Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
Call everyone you know – UFC 167 is this weekend and oh boy, is this card stacked.
I will be putting out a lot of articles this week concerning this event, so please be on the lookout. Now that my shameless plug is over, let’s take a look at one of the more interesting matchups on the card and let me explain why Rashad Evans took a fight that he should not have.
I said it: Evans made a dumb move in taking this fight.
He is clearly still riding high off of his split-decision win over Dan Henderson, and with his newly-found confidence, he took a fight that he has no business in being in. Evans is fighting Chael Sonnen, which is a huge task for anyone, but this fight could not have come at a worse time. Sonnen is fresh off of a submission victory of Shogun Rua, which is saying a lot.
Just from that, one can agree that Sonnen has stepped up his game 10-fold. He showed spectacular intelligence in going for the move early in the fight, demonstrating impressive technique with locking in the choke and brutal strength from getting the tap so fast. All of this spells bad news for Evans. Evans has had some big fights in the past, but part of me still believes that he gets nervous before the really big ones.
Maybe it is because Evans puts a lot of pressure on himself. If that is the case, than the pressure is huge on Evans now because he knows that a win over Sonnen is absolutely necessary to keep him relevant. Does he have the hands to beat Sonnen? Yes, I do believe he does. Does he have the wrestling to beat Sonnen? I do not think so. Does he have the submission game to beat Sonnen? Nope. How about the confidence? I believe he does — that is, until the fight starts.
Sonnen has a way of beating people before they even get in the Octagon, and I think that he has done just that to Evans.
