Jones: Rashad Evans is an all-time great

wlu29 said:
Rashad defeats tito, rampage, henderson, wandy, probably frank shamrock
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Its hard to say, because this is 100% speculation. I think Pride Rampage and Pride Wandy would beat Rashad. Wand TDD was sufficient to stand for a decent amount of time, and he would knock Rashad's head off standing. Of course, Wand was always susceptible to getting caught with a nice counter (Tito, Rampage, Hendo), and Rashad throws quickly.

Rampage's TDD seems to have eroded over time, which I would guess is because he has neglected his wrestling for years in favor of tightening up his boxing. In Pride, I would give him a very slight edge against Rashad, but I could be wrong.

Rashad probably would have beaten Hendo, because Dan always had mediocre TDD. Rashad's shot is too fast to stop, but you know Hendo can land that right hand of doom (anyone else a Hellboy fan?) out of absolutely nowhere, and Rashad's striking defense is hardly impenetrable.

I admittedly haven't watched enough of Tito or Frank Shamrock's fights to add my 2 cents on those scenarios. I respect Tito a lot though, for managing to be competitive against guys like Machida, Bader, and Rashad, despite being as old as Mr. Burns. If Tito had been on TRT, just imagine what his record would be like. :eek:
 
ncboy said:
Sounds like Jones wants to kiss and make up.

But Evans is underrated on these forums. Arguably the 2nd best at LHW right now.
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I think Rashad will always be underrated for 3 reasons.

1) As someone else mentioned, his biggest "name" wins were against past their prime ATGs. Not his fault by any means, but some people will hold this against him.

2) He won his belt by defeating the criminally underrated Forrest Griffin. Forrest made the mistake of beating Pride legends Rampage and Shogun, and also getting eaten by Anderson Silva. So Rampage fans, Shogun fans, and Anderson haters have all discredited the man Rashad took the belt from.

3) Title reigns are crucial to most fans in ranking greatness, and Rashad never defended his. He didn't look great in beating Forrest to gain it, and then he immediately lost it to Machida in devastating fashion. So he's never had the kind of run where he looked unbeatable. Most ATGs have had something like that.

*** On the bright side, Rashad has some good years left in him. He doesn't fight often, so he hasn't worn his body down. Jones is moving up soon, which is good news for him. The only problem I foresee for Evans is that his wrestling and striking both largely revolve around him being quick and explosive. As he exits his athletic prime, he'll need to change the way he fights and refine his technique.
 
Yeah rashad is def a one of the all time greats at lhw. Props to jon being honest about 1 that and 2 those good times I'm sure they had back before things changed.
 
I don't like, it is like he is valuing Rashad more than Shogun, Machida and Rampage, who are all, in my opinion, "all-time-greater" than Rashad is.
 
I'd put put Wand, Shogun, Rampage, Chuck, Randy, Tito, Frank, Machida, Hendo and Jones in front of him so not in top 10. Forrest and Rashad are contenders, though.
 
ufcbrass said:
you guys are nuts. i am a hater but top 10 all time?

just a few i would easily rank over him in no particular order

lidell
ortiz
couture
jones
shogun
wandy
f. shamrock
henderson
rampage
machida

and those are just off the top of my head
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Rashad and Machida's careers are about even.

They've fought a similar level of competition and have a lot of common opponents (Bonnar, Hoger, Ortiz, Thiago Silva, Rampage, Jones). Both got dominated by Jones (though Rashad somehow survived 5 rounds). Rashad did a lot better against Rampage. Machida did a lot better against Silva.

They both are former LHW champions. Machida only defended his title on paper not in reality.

The only thing Machida has over Rashad is his win against him. And we all know a win over someone doesn't automatically put you above them in the top 10 list otherwise Rashad is above Lidell, Ortiz and Rampage. So I don't really see how Machida is this instant top 10 LHW and Rashad isn't even in the conversation.
 
Rashad did a lot better against Rampage? not even sure about that one, holding someone against the fence and getting almost KO'd is not that impressive.
Yea, lyoto vs Rampage was a crappy fight, but other than a lucky Leonard Garcia decision, Rampage had nothing and he was the one who almost got finished.
 
Rashad needs to fight more. He's a great fighter, he just hasn't fought enough top level competition to be considered an all time great in my opinion. Chuck and Rampage are his best wins, they're great wins, but it's only 2 of them. His next best wins are Forrest, Silva and Davis, now those are good wins, but not exactly spectacular. People will argue that the win over Tito was a good win, but let's be honest here, it wasn't.
 
Where's the Rashad shoop already? I'm surprised this thread went this long without that pic!
 
ufcbrass said:
you guys are nuts. i am a hater but top 10 all time?

just a few i would easily rank over him in no particular order

lidell
ortiz
couture
jones
shogun
wandy
f. shamrock
henderson
rampage
machida

and those are just off the top of my head
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prime rashad either beat or would beat most u mentioned.

don't let your hate blind the facts
 
Did you forget that he murderd Chuck and played with Tito's booty...twice!!
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This is true, but it doesn't take away from Chuck's and Tito's standings as all-time greats in the division. Just because they got beat by Rashad doesn't mean they have any less impressive careers or that his career is better. That's like saying that since Bigfoot tooled Fedor that Bigfoot is a better all-time heavyweight than Fedor. No. Rashad beat them both, impressivley, but his career still lacks the title defenses both Tito and Chuck had and, although Rashad is a top 10 all-time great imo, he is definitively behind Chuck and Tito in the all-time rankings.
 
1. Hendo
2. Jones
3. Shogun
4. Page
5. Liddell
6. Rashad
7. Machida
8. Wandy
9. Handy
10 Ortiz
 
JoseAldoKillaBe said:
Rashad did a lot better against Rampage? not even sure about that one, holding someone against the fence and getting almost KO'd is not that impressive.
Yea, lyoto vs Rampage was a crappy fight, but other than a lucky Leonard Garcia decision, Rampage had nothing and he was the one who almost got finished.
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A clear win is a better performance than leaving 2 rounds as toss ups.

Whether or not you were entertained by it is pretty much irrelevant to the discussion.
 
nixkid said:
Rashad and Machida's careers are about even.

They've fought a similar level of competition and have a lot of common opponents (Bonnar, Hoger, Ortiz, Thiago Silva, Rampage, Jones). Both got dominated by Jones (though Rashad somehow survived 5 rounds). Rashad did a lot better against Rampage. Machida did a lot better against Silva.

They both are former LHW champions. Machida only defended his title on paper not in reality.

The only thing Machida has over Rashad is his win against him. And we all know a win over someone doesn't automatically put you above them in the top 10 list otherwise Rashad is above Lidell, Ortiz and Rampage. So I don't really see how Machida is this instant top 10 LHW and Rashad isn't even in the conversation.
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The only reason Rashad was able to survive five rounds with Jon was because Jones did NOT give him everything he had in that fight, and imo, played it nice and safe because 1. Rashad was a former teammate and 2. He had tons of respect for the guy.

Anyone who doesn't think Jones held back in that fight is blind, imo.
 
ufcbrass said:
you guys are nuts. i am a hater but top 10 all time?

just a few i would easily rank over him in no particular order

lidell
ortiz
couture
jones
shogun
wandy
f. shamrock
henderson
rampage
machida

and those are just off the top of my head
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At least four of those guys have recieved beat downs from Rashad, so that's a pretty weird list of people to definitively rank above him. Dumb.
 
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