Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans had flirted with the possibility of moving down the middleweight division, but he plans to return to the octagon as a light heavyweight.
Evans was a guest on last night’s edition of “UFC Tonight” on FUEL TV to talk about the news of Chael Sonnen getting the next title shot against Jon Jones, the message this sends to fighters and when he plans to return to the octagon.
He had flirted with the possibility of moving down to the middleweight division to face Anderson Silva, but the UFC told him that he would need to win a fight at middleweight before getting a shot at the champion.
However, the UFC elected to give Sonnen an immediate shot at the title, which makes Evans believe that the rules are not the same for everyone.
“I commend the UFC for making the fights happen that the people love to see, but as a fighter, what would it take for to get a chance to get back up in there,” Evans said. “I wanted to fight Anderson, but it didn’t end up happening because they say I needed one more fight to be a contender at middleweight. I guess it’s not the same for everybody.”
Evans wanted to return before the end of the year, but that appears unlikely at this time. He is hoping to return in the first quarter of 2013 and hopes to fight in either February or March. He will fight as a light heavyweight and would like the opportunity to take on Lyoto Machida, who handed him his first professional defeat and took the title away from him.
“The guy who I really want to fight more than anything is the guy who I lost to first is Machida. I would love to get a chance to fight Machida again. He looked good against Bader. I want get that one back. I want to get it back bad. That is the one I really want the most.”
It has not been officially announced, but the UFC is looking to have Machida face Dan Henderson next. It was been reported that the UFC is looking to have that fight in December. If Machida is out as his next fight, Evans could be looking at facing the winner of Alexander Gustafsson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, who square of on December 8th at UFC on FOX 5 in Seattle.