Rashad Anton Evans is a retired mixed martial artist from the United States. Evans began his professional career in 2003 and won The Ultimate Fighter 2’s Heavyweight Championship. He is also a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and a 2019 UFC Hall of Fame inductee.

Evans began his wrestling career in high school and progressed to college championships, eventually going to NCAA Division I wrestling where he competed for Michigan State in the Big Ten conference. He was named the Junior College National Champion in 2008.

His career then transitioned to MMA or Mixed Martial Arts. Evans studied Karate as a child and holds black belts in Gaidojutsu and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Under the tutelage of UFC Hall of Famer Dan Severn Evans fought in five professional mixed martial arts fights in 2004, all of which he won. He was the Gladiator Challenge Light Heavyweight Tournament Winner. As a result, he was chosen to compete in The Ultimate Fighter 2, a reality television series on the Spike network.

Evans fought champion Forrest Griffin for the UFC Light Heavyweight title in 2008 at UFC 92. He was declared the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion after winning the fight. It rounded off a year in which Evans was named Sherdog.com’s Fighter of the Year. Evans announced his retirement from mixed martial arts in 2018. Then, on July 5, 2019, it was revealed that Evans will be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. Evans was released from the UFC at his request in 2019 in order to pursue a comeback from retirement in another organization. He can be found connecting with his fans via Instagram where he boasts over 364 thousand followers.