Rashad Evans: Daniel Cormier should retire if he loses to Jon Jones again
Rashad Evans knows a thing or two about being emotionally invested in a rivalry with Jon Jones and how it can affect the ego.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion was involved in a very heated war of words with Jones that culminated in a showdown at UFC 145 with Evans falling short. He empathizes with Daniel Cormier as he too was involved in a feud with Jones and also fell short then they met at 182.
The difference is that Cormier now holds the UFC light heavyweight championship due to Jones being suspended and subsequently stripped last year. And with Jones and Cormier set to meet again at UFC 197 on April 23, the proverbial cup of emotions has runneth over yet again.
With so much emotionally invested, Evans sees this fight as a must-win for Cormier. So much, in fact, that Evans believes that the 36-year-old may have to call it quits if he can’t get the job done the second time around.
“I think that DC definitely can [win],” Evans said on The MMA Hour. “He definitely can. You know, DC, he seems different this time around. He seems different this time mentally speaking. Honestly speaking, this is a fight that DC…he has to win. Like, if DC doesn’t win this fight – he would have to retire if he doesn’t win this fight.”
Evans, who will face Glover Teixeira a week before Cormier and Jones meet, figures that Cormier has already accomplished so much in his MMA career and the only true hurdle left for him would be to defeat Jon Jones. If he is unable to, what else is left?
“It’s like, what does he do then?” Evans said. “Does he try to face Jon again for the third time? Once you take away a man’s desire to be the best – or he knows that he can’t be the best – then in a sense, you just kill that man off. So if he loses this fight, Jon would have killed him off. There’s no reason. The competitive grind would be gone.”
It’s an interesting observation by Evans, but does Cormier feel the same way?
