On Saturday night, on the main card of the stacked UFC 209, former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans made his long-awaited debut in the middleweight division. His opponent in this middleweight debut was Australia’s Dan Kelly – a tough opponent, but certainly a surmountable challenge too.
Though Evans enjoyed plenty of success over the course of this three-round middleweight debut, it didn’t go the way he planned, as the judges ultimately gave Kelly a split decision win.
In the wake of this competitive decision loss, Evans took to social media to weigh in on his performance and address his fans. See the former champ’s statement below.
“I lost a close fight,” Evans said. “There are a lot of things I could’ve done better but I didn’t (plain and simple). The cards will fall where they may (fate). But no matter what, I am very thankful for [Dan Kelly] for bringing it. Many of you will talk trash and thats cool because I will find my “groove”. But at the end of the day I am very grateful for life giving me what I needed even when it’s not what I wanted! That’s the point to this long ass caption. Life always gives us what we need the hard part for us is accepting it.. Life gives us what we need always.. F*ck expectation!
This decision loss to Kelly is Evans’ third in a row, as he was knocked out by Glover Teixeira and decisioned by Ryan Bader in his next most recent fights. Prior this skid, the former champ was riding high on back-to-back wins over Dan Henderson and Chael Sonnen. Now 37 years old, Evans is 19-6-1 overall.
How did you think Rashad Evans looked in his long awaited middleweight debut? Sound off, PENN Nation!
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 3/5/2017.