Rashad Evans: Machida Loss Gave Me Nightmares

“I would be lying if I said that fight didn’t affect me. That fight gave me nightmares for a long time. On so many levels I lost that fight before I even got there. I was wondering how that could have happened. I never even thought I could even be hurt in a fight, never mind losing one. It perplexed me. Can I not take a punch? All these different questions were going through my mind. I made the decision to move past it so I could continue to grow. I needed to get to what I should have done when I fought this guy in the first place, and grow from there. It’s all about growing from experience and from the times that you have hiccups in your fights.”

Rashad Evans rose to a UFC title as an undefeated TUF champion. Many thought his reign up top would be a long one. That all ended in his first title defense against, another undefeated fighter, Lyoto Machida.

Machida KO’d Evans early in their fight to give Rashad his first professional loss and derail his championship status.

As he tells it to Bloodyelbow.com, Evans had nightmares following that fight.