Rashad Evans was extremely excited to return to the ring for a boxing match with longtime rival Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, but in the days leading up to the fight, the UFC Hall of Fame realised that the promises given to the fighters were not kept by the promoters.
As a result, unloading the card, rather than facing a potential fiasco, led to the 11-hour decision, seeing Evans and Jackson actually fight and then their contractual obligations unfulfilled.
“The negotiations were just falling apart as long as I was promised that the rampage would enter a fight. It wasn’t fulfilled,” Evans told MMA Fighting on Monday. “We tried to get around that, but it could happen, but it wasn’t enough time to make everyone happy.
“One thing is, this is something we built up for a while and we really got to do. We didn’t go there and screw it in. It was a focus on both us and it was a good focus for both him and me. He still has great shape.
Although Evans had not discussed the exact details of the contract, he made it clear that money plays an absolute role in the decision to pull the plug in the fight.
The former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion has allowed fighters to hear horror stories from the industry-wide where they have been guaranteed to pay certain amounts, as they stiffen after the event has already happened when the time comes for combat to withdraw.
“It’s definitely a financial element,” Evans said. “That’s where things got a bit off the rails. We really were time to take the next step and we couldn’t completely soften before we really knew that everything would take care of when the fight took place.
“We had some stories about other fighters who were in boxing matches and didn’t receive anywhere near the money we negotiated, so we fell into some safety measures to make sure we were hitting certain milestones.
One particular case comes to mind in which fellow UFC veterans Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz were involved after facing off against Dias in a boxing match in July 2024, and then filed a lawsuit against the company that promoted the match on pay-per-view.
Masvidal later told MMA the MMA that he needed to “sue the fifth” on his own issues regarding potential issues with payments from the event, but he ultimately promised that “everything will be known.”
The situation caught Evans’ attention when he began to question whether he would fall into similar ordeal in a boxing match.
“It was something we wanted to learn from the situation (with Diaz and Masvidal), make sure we were caring for them, and make sure everything was filled and explained before we step into the ring to fight,” Evans said. “It just didn’t make it in time.
“They’re still putting this card together. Things are still going on so I don’t know if there’s a solution to it. Maybe they have something in the final ditch effort, we can make something happen, but for now, that’s not something we can do.”
Despite rivalries in the UFC with plans to rekindle the boxing ring feud, Evans said he definitely consulted with Rampage before the fight was cancelled.
“We had a dialogue and we talked about it,” Evans said. “We’ve made sure we’re both okay with the possibility of offering another time away from this promotion. Whether we like it or not, he’s my enemy. Fanner.”
This is a natural, unsettling outcome for a veteran fighter who hasn’t competed recently but has put other projects on hold to prepare for a boxing match.
Although Evans still trains regularly, he doesn’t have the kind of training in his body that training camp needs to prepare for the fight. So, with Lampage’s match being cancelled, Evans admits that he will have to shift gears to return to regular scheduled activities, but has not completely given up on hope that the fight could be rescheduled.
In fact, Evans says he embraces the idea of working with another promoter who might want to feature fights on another marquee card, like the shows that stars like Misfits Boxing and Jake Paul.
“I’m going to regroup, but I’m sure I’m a desire to play a boxing match with Rampage,” Evans said. “It was so much fun to be devoted to myself and come back to the way of fighting thinking. I was away from the fight, so I was busy doing other things and developing myself outside the fighting game. All of this is very important.
“If the opportunity presents itself and we find ourselves another promotion that allows us to make it happen, then I’m all for it. It’s about making sure we both take care of it. That makes sense for both of us too…
Evans hasn’t given up hope in a boxing match with Rampage until all his resources are exhausted, but he also isn’t going to spend any outrageous time highlighting issues other than his control.
He has successfully lived a life away from the battle. This includes working as an analyst, mainly in the companies he opened and combat sports, so Evans has a lot to keep occupying him, even if he wants to punch the rampage again.
“If this doesn’t happen in the short term, life will continue,” Evans said. “I train my backburner two or three times a week, and I’m going to start doing other things outside of the fight game, really focusing on other businesses.”