Rashad Evans

'Rashad Anton Evans' aka "BroCop" (born September 25, 1979 in Niagara Falls, New York) is an American mixed martial arts fighter, currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Evans now trains out of Albuquerque, New Mexico, under the tutelage of noted submission fighting instructor Greg Jackson, as do two of the other fighters who competed as heavyweights on the same season of The Ultimate Fighter (Dan Christison and Keith Jardine) as well as Season 1 middleweight winner and current welterweight contender, Diego Sanchez.

College career

Evans was a two-time all-State wrestler at Niagara-Wheatfield High School in Sanborn, New York. He was also a two-way player on the school's football team, playing running back when on offense and safety on defense.

After graduating from high school in 1997, Evans went on to attend Niagara County Community College, where he continued his wrestling career, winning the National Junior College championship at 165 lb. (75 kg) in 2000. He then transferred to Michigan State University, competing in the 174 lb. (79 kg) weight class. He started at Michigan State for 3 years and amassed a 48-34 record during that time. Evans was also one of only 4 people to ever defeat wrestling legend Greg Jones. Since graduating from Michigan state and earning a degree in psychology, he has remained a resident of Lansing, Michigan. In 2005 he became an assistant coach for the Michigan State wrestling program.

Mixed martial arts

In 2004 under tutelage of MMA and wrestling legend Dan Severn , Evans competed in five professional mixed martial arts fights, and won all five — leading to his being selected as one of the nine heavyweights to compete in the second season of The Ultimate Fighter, a reality TV series on Spike TV. The show's second season began airing on August 22, 2005, culminating in a live fight between the two finalists (in each of two weight classes, heavyweight and welterweight), to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 5, 2005.

Evans was the shortest — at 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) and the second lightest — at 225 lb. (102 kg) of the nine original heavyweight competitors. In all of Evans' fights on The Ultimate Fighter 2 he was considered the underdog. Despite this Evans made it to the finals by Defeating Tom Murphy, Mike Whitehead (who was considered the favorite to win the entire competition) and Keith Jardine. In the finals Evans defeated 6'7" Brad Imes by split decision in the November 5 finale, thus winning a three-year, six-figure contract with the UFC and a brand new car. After The Ultimate fighter, Evans along with fellow Ultimate Fighter competitor Keith Jardine, joined Greg Jackson's submission Fighting camp, located in Albuquerque New Mexico.

Evans dropped down to to light heavyweight (205 lbs) after The Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale win. He had put on weight to compete on the show, but he determined that he would have a better chance of success in the Light Heavyweight division. His first fight under the contract took place on April 6, 2006 against Sam Hoger, who was a semifinalist on season one of The Ultimate Fighter. Evans defeated Hoger via split decision despite nearly falling victim to a kimura submission at the end of the second round.

Evans followed with a victory by majority decision over Stephan Bonnar on June 28, 2006; Evans thoroughly dominated the fight with repeated take downs, including a number of hard body slams in the center of the cage. Although he was criticized for stalling on the ground by color commentator Joe Rogan, Rogan felt that Evans deserved a unanimous — not majority — decision, as it was revealed in the post-fight commentary.

On September 23, 2006, Evans fought Jason Lambert on the UFC 63 under card. Lambert was seen as Evans' first real test at 205. As with most of his previous UFC fights Evans was the underdog. Lambert was seen by many as the next big up and comer in the division and he was on an 8 fight win streak going into his bout with Evans. From the early going Evans controlled the fight. It ended in the 2nd round when Evans knocked Lambert out from the mount. It was his first victory by other than decision in more than two years, and was regarded as so impressive that it has fueled speculation that Evans may receive consideration for a title shot sometime in 2007.

Evans' latest fight took place on January 25, 2007 in Hollywood, Florida against Sean Salmon, a highly decorated NCAA wrestler who competed on the Olympic circuit and was 9-1 in MMA going into his fight with Evans. Though Salmon had won the 1st round by scoring 2 take downs, he eventually succumbed to a vicious high kick delivered by Evans early in the 2nd round for a knockout. Salmon remained motionless several minutes after the fight and was eventually carried out on a stretcher to a local hospital. Salmon was treated for concussion and released.

External links

• Sherdog - Updated professional fight record
• UFC fighter profile
• [1] - Profile on Rashad from the Lansing State Journal