Rashad Evans may be the nicest guy that people love to hate. In a recent interview with TapouT Radio, he opened up about MMA fans that are finally warming to him. He’s just wondering what took them so long. Evans related some of his fan interactions,
“People are like, man I don’t like you, or I don’t like that dude, and I’m like why, why don’t you like me? What did I do? They say, well, you’re cocky. They can’t really put their finger on it, but they know they’re not supposed to like me? It’s crazy. You know, I will have people stand in lines, long lines, wanting me to sign something, or take a picture and all that stuff, and then they show me on the big screen and everybody’s booing, and I’m like, wait a minute. Dude, I just seen you standing in line trying to get a picture with me. Now you’re going to boo? I don’t take it personal. I just understand it for what it is and move on.” He continues,
“I’m just going to keep on going out there and fighting and doing my thing, because now, I’m starting to really enjoy every single phase of the whole process of getting in shape, the whole of fighting. I still have a hard time…the interviews, I kinda get bogged down, because there’s just so many of them, and it just goes on and on. Besides that, I’m just trying to enjoy the whole process of it all, and I feel like I haven’t even hit my peak yet, and that’s what I’m really excited about.”
Evans goes on to talk about the UFC choosing him as one of the fighters to represent them during last Thursday’s press conference, marking the historic partnership of the promotion and Fox Television,
“Man, that right there meant a lot to me, because it showed me that they do believe in me and they want to put me out there as one of their guys, a key ambassador that will speak for the organization. You know, that’s something that I will take on proudly. To be up there with a guy like Chuck Liddell or Georges St. Pierre or Frankie Edgar and those guys. I was like, oh man, that’s pretty cool. It’s so funny, because in my mind, I feel like I haven’t been in this sport for that long, but then I see that I have been around for a while. Now I’m one of the bigger names, and it’s kind of crazy. I enjoy the fact that they’re really starting to believe in me like that, and I really enjoy the fact that I’m getting to be one of “those” guys, not saying that I’m Chuck Liddell, but that I’m becoming one of those guys to be. Kind of like one of those legendary guys to fight.”
When asked about his new training camp, he talks about the family atmosphere there, and says,
“It’s the kind of mindset that leaks and bleeds onto everybody else, the fact that we are so down for each other, and we have that great energy. When you have that great energy, it makes it so much easier to train, because training is a hard business. If you don’t feel good, and that energy isn’t right there, it’s easy to be like, I don’t feel like doing this. But, when everything feels right, and you enjoy the people you train with, and the lessons you learned in the day, then training camp just flies by. My camp just flew by. It went by so fast.”
Discussion of UFC Rio, brought out Evans’ reasoning behind choosing Forrest Griffin to defeat Mauricio “Shogun” Rua,
“There’s something that happens in a fight sometimes, and the way Forrest beat him the first time, he took a piece of him with him. And when you take a piece of somebody with you…well, Shogun recognizes that. I think they might pick up right where they left off, because there’s no fear. That’s gone. You know, Forrest is going to go in there, and Forrest is going to push the pace. Let’s be honest here. Shogun does not have the best conditioning. I think that was a problem in their first fight, and I think it’s going to be a problem in this second fight.”
You can follow Rashad Evans on his Twitter
You can listen to the audio of this interview at TapouT Radio
Those who have actually gotten the opportunity to get to know Rashad – and I’m one of them – appreciate just what an all-around tremendous person he is.
Rashad is the man!