Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans has his next fight lined up.
UFC officials have confirmed that Evans will fight Anthony Smith in a light heavyweight bout at the upcoming UFC 225 pay-per-view event.
The news was first reported by Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com. Okamoto also noted that Smith has also signed a new contract with the UFC.
In addition to this fight with Evans, I'm told Anthony Smith also signed a new multi-fight deal with the UFC.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) March 12, 2018
With his lack of performance recently inside the Octagon under the UFC banner, there are some who believe it might be time for Evans to think about calling it a career. Evans (19-7-1) has dropped four consecutive contests with two of those bouts taking place at 185 pounds.
If you recall, there was some talk of the UFC booking Evans against former middleweight champion Michael Bisping next. However, discussions between both sides fell through.
On the flip side, Smith (28-13) is also moving up to light heavyweight. During his time with the Las Vegas-based promotion, he is 4-2 including a win over Hector Lombard. In his most recent bout, he suffered a TKO loss to Thiago Santos at a UFC Fight Night event in Belem, Brazil.
UFC 225 pay-per-view event slated to go down on Saturday, June 9, 2018, at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
The main card will air on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET while the preliminary card will air on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass.
As of this writing, Claudia Gadelha taking on Carla Esparza, and Joseph Benavidez meeting Sergio Pettis have already been confirmed for the upcoming event.
The show doesn’t have the main event yet, but UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker recently took to his Twitter account to lay down the challenge to Yoel Romero for their fight to take place at this upcoming pay-per-view event, which could serve as the main event. The promotion will announce more bouts for the event in the coming weeks. Here is the updated card:
Carla Esparza vs. Claudia Gadelha
Joseph Benavidez vs. Sergio Pettis
Rashad Coulter vs. Allen Crowder
Curtis Blaydes vs. Alistair Overeem
What are your thoughts on Evans accepting this fight? If he loses should he retire as an active MMA competitor? Sound off in the comment section below.
