Rashad Evans knew it would be a long car ride to meet Mauricio Rua. But now he’s starting to get a little stir crazy in the back seat. Franklin McNeil stumbled into the news:
“It’s just frustrating,” Evans told ESPN.com. “I am a fighter and I need to make a living doing this, but at the same time it’s about getting that gold.
“But if the gold is something that I’m not going to get an opportunity to fight for then I have to face that possibility and move forward and do some other things.
“If I don’t get the chance to fight for the belt, I will never ask to fight for this belt again. I will never want to fight for that belt again.”
Rashad’s kicking on the back of the driver seat, whining, “Why aren’t we there yet?” Dana White hasn’t threatened to turn the car around just yet:
“That’s the weirdest comment I have ever heard in my life,” White told ESPN.com “[Rashad] is scheduled to fight in March.
“We offered him a fight in September; he turned it down. He said he didn’t want to harm his brand. I don’t know what the Rashad Evans brand is, or what that means, but he said he didn’t want to harm it. It’s not like we were keeping him from fighting, he chose to wait for Shogun. It’s not our fault; Shogun had knee surgery.”
Rashad’s willing to pull over and see some scenery, but only if it’s really cool:
“If [Rua] is going to be out longer than May or June then [the UFC] should consider an interim title and I will fight for an interim belt. It’s something.
“It might not mean much to everybody, but it’s something. But if I don’t get a chance to fight for an interim belt, then I will just beat everybody in the division and I will never fight for the belt.”
According to Wikipedia, the UFC has created 5 interim titles. The first was in 2003 when Zuffa tried to force then-champion Tito Ortiz’s hand when he made excuses to avoid fighting Chuck Liddell. Next came Frank Mir’s motorcycle accident which led to Andrei Arlovski beating Tim Sylvia for an interim heavyweight title in 2005. Arlovski was then promoted to undisputed champion in August 2005 after Mir was unable to defend his share of the crown.
Two years later, Georges St-Pierre stepped in to fight Matt Hughes at UFC 79. Serra, then champion, pulled out of the fight with an injury. The UFC put up an interim title either to further entice GSP or to maintain a title fight at the top of their year-end card.
The last two intertim titles both came in the heavyweight division to deal with Randy Couture’s “retirement” from the UFC and Brock Lesnar’s battle with diverticulitis.
So, while Evans is correct in asserting that the UFC has used interim titles as deus ex machina, there’s no real precedent for his case. Evans understood the nature of Shogun’s injury when he made the decision to wait until Rua healed up from knee surgery. And assuming that Rua remains on track with his recovery, he’ll return to the Octagon within twelve months of beating Lyoto Machida for the belt.
I understand Rashad’s frustrations. He wants to fight, but doesn’t want to risk losing his title shot. That’s understandable, but why make this bizarre ultimatum to the UFC?