Fighting in the Now

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Rashad Evans is well aware of what is potentially at stake in his upcoming matchup with Phil Davis. After all, people have been asking him about Jon Jones since their highly publicized feud began early last year and Evans left Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts to train in Florida.

Beat Davis in the UFC on Fox 2 main event on Saturday at the United Center in Chicago, and the former light heavyweight king will have his long-awaited shot at his former teammate -- a man he once famously referred to as “Judas.” No more Twitter spats. No more he said-he said storylines. No more post-fight Octagon confrontations. Just two rivals settling their differences in the cage.

With that in mind, it would be hard to blame Evans if he lost focus on the task at hand. Instead, “The Ultimate Fighter 2” winner is staying firmly entrenched in the present.

“When it comes down to it, this is my title fight right here,” Evans said during a pre-fight teleconference. “I can’t look past Phil in any shape or form, so the whole Jon Jones talk and what could potentially happen if I win this fight -- it really doesn’t matter. Everything is contingent upon my performance [here]. The only thing I can even think of right now is my performance [on Saturday].”

Evans will have his hands full with Davis, a four-time All-American wrestler at Penn State University. With victories over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Tim Boetsch, Rodney Wallace, Alexander Gustafsson and Brian Stann in his brief UFC career, Davis has proven to be a handful for foes who cannot match his formidable strength and athleticism. Prior to his fight with Nogueira, “Mr. Wonderful” was touted by some as the type of talent best suited to challenge Jones.

An unspectacular decision win over the Brazilian at UFC Fight Night 24 quieted that talk, and now Evans has questioned whether Davis possesses a true fighter’s mentality.

“There’s some people that would fight if they weren’t getting paid to fight, and I’m one of those people,” Evans said. “Phil is not one of those people. It’s a difference in mindset. You’re gonna find out what the difference in mindset is.”

During the call, Evans directed the type of venom usually reserved for the likes of Jones and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson toward Davis, who struggled to get a word in edgewise.

“We’ll see what happens when the lights hit you, when you walk out and that crowd is roaring. We’re gonna see what kind of man you are; we’re gonna see what kind of fighter you are. Because I know you ain’t a fighter,” Evans taunted, after Davis said he would be deserving of a title shot with a victory. “When you get hit in the mouth, things change. When you got hit by ‘Little Nog,’ you didn’t know what to do. When I hit you in the mouth, you’re gonna feel it.”

With just one fight in the past 18 months to his credit, perhaps Evans is feeling the pent-up aggression of his inactivity. A knee injury forced “Suga” from a proposed title bout with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128. A thumb injury cost him a slot on the UFC 140 bill opposite Jones, and Lyoto Machida took his place. In between, Evans was impressive in earning a second-round technical knockout against Tito Ortiz at UFC 133, his debut fighting out of the Imperial Athletics camp. The marriage between Evans and “The Blackzilians” has been a fruitful one, he believes, and allows the 32-year-old to focus on both his strengths and
weaknesses in the cage.

“We work a lot of jiu-jitsu, but, more than anything, Mike Van Arsdale is the head coach, so we stick to fundamentals and things I’m good at,” Evans said. “One thing I’ve learned is never to get too far from what you’re good at: your bread and butter. I can’t say I can’t become a drastically better standup fighter than I am right now, but I never can forget where my discipline lies and where I’m strongest at. I do a lot of jiu-jitsu, but my focus is on my wrestling.”

It has been a difficult couple of weeks for the Boca Raton, Fla.-based gym, with Anthony Johnson’s weight issues and subsequent loss to Vitor Belfort at UFC 142, followed by the recently added Melvin Guillard’s demise at the hands of Jim Miller at UFC on FX 1. Once the victories begin to add up, Evans is confident that Imperial Athletics will be appropriately recognized as one of the world’s foremost camps.

“I think with the hard training and with the athletes that we’ve got, we’ll make our mark on our sport,” he said. “One thing that we do is we really work hard in the gym, and if we do it in the gym, it shows in the fight. More people start to notice and get on board when people start getting more successful, and they hear what we’ve got going on in South Florida. I expect our group to grow a lot.”

That growth could start with Evans, who has a chance to earn a marquee victory on a national stage. It has been more than three years since Evans briefly held light heavyweight gold. Now Jones, on the heels of a historic 2011, is the unquestioned top dog in the division. After expressing a desire to take some time off following his win over Machida, Jones has recently suggested that he would like to approach last year’s level of activity in 2012.

As a former titleholder, Evans understands the concept of a champion’s prerogative, even if it potentially means he could be bypassed yet again.

“He’s on top of the world, so I guess he gets to make those decisions. I’m trying to get where he’s at; I don’t own any spot,” he said. “I’ve had the privilege to be [called] the No. 1 contender a couple of times, but I’m yet to fight for the belt. If the UFC has another contender to put in there, by all means, that’s what they have to do, but that doesn’t stop what I’m gonna do and that’s keep on winning. Eventually, no matter what, I’ll get that title shot.”