts as works of satire.
"Timing and KO power"???
His base is his wrestling. The guy is a really good wrestler. How is this over looked?
"Stop smiling you are about to be punched in the face !"
I feel like Rashad’s wrestling skills could be described as adequate. Rashad had a solid college career at a school known for wrestling but, although he had his moments, he was definitely never a star. In MMA he outwrestled the people he should outwrestle and has yet to face anyone who’s a good MMA wrestler. (Does Ortiz count? Not in my book.) In any event, Rashad doesn’t wrestle anymore.
More generally, it is telling that Rashad was losing to Griffin on his feet, who, again with the benefit of hindsight, appears to be miles away from being an elite fighter.
by The Darkness on Dec 21, 2009 10:56 AM EST up reply actions
Griffin was outpointing Rashad at their UFC 92 fight. But could that hold up for 5 rounds? Griffin has outpointed most fighters in his UFC career, save Anderson Silva. That’s Forrest’s forte. He’s an active and diverse striker. He just doesn’t have a granite chin, and Rashad throws striked to KO people.
by Hardcharger on Dec 21, 2009 11:58 AM EST up reply actions
I think if Evans would have went with his wrestling against Machida he would have had a much better chance at winning. Kind of hard to get inside for a take down against Machida though.
"Stop smiling you are about to be punched in the face !"
The secret here
If you go by successes/failures, I think more training in judo and clinch would be the best solution, or at least, stop trying to single or double-leg Machida. The only two I can recall who’ve successfully performed takedowns on Machida were Sokoudjou and Nakamura, both judoka, who used trip takedowns, one of Nakamura’s being against the cage from the clinch.
On the other hand, you also have to be able to actually land in top position (David Heath actually got the worse of his own outside calf trip against Machida) and maintain it (Nakamura couldn’t hold Machida down, while Sokoudjou got swept).
Haven't really seen his wrestling factor in in his recent fights
don’t think it will be a factor in this one either. Sorry though, I should have added that.
Visit my new blog at http://mmacesspool.wordpress.com/
by Hendo_One-Shot on Dec 21, 2009 11:35 AM EST up reply actions
I think he's more of a HOLD right now
I haven’t seen his whole game yet. If he could incorporate his explosive striking with his wrestling bg, he’d be a force.
Skadoosh!
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
MMA Rankings
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
