Evans' win sets up dream bout vs. Jones

The time for talk was over.

Rashad Evans paced circles around the silent locker room. Then the door opened, and he walked down a tunnel in the bowels of the United Center. A white towel covered his head. He stared at the cement floor, thinking of only this moment. He stopped near a couple of stretchers, closed his eyes and bounced up and down.

There would be no more trash talk from Rashad: No more saying his opponent, fellow light heavyweight Phil Davis, looked like Arsenio Hall and John Salley had a baby. And no one talked to him, either: not Rashad’s coaches, not even Chael Sonnen – one of the few UFC fighters with a more notorious mouth than the cocksure Rashad. Sonnen strode by, bloody and weary after his hard-fought, controversial decision victory over Michael Bisping, and there wasn’t even a glimmer of recognition between the two.

It was, finally, Rashad’s time. Sonnen’s win moments before had just set the stage for one fight UFC fans have been waiting for: A possible rematch with Brazilian MMA legend Anderson Silva. So now UFC fans turned their eyes toward this man, who needed to win this fight to give UFC fans the other fight they’ve been waiting for. The 32-year-old light heavyweight has been in title limbo since he relinquished the light heavyweight belt in 2009 in the first fight after he’d won it: Injuries, cancelled fights, frustration. Saturday’s fight was not the fight everyone had wanted, versus former NCAA wrestling champion Davis on UFC on FOX 2, even though the up-and-coming Davis was a dangerous opponent. But for Rashad, this fight was a big stepping stone.

Win here and Rashad would get another shot at the title. Win here and Rashad would get another shot at Jon Jones, the training-partner-turned-nemesis whom Rashad believes is a disingenuous back-stabber (and who was in the FOX broadcast booth for this fight). Win here and UFC fans would get a fight for the ages, and Rashad would get another shot at glory.

In sports, sometimes things don’t work out the way you want them to. The top seed gets knocked out in the first round of the playoffs; the fan favorite falls short. That is a big part of the beauty of the UFC, that on any given night, any given fighter can surprise you.

But sometimes things do work out exactly as you want.

And on Saturday night in Chicago, a night of plodding fights and arguable decisions, things worked out perfectly, and UFC fans got exactly what they wanted: A hard-fought Sonnen win followed by a decisive Rashad win, setting the table for two future fights that will make any MMA fan drool.

Rashad versus Jon. Chael versus Anderson.

Oh, yes.

Sonnen’s victory against the Briton was tight throughout. Sonnen jumped out to his typical frenetic pace, but Bisping surprised those who had him as a five-to-one underdog, defending many of Sonnen’s takedowns. Judges had Sonnen winning each of the three rounds, but Bisping thought he had at least two of those rounds won.

No matter – UFC fans got what they wanted: A clear path from Sonnen to Silva.

“I know that I’ll do my part in that,” Sonnen said afterward. “Do I think that (Anderson Silva) will sign the fight? No, I don’t ... They’ve offered him the fight four times, and he said no four times. Mysteriously he’s supposed to accept on the fifth? ...

“I’d rather talk about real men like Mr. Bisping, who steps in on 10 days’ notice and fights me,” Sonnen said, relishing some post-fight trash-talk against his arch-nemesis. “Those are the kind of guys I’d rather give media attention to. Not some bum hiding out in Brazil.”

After Sonnen’s victory, Rashad stood just out of sight of fans at the sold-out United Center, surrounded by his entourage. He was feeling the pressure. Earlier in the morning, he woke up and thought, “Man, I can’t lose this fight.”

“When people are overlooking somebody like Phil Davis, it’s a dangerous thing,” Rashad said afterward. “Whether you want to or not, it kind of seeps in a little bit.”

Rashad punched the air, pounded his own abs, then started to dance: It was time. “I just dial in, just bring myself really present into the moment,” he said afterward. Out in the arena, his song was playing, Mobb Depp’s “Survival of the Fittest” – fitting. Rashad walked to the Octagon, and fans, for once, applauded him, perhaps because he was in his adopted hometown.

Davis stepped out confidently, but Rashad methodically clawed away at that confidence. He beat Davis in boxing, bloodying his lip. He beat Davis at Davis’ supposed strength, wrestling, taking him down again and again, catching him in a crucifix in the first round, elbowing Davis to the head in the second round.

It wasn’t a dominating performance by Rashad, but he won every single round. His hands were clearly quicker than Davis’, and by the fifth round, as Davis tired, it was clear a still-bouncing Rashad had won the endurance game, too. Rashad seemed strangely disappointed by his victory – “I wanted to put on a more spectacular win,” he said afterward – but the most important thing Saturday was just to get past Davis.

Sure enough, UFC president Dana White announced Saturday that Jones will be defending his light heavyweight title at UFC 145 in April in Atlanta. The opponent, one can surely guess, will be Rashad.

“I definitely want to put the rivalry to bed, and more importantly get my belt back,” Rashad said afterward. “I’m not really too worried about the mystique of Jon Jones. Because I know Jon Jones’ core. I remember when Jon Jones used to come up to me and say, ‘Hey man, what’s it like when everybody wants to take pictures with you?’ So I know Jon Jones.”

But enough of the trash-talk. This fight was barely won; Rashad hadn’t even been officially announced for that next fight. He just wanted to live in this moment.

“There’s so much that has been said, there’s so much that’s going to be said between now and then,” he said. “Right now I just kind of want to just go back and enjoy this victory and think about the things I need to do to get ready for the fight against Jon Jones. Let tonight be tonight.”

He paused for a moment.

“I’ll get my mouth going probably later on,” he said.

And we can’t wait.

You can follow Reid Forgrave on Twitter @reidforgrave, become a fan on Facebook or email him at reidforgrave@gmail.com.