Rashad Evans opens up on withdrawal from UFC 205

Unfortunate news surfaced Tuesday afternoon that former UFC champion Rashad Evans had been forced to withdraw from his scheduled UFC 205 scrap with Tim Kennedy this weekend. The fight, which was set to serve as Evans highly anticipated middleweight debut, would have taken place on the Fox Sports 1 preliminary card of the event.

While details regarding the situation were scarce when Evans withdrawal was announced, he has since revealed more info to MMAFighting regarding the situation, saying:

“I’m disappointed. I’m healthy. I don’t want anyone worrying about me. I’m fine, physically speaking. Never felt better. It’s just the commission and their rules. I guess they have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to this.”

“Man, I had something special for Tim,” he said.

“This doesn’t change the fact that I want to fight. This doesn’t change anything for me as far as fighting.”

“In life, if it ain’t one thing it’s another,” he said. “I won’t get beat down by this.”

Evans elaborated on the situation, stating that back in October he took a pre-fight MRI, which revealed “irregular findings” resulting in him needing to undergo further testing. The former champ reportedly passed the the tests, however was informed this week that he would not be granted a license to fight in the state of New York.

Evans was looking to return to the win column in the bout, which he would have entered on a 2-fight skid that saw him drop back to back losses over the course of the last 12 months, the most recent one being a KO loss to Glover Teixeira back in April.

Stay tuned for updates as they become available.