Guerrilla Journalism: “The Beast” breeds champions
Former UFC light heavyweight champion “Sugar” Rashad Evans burst onto the scene as an undersized, but scrappy, heavyweight on the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” but his MMA career began long before he ever starred on the hit show on Spike TV.
Evans — a former Michigan State wrestler — never got to work with Dan “The Beast” Severn as a Spartan, but he did begin his MMA training under the UFC Hall of Famer after graduating.
“When he (Evans) first came to us, he was a real hard-nosed wrestler,” Severn said. “He was a little timid at first, but I helped him put together a tape to send to the UFC for the Ultimate Fighter show and the rest, as they say, is history.”
Evans began his MMA training at Severn’s facility in Coldwater, Mich., and even made his amateur and professional debuts as part of Severn’s MMA company “The Danger Zone” before joining the UFC.
“Rashad goes full steam after whatever he wants,” Severn said. “He’s been working on his offense, and he’s come on more and more as he has grown in the sport.”
After dismantling Brad Imes at The Ultimate Fighter finale, Evans squeaked out a couple of decision victories with his wrestling before hitting his stride in 2007 and leaving a string of knockout victims in his wake all the way to his stoppage of Forrest Griffin to claim the 205-pound belt at UFC 92 in 2008.
A knockout at the hands of current champ Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida in his first title defense ended Evans’ reign, but his recent victory over Thiago Silva at UFC 108 has him right back in the running for another shot at Machida and Severn thinks it may turn out a little different this time.
“Rashad is an intelligent fighter,” Severn said. “He’ll go back and watch film and train and create a proper game plan this time.”
Evans now trains with Greg Jackson’s camp in Arizona — not far from where Severn made his name on the wrestling mats at Arizona State — but you can be sure he hasn’t forgotten any of the lessons “The Beast” taught him along the way.
Posted by Ron Counts at 07:15 PM. Filed under:
