2022 will see the return of a UFC Hall of Famer to the cage.
Rashad Evans, who’s been retired since the middle of 2018, is set to fight for Khabub Nurmagomedov’s MMA promotion, Eagle FC, at its first U.S. event Jan. 28 in Miami, a promotion official confirmed to MMA Junkie. Yahoo Sports! was first to report the news.
Evans will compete at light heavyweight against an opponent to be named.
This past July, Evans, 42, told MMA Junkie of his desire to fight again – but he specifically was looking for a boxing match against YouTuber Logan Paul or former champion Roy Jones Jr., neither of which materialized.
Evans (19-8-1) hasn’t fought since a 53-second knockout loss to Anthony Smith on June 9, 2018 at UFC 225. That result was Evans’ fifth consecutive loss, which led to his retirement announcement two weeks later.
Evans, the Season 2 winner of “The Ultimate Fighter” at heavyweight in 2005, went on to win the UFC light heavyweight title with a TKO of Forrest Griffin in December 2008. Evans lost the belt to Lyoto Machida in his next fight after being knocked out at UFC 98. Evans never managed to reclaim gold and lost his only other opportunity, a decision to then-champion Jon Jones at UFC 145.
The loss to Jones was the beginning of a downfall to Evans’ career in which he lost seven of his final nine UFC bouts – including five in a row – from 2012 to 2018.
Evans, who’s worked as a desk analyst for UFC events in recent years, was inducted into the UFC Hall of Famer in July 2019.
