Rashad Evans on the Biggest Victory of His Career

When you first started fighting, how much striking training had you done before you decided to compete in MMA? Because you had this wrestling base. Did you have any striking training growing up? Did you do any boxing? I did some boxing. Yeah. And I did some karate too. I did tank pseudo. Oh, okay. Yeah, I did tank pseudo for like a few years from the time I was like 13 to like 16. That makes sense because you always had good kicks. Yeah. Yeah. Like that Sean Salmon knockout. But you know, I never, I never utilized my kicks like I should have. My mom will always be like every time. And Rashad, listen, Joe, she always is saying something that Joe Rogan said. Rashad, Joe Rogan said, you need to pass the guard, Rashad. I'm like, mom, I don't even know what they should have. The guard is somebody to pass the guard. Like what? Oh my God. That's hilarious. That's hilarious. When I fought Sean Salmon, she's the one who told me to throw Rashad, throw your kicks like Bruce Lee, Rashad. And then when I threw the kick and knocked them down, and the next day I talked to her on the phone, she said, Rashad, that was a good kick. And I was like, okay, but I don't like that dirty shit though. And I was like, mom, what are you talking about? Rashad, you knew he was knocked out. You didn't have to hit him again. Oh, wow. And I'm like, mom. Your mom said that. You can't tell. You just got to keep going. Like the ref we say, don't stop until I stop you. And I was just in the fight. And she's like, but still Rashad, shit. Dirty shit. Oh, that's so funny. I was kind of surprised that you were in head kicking more people unconscious after that. You know, that's the thing, man. I needed to really, really step out of my game and make sure I stepped out of my game more and more often. But I just, you know, after I switched things up and went from, you know, Jackson's to Florida, it was different because Mike Winklejohn, he was my guy. Like it was like me and Mike Winklejohn had a really good relationship and he would work with me. And a lot of times we would work together. It was like a counseling session. We would just talk about life, you know what I'm saying? In between stuff, we'd talk about everything. And it was a fun training session, you know? And that's when, you know, he'll instill in me all these different things. You know, he'd be like, oh yeah, that kick is going to work. That kick is going to work. You know, even with the overhand right when I caught Chuck Liddell, he was telling me, oh yeah, that's the punch that's going to catch him. That's going to catch him. When I caught Chuck, the day before I was hitting it, move, because I was super nervous and I was hitting the overhand right and the left hook combination. And then you say, oh yeah, that's going to be the punch. You know, you're going to hit him with that and you're going to knock him out and I'm not going to be able to get into the cage and congratulate you. That's what he said to me. Word for word. And I'm just like, no way. And then it happened. I looked at him and was like, oh shit, it happened just like you said. That was like a gunshot. I remember that shot. I remember you laying that shot the smack of your fist hitting Chuck and then seeing Chuck crumble. It was like, holy shit. Was that your most satisfying victory? Yeah, I think so. It definitely was just because like going into that fight joke, like the media sometimes can be so damn disrespectful. You know what I'm saying? Like they were just kind of like the questioning was like, you know, what have you even done to fight a guy like Chuck Liddell? Like people were asking you. I mean, pretty much in so many words, like, you know, what have I even done? You were already at that point in time. Had you fought for the title? No. That was before you fought for the title. Yeah, before I fought for the title. It was the fight before, the fight before, right? The fight before, yeah. I only got a chance to fight for the title because I beat Chuck Liddell. Chuck Liddell was supposed to fight for the title. I was the serve up to fight for the title. Oh, wow. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, that was the serve up. Well, the media was a little sloppy back then. Yeah. So there's some really good guys out there now and gals that are covering MMA. They're real journalists. They're really real sports journalists. But back then it was like anybody with a camera who liked fights. Well, there's also a lot of people that were trying to get attention just by being douchey. Yeah. There was a lot of douchey sports guy talk. Yeah. I fucking hate that stuff. That was driving me crazy. Yeah. It was gonna be real disrespectful to fighters, real dismissive of fighters. So going into the fight, I felt that disrespect and I was like, you know what, man? All right. I'm like, I don't care what happens. I'm like, I got to at least give a good showing for myself, you know? And that's all I really cared about doing. I walked out to the song, Immortal Technique. It's called- That's my boy. Yeah, Immortal Technique. I love that dude. He's my friend. Oh, yeah. He's cool, man. I love him. Yeah. I came out to the song, Point of No Return. And that song just really solidified everything I was feeling at that moment. There's a verse in there that says, the place that I'm from doesn't exist anymore. And I knew after I walked out to that fight, life would never be the same, whether I won or lost. So- That was the big moment for you. That was the big moment. There was no, I was not going to be the same or shot after that fight, no matter what happened. Immortal Technique has such great lyrics, man. He's so smart. So smart, dude. I'm so politically aware, geopolitically aware. He's got so much depth to his lyrics. I love that dude. He's like one of those guys you listen to and you just kind of keep putting him back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, shit. Did he just say that shit? He's got a lot of oh, shit lyrics. Oh, shit. A lot of things that he says, you go and you look it up afterwards, like, okay. You know what I'm saying? He definitely had me looking up some things after I listened to him. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah.