Former UFC light heavyweight champion and The Ultimate Fighter 2 winner Rashad Evans has officially hung up his boots.
On Monday, Evans announced on ESPN’s Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show that he has made the decision to retire after having some time to think, following his first-round knockout loss to Anthony Smith at UFC 225 on June 9 at the United Center in Chicago.
“I’m gonna retire,” Evans said. “There’s just so much that goes into it all, but at one point in my life I felt as if fighting was everything. It was everything. I put life second, but now life is taking over and now fighting has become second. Competing in a sport like mixed martial arts where you have a lot of guys who haven’t been to the top of the mountain and haven’t experienced it the things that I’ve experienced, they’re really hungry for it.
“Me, I was just lukewarm. I’ve been through a lot in this sport. I’ve fought a lot of fights and I don’t look at the sport the same way.”
Evans is disappointed that he was going out on a loss, but he felt other things in life are “calling him.” He stated that he’s still fit enough to compete and still wanting to challenge himself in the cage, but that extra level of motivation is no longer present for him to fight again.
Before making the walk to the Octagon at UFC 225, Evans sensed that it could be the end for him.
“I kinda felt it was it,” Evans said, when asked how certain he was that Smith could be his last opponent. “I always said to myself when it’s time, I’ll know. And I always prayed that I would know when it’s time and when I walked out, I knew. I knew. It took me weeks to really admit it to myself.”
Evans ends his career on a five-fight losing streak but will still go down as one of the greatest professional fighters to enter the octagon.