UFC’s Rashad Evans not ready to say goodbye

Rashad Evans can finally sit in the theater and watch. The movie reel turns slowly, playing the most memorable of times in his fighting career at a pace that makes War and Peace seem like a preview.

He never paused to notice before. He never stopped craving for his next challenge long enough to digest the ones that helped define his greatness.

I’m not sure any athlete really knows the right moment to say hello to goodbye. They just keep refusing to accept the inevitable erosion that comes with time, but some are able to gain a sense of perspective from it all as the end nears.

“Looking back, I wish that I had fought more,” Evans said. “It’s a window, a short one. You don’t have a lot of time to do this, and it’s something that I really love. It’s such a part of who I am as a person. It’s in my soul. I don’t know who or what I’m going to be without fighting. For me, I’m kind of scared to be without it. But at the same time, I know that I will find something.

“I wouldn’t call any of it regrets. There are things I wish I could have done over again. I appreciate it made me who I am today. It’s all part of my story, what got me here.”

He is 37 and a former light heavyweight champion in the UFC who will cut to 185 pounds for the first time in his career at UFC 209 on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena. His opponent is Dan Kelly, 39.

A couple of aging fighters trying to add more scenes to that movie reel.

It’s not as if the resume needs any padding for Evans or that the film needs to be any longer to cement his legacy. Fighting now is more about how he eventually leaves the sport than anything to prove within it, because times have been tough for him lately.

It’s fair to say 2016 stunk to high heaven for Evans, a year that included his second straight loss and a certain image across an MRI brain scan that suggested his time in the octagon might have come and gone.

Evans is a Niagara Falls, New York, native who was set to fight Tim Kennedy in Madison Square Garden on that historic November night when New York finally welcomed the UFC and its 205 event. But a radiologist didn’t like what appeared on a routine scan, and Evans was pulled from the card by the New York State Athletic Commission, his homecoming and spirit shattered.

He was later denied a license to fight at UFC 206 in Toronto.

Visits to specialists from Pennsylvania to California followed — he even went to see the doctor made famous by the movie “Concussion” — and scans were re-examined and additional tests performed. If you have never had thoughts about violent outbursts, try sitting through four-hour neurological exams in which you are asked the same question a million ways. Your views about punching someone or something might change a little.

It was enough, however, that Evans was finally cleared by the Nevada Athletic Commission to fight Saturday.

“To be honest, I was first more afraid about not fighting again, but then I started thinking about my four kids and my family,” Evans said. “The last thing I want is to be in a vegetable state as I grow old. Once it’s over, I can look back at the (championship) belt and say, ‘Wow, I did that.’ I didn’t fully understand what I accomplished at the time, and trying to get back proved to me it’s a very tough feat.”

He continues to try, all the while hoping to fight as many as three times in 2017. For years, others suggested he drop to middleweight, and he finally has to face Kelly.

Some claim Evans, who also has battled knee issues and undergone two surgeries since 2012, is merely surrendering to a harsh reality: That the movie reel is winding down for the guy who won his title in 2008 and lost it five months later, and that he could be another defeat or two from seeing the final credits roll across a screen.

“As you get older, you definitely get that perspective,” said Kelly, who has a 12-1 mixed martial arts record and is the only judo competitor to fight for Australia in four Olympics. “You have to enjoy the moment, the opportunity. If four years ago someone would have said I get to fight Rashad Evans on a main card, I wouldn’t have believed it. But here we are, and it’s happening.

“I’ve been a fan of his during his whole career. It’s a case of when your idol becomes your rival. I expect to fight the same Rashad that knocked out Chuck Liddell and head kicked Sean Salmon and beat Forrest Griffin for the (light heavyweight) title and beat Dan Henderson. I’ve read it all. I’ve studied it all. Now, I’m going to fight him.”

Two aging fighters not yet ready to say hello to goodbye.

Contact columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “Seat and Ed” on Fox Sports 1340 from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.