This is a powerful interview ESPN Radio 1100 did with Rashad Evans. Rashad talks in a very honest way about the days leading up to and the loss of his fight against Lyoto Machida. He says some things that many “tough guys” would never say in public. Evans talks about how he was getting his ass kicked in practice leading up to the fight and how he was losing fights in his dreams, which he says never happens and all kinds of other crazy things that apparently contributed to his loss. Evans talks about a general change in the way he felt about himself and his fighting. It is very rare to hear a fighter talk about emotional difficulties of fighting, but we all know fighting is not only a physical challenge but also and emotional one. Having your mind right can make all the difference. This interview is a realistic view of a fighter who is struggling with the mental side of the fight game. No body is perfect and Evans is a big enough man to admit that he has been going through.
At about the 5:57 mark, Evans was asked if he had less confidence going into his fight with Machida than normal. Evans replied:
“I was in excellent shape, I couldn’t get tired to save my life. I just felt like something was missing but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I couldn’t say, this is what’s wrong right now. You ever be, like, emotionally messed up you can’t even say (why) just want to cry, you don’t even know why you just feel it inside you know. That’s how I felt it’s like man there’s something wrong, I can’t express it, I don’t even know what it is but I just feel like something’s not right.”
