Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans suffered a upset unanimous decision loss against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 156. The former champion was rumored to face UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva if he had beaten Nogueira.
It wasn’t in the cards, but a move to the middleweight division is something Evans will need to do at this point in his career.
Evans had not fought since his unanimous decision loss against Jon Jones in April 2012. It could have been the layoff, or he may have been injured as he didn’t attack the way he normally does with striking mixed with takedowns.
Evans has suffered back-to-back losses for the first time in his career, and with the loss to Nogueira isn’t anywhere close to the title picture as a light heavyweight now.
He’s still one of the best light heavyweight’s in the world, and that should be taken into account if he makes the move to middleweight. A couple wins there against credible opponents should put him in line for a title shot. After all, he was in line to get a title shot with no wins as a middleweight.
After back-to-back losses it could be really easy for him to ‘go through the motions’ nowadays as a light heavyweight. I’m sure it was pretty difficult for him to get excited about fighting someone like Nogueira coming off the loss to Jon Jones.
The move could invigorate his career as there’s something about having an attainable goal to accomplish.