Rashad Evans with wonderful news: ‘Everything’s cleared medically’

Many fans were worried when former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans was denied a fighting license at UFC 205 and UFC 206.

However, “Suga” assured everyone that he was fine even after being denied the license to fight on two consecutive times by separate athletic commissions.

Evans spoke with Ariel Helwani on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour and released some relieving news.

“I’m going to fight,” said Evans (transcribed by Chuck Mindenhall of MMA Fighting). “You know, the thing that happened in New York, it was pretty much a misunderstanding with the brain MRI thing. Because the radiologist read pretty much the same radiology exam and then he gave two different assessments of it. In 2013, he said it was absolutely fine, there’s nothing. And then in 2016, looking at pretty much the same identical image, he said I had new changes, which to the commission was like, wait, if you have new changes with your brain MRI, then your brain is still injured and you can’t compete.

“But upon further review and having everything looked at and tested up the wazoo, it was pretty clear what happened. And it was just a radiologist not doing his due diligence. But, at the end of day it cost me, and it is what it is, but I was able to put it behind me and move forward.”

Evans stated that he is looking to get back to competition around March or April and is confident that he will be cleared to fight but won’t take his chances with the New York commission again unless he will be guaranteed a clearance.

“Everything’s cleared medically, everything is fine, so I’m looking to get a fight as soon as I can,” he said. “I just want to get out there, and I just want to perform. I feel like I’ve had a pretty good career, but at the end of the day, I don’t feel like I’m finished yet. And I don’t feel like I’ve been punchy or beat up or anything like that, by any means. In all my years of fighting, I’ve only been knocked out twice. You see some fighters who have 12 losses and they’ve been knocked out a few times, and people still say that they still have it.

“It’s all about right now for me staying persistent, staying healthy, and more importantly, just staying confident in my abilities.”

This article first appeared on 1/19/2017.