Thiago Silva next in line for Rashad Evans, possible for UFC 108
About a week ago, we all learned that the upcoming Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Rashad Evans fight at UFC 107 was off. Then yesterday news came out that “Rampage” was actually retiring from MMA to focus on his acting career. This left many people wondering who Evans would face next seeing as he was set to battle Jackson once their coaching stints on the “Ultimate Fighter” came to end.
That answer may have came when Evans sat down for an interview with MMA.Fanhouse.com and revealed that he could face Thiago Silva either sometime in December at UFC 108, or sometime in early-2010.
During the interview, Evans mentioned that Silva glared at him after his victory over Keith Jardine at UFC 102 in August and he interpreted that as a sign that Silva wanted to “take him on.”
If the fight is indeed signed, it would be a battle between two competitors with only one professional loss on their record. The irony in that is, both fighter’s only loss came at the hands of current UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida.
Evans (13-1-1) faced Machida at UFC 98 in May and lost the UFC light heavyweight title after getting knocked out in the second round. Before that loss, Evans had run up an impressive win streak that featured wins over Forrest Griffin, Chuck Liddell, and Michael Bisping.
Silva (14-1) lost to Machida at UFC 94 in January. He was knocked out in the first round with only one second left on the clock. His UFC resume is impressive as well with wins over Jardine, Houston Alexander, and James Irvin among others.
Dustin James is a contributing writer for FiveOuncesOfPain.com. He is a regular pollster for HDNet's "Inside MMA" rankings and a former contributor to 411Mania.com.
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uh oh! time to test that chin!
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now this is a match up that makes sense, and could be very entertaining
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Is it just me or Evans is trying to beat literally everyone who gave a beating on his buddy?
Nice match, nevertheless. Evans is a better striker and his wrestling wouldn’t let Silva try his ground and pound on him.
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alright nice match up. this one is going to be great. if evans can keep his head moving he can take this one but Thiago is one sick dude. dont know yet
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This is a more interesting match up than Rashad v. Rampage. Silva is a killer, but Rashad is a lethal counter puncher. Maybe he evades like Machida and ko’s Silva, and maybe Silva cuts him off, backs him up against the cage, and ko’s him.
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Rashad will ko Silva sometime in the second. This is a really bad match up for Silva I think.
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If Rashad can move around and pick his shots he should have no problem beating Thiago
but then again Thiago has tremendous power and it is much bigger than Rashad
winner get a rematch against Machida
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Good matchup. Me and my buddy were thinkin about how Rich and Rashad would be a good matchup with bothy coming off ko losses. This one is definately a little better though.
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I would say winner of this fight gets the winner of LIl Nog and Cane!
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Great matchup.
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great replacement for jackson, this fight will produce fire works.
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I wouldn’t say this is a bad matchup for Silva…might actually be a good fight for him. Rashad’s never faced a striker as tenacious or aggressive as Silva (Liddell, Griffin, Machida, Bisping….counterpunchers). Silva’s jits is terrific too…although I doubt the fight will go there.
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