BREAKING | Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans announces retirement from MMA

Former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Rashad Evans has elected to hang up the gloves. The former champ and UFC legend announced his retirement on the inaugural edition of Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on ESPN.

Rashad Evans on next! I think you'll want to watch this one.https://t.co/7XuKPHzxSZ

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 25, 2018

Rashad Evans captured the UFC light heavyweight title in 2008, taking out Forrest Griffin with a third-round shelling. He lost that title in his first defense, succumbing to second-round punches dealt by Lyoto Machida.

Over the course of his legendary MMA career, Evans has defeated a host of superstars and fellow champions in Michael Bisping, Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Tito Ortiz, Phil Davis, Dan Henderson, and Chael Sonnen.

Unfortunately, his success dropped off markedly in 2015, when he lost back to back light heavyweight contests to Ryan Bader and Glover Teixeira. These losses drove Evans down to the middleweight division, where he gave up decisions to Daniel Kelly and Sam Alvey. He then returned to the light heavyweight division, only to be put down by a first-round knee from Anthony Smith in the fight that would ultimately become his swan song.

Rashad Evans rides off into the sunset with an overall MMA record of 19-8-1. Like his fellow legend Michael Bisping, Evans seems like a sure thing for a future induction into the UFC Hall of Fame.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 6/25/2018.