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Dec 30, 2009 - 8:39:06 PM

"[The back and forth with Rampage on TUF 10] was probably the most healing part to let me get over [the Machida loss]. When you have someone constantly saying, 'You got knocked out,' and talking about 'the stanky leg,' and all that stuff, you've got to laugh about the the situation. You get to laugh at yourself. He was very serious, but if someone makes light of it, and looks at it in a way different than you do, it helps you get over it... When I took the fight with Thiago, [Rampage] wasn't on the horizon. I took it with the intentions of fighting Thiago. As far as Dana saying I need to win this fight, it doesn't change anything. I'm going to fight the way I would've before if he had not said those words. Having Rampage at the end for a little dessert, it's irrelevant to me. It doesn't even matter."

-Rashad Evans discusses Rampage and his fight this Saturday with Thiago Silva at the pre-event press conference [quotes from MMAFighting.com].

Penick's Analysis: Rashad was taken down a number of pegs with that loss to Machida in May, but his time as coach on TUF definitely won him a lot more fans than he had previously. Now he needs to take that new found fanfare and follow it up with a much needed bounce back performance. A convincing win by Evans to lead into his eventual spring showdown with Rampage will do more for him than winning the belt over Forrest Griffin did in the eyes of fans and he'll be back on his way towards a rematch of his only loss with Machida, should Machida hold onto the Title when he faces off with "Shogun" again this May.

[Rashad Evans art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch]

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