Rashad Evans (19-5-1) may have a dance partner next month.
The former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight champion has been linked to the UFC 209 card set for March 4 inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. After having his bout with Tim Kennedy fall through for both UFC 205 and 206, “Suga” wants to scrap as soon as possible.
His opponent could be Daniel Kelly (12-1). Sources close to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto gave word that a middleweight bout between Evans and Kelly is being discussed. Check out the tweet below:
Per sources, not official yet but UFC has targeted Rashad Evans vs. Daniel Kelly at middleweight for UFC 209 on March 4 in Las Vegas.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) February 1, 2017
Evans has seen better days as a mixed martial artist (MMA). There was a time when Evans was considered to be one of the sport’s elite fighters. His brutal one-punch knockout over Chuck Liddell and his vicious ground-and-pound against Forrest Griffin to capture gold proved that “Suga” was for real.
Even after losing the title to Lyoto Machida in devastating fashion, Evans was still a threat. He went on a four-fight winning streak that included victories over former champions Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Tito Ortiz. His unanimous decision loss to Jon Jones started the downward spiral.
Since that fight, Evans has gone 2-3. His recent bout resulted in a knockout loss at the hands of Glover Teixeira. It was only the second time Evans had been stopped in his career. Now going down to a new division, the former champion hopes to return to form.
His potential opponent has won three straight bouts. Kelly suffered a setback against Sam Alvey back in May 2015. The former judo Olympian hasn’t let that slow him down, however. He has a TKO win in his current streak. That came against Antonio Carlos Junior in his home country of Australia.
The main event of UFC 209 will feature a welterweight title rematch between champion Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson. Serving as the co-main event is an interim lightweight title bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson.
