Former UFC Champ Rashad Evans Reveals How Retirement Made Sense

Rashad Evans has revealed what clicked in his brain to make the decision to retire from mixed martial arts competition.

Evans competed in MMA from 2004 to 2018. Along the way, he won season two of “The Ultimate Fighter” and captured the UFC light heavyweight championship. Evans ended his career on a five-fight skid and many believed the time was right to pack it in.

Under Jackson-Wink MMA, Evans began developing the mentality of being a modern-day samurai who would go out on his shield. Evans told MMAJunkie.com that he believed in this for years, but eventually it stopped making sense:

“I just didn’t believe the story I was telling myself anymore.

Before becoming one of the best light heavyweights in the world, Evans worked security in a hospital emergency room. Evans used the horrifying things he had seen during his time at work as motivation for much greener pastures:

“I was taking that home with me, and it made me want to make the most of my life. I would come home after work, and I had this dog that would run with me. We would race up this hill, and he would blow by me. But then I’d keep running for an hour, hour and a half, until he’d slowly tire out. I wouldn’t let myself stop running until I could beat my dog up that hill at least five times. The whole time I was doing it, I was telling myself, ‘I’m going to be world champion some day.’ I would just keep telling myself that over and over.”