Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans has had an arduous drop to middleweight, but not for the expected reasons. Suga was scheduled to fight Tim Kennedy at UFC 205, but the New York State Athletic Commission declined to license him due to an alleged irregularity on his CAT scan. The fight was moved to UFC 206, but controversial former Ontario athletics commissioner Ken Hayashi likewise declined to license Evans.

Earlier this month Evans appeared on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour and said he would be fighting in March or April, and that the scan irregularity was bad medicine.

“Upon further review after having everything tested and looked at, it was pretty clear what happened,” said Evans. “It was just a radiologist not doing his due diligence.”

Now ESPN’s Brett Okamoto reports Evans has a fight.

When BJ Penn returned to MMA after a long break, he was fed to a wolf. Evans has had only two fights since 2013, and both of them were losses. This is a fair fight.

Evans is 37 and Kelly is 39. The Australian Judo star holds a 4th degree in The Gentle Way and a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He had his first MMA fight in 2006, won, and then returned to Judo, not fighting again until 2012. He ran his undefeated streak to seven and got into The Ultimate Fighter Nations: Canada vs. Australia, only to lose an exhibition bout. However, he got a shot in the UFC, and has gone 5-1, with a current three-fight win streak.

UFC 209: Woodley vs. Thompson 2
T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada
March 4, 2017
Card to Date:
Tyron Woodley (c) vs. Stephen Thompson
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson
Alistair Overeem vs. Mark Hunt
Rashad Evans vs. Daniel Kelly
Darren Elkins vs. Mirsad Bektic
Lando Vannata vs. David Teymur
Todd Duffee vs. Mark Godbeer