Rashad Evans rips fans who don't like his fighting style
by Giada Esposito on June 26, 2010

Sometimes having a dominant wrestling game is what it takes to get the win in MMA, and Rashad Evans has had enough of fans who don't appreciate that.

Evans (15-1-1) recently beat long-time rival Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (39-8) to secure the number one challenger position in the UFC's stacked light-heavyweight division. The victory, a unanimous decision at UFC 114 which saw Evans clearly dominate Jackson for most of three rounds, lacked the fireworks which many fans had expected and "Rampage" had promised before the fight. 

Afterwards, Jackson was vocal in his criticism of Evans for following a "boring" gameplan which relied heavily on his strong wrestling skills, and a lot of fans seemed to agree. 

For "Sugar", that just shows that some people don't really understand what they're watching.

"I don't understand what they want to see," Evans told FightHype.com. "They want to see two guys go in there and swing for the fences and if that's the case, they are truly watching the wrong sport because that's not what mixed martial arts is about. They have to understand what the sport is about in order to be fans of it."

Evans had Jackson right where he wanted him for most of the fight, and he's glad that he stuck to his gameplan and was able to impose his will the way that he did.

"Okay, so I outwrestled him and the motherf----- couldn't stop me, so I guess I won anyway," Evans said. "I mean, f---, if I didn't do anything in the fight, you sure as hell couldn't think Rampage did anything."

After losing the UFC light-heavyweight belt in a knockout loss to Lyoto Machida at UFC 98, Evans has returned to his wrestling base, racking up consecutive wins to vault back to the top of the division. For Evans, his success should speak for itself, and he's tired of fans who don't value how effective wrestling can be in the cage.

"That's the thing that amazes me about these fans," Evans stated. "I give up on these fans man. I'm not going to be like, 'Man, I don't know why these guys don't like me.'  If they don't like me, they don't like me. I'm to the point where I don't care. I went back to my wrestling for the last two fights, but before that, I was standing and banging and trying to do shit to please them. But because I went back to my wrestling in my last two fights, they got a problem with that."

"Sugar" feels especially disappointed with the reaction he's received lately, because he says he makes such an effort to go out of his way for the fans.

"Even if I'm having a shitty day, I make them feel like they're important because they watch me fight," Evans said. "That's what it's all about man. But no matter what I do, these motherf------ are always booing me or got shit to say online. But you know what? I've never met one of them that said, 'I don't like you.'  I have never met one that said, 'You know what? I'm not a fan of yours.'  Not one of them."

Evans is expected to be the next challenger of UFC light-heavyweight champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in a yet-to-be-announced title fight.

 |  (27) Comments Wandering_Minstrel: Rashad makes some valid points. On the subject of wrestling I'm rather indifferent, to be honest. We're entering a new evolution of the sport. Fighters need wrestling, now more than ever. Shogun is going to fuck him up, though. Masternate: i didnt rip his style, but i will rip his performance. dont go in there and say your going to knock his ass out and destroy him and then use a strategy that doesnt allow you to do so. another example of this is when kos said he was going to stand and bang with daley and knock him out, and then he just laid and prayed the entire time. thats what pisses me off. if your going ot wrestle, then wrestle. but dont say your going to do something to get the fans excited, and then not do it, thats what pisses me off. B_Type13X2: If given the chance I would tell Rashad, I don't like him and I'm not a fan and that I hope Shogun punches his head into the third row. If you say your gonna knock someone out but fight in a way that makes it damned near impossible to do so, you didn't really do what you said you were going to do. Makes it really hard to cheer for someone who fights to win control and not to finish the fight. thug4less: Seriously, I couldn't tell that you don't like Rashad at all, author-lady. Awesome job. xxxFishxxx: I agree with Rashad. Being entertaining is nice, but at the end of the day, the goal is to win the fight. I definitely see where everyone is coming from about saying you're going to knock someone out, and then wrestling the whole time. But pre-fight trash talk is pretty much meaningless to use as a template for the real fight. As a matter of fact, most fights never end the way that people say in all the trash talk before the fight. People can talk about "stand and bang" all they want, but when you're in the ring and its your career on the line, you're going to be more concerned about winning. xxxFishxxx: I agree with Rashad. Being entertaining is nice, but at the end of the day, the goal is to win the fight. I definitely see where everyone is coming from about saying you're going to knock someone out, and then wrestling the whole time. But pre-fight trash talk is pretty much meaningless to use as a template for the real fight. As a matter of fact, most fights never end the way that people say in all the trash talk before the fight. People can talk about "stand and bang" all they want, but when you're in the ring and its your career on the line, you're going to be more concerned about winning. D_V: judges get shit in their minds and it effects them. they expected machida to be the better striker so they assumed that his punches were landing when 80% of them went straight into Rua's high guard. They need to be judging these things in the back, not in the arena, with no volume to be swayed by the crowd, and they need to see it from the angles we see it on TV with. That way they might a better idea what is actually goign on. we rip on the judges but truly, they actually can't see half of the shit they are scoring or supposed to be. then once you factor in a lot of the incompetence you get what he have now. flyangler: People don't like Rashad because he is a world class shit talker with stank ass breff. He also didn't finish well on the ground against Silva or Page. I mean, he literally held onto Quintons legs against the fence for 11 of the 15 minutes. And when Thiago and Rampage got a half a second of breathing room, they both almost put him out. Guys like GSP and Couture actually look to pound while on the ground, not dry hump your knee. So when he talks about knocking someone out or beating them up, and just fucks the shit out of their legs for three rounds, people are going to boo your boring ass. Hopefully Shogun can avoid the takedown and knee his teeth out or break his arm off if he does get taken down. Little_Kang: I don't like his style because he talks a mad game and never backs it up. I'd have more respect if he came out and said "I'm going to hold you on the cage for dear life so I don't get punched for 15 straight minutes." Anthony: If Rashad wanted to "stand and bang" he would have moved down to 185 a long time ago. Maybe even 170. Otherwise he would be another Andy Wang or Ross Pointon. Anthony: Wang and Pointon insist on keeping it standing up despite the fact that they fight, in the most literal sense, multiple weight classes over their respective heads - and their W-L records accurately reflect their folly. Rashad would have about the same record as them, if he insisted on keeping all of his fights standing up, unless he took the Nestea Plunge weight-class-wise.
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