Rashad Evans Knows What He Has to Do to Beat Dan Henderson at UFC 161

Former UFC light heavyweight titleholder Rashad Evans takes on former Pride Champion Dan Henderson at UFC 161 on June 15, and Evans knows what he has to do to win.

“With Dan Henderson, there’s no secret, the power of Dan Henderson.  He has a huge right hand, and he doesn’t hide it.  He goes right after you.  He makes sure he lines it up and he lets you know that he’s going to hit you with that big right hand,” said Evans on a recent episode of UFC Tonight on Fuel TV.

“But at the same time, he has great takedown defense.  He has a wrestling background, so he will get you on the ground and do ground and pound.”

Evans is coming off back-to-back losses for the first time in his career.  Henderson is coming of a loss to Lyoto Machida at UFC 157.  Both are in need of a win, especially if they want to remain in the title talk conversation.  Evans feels he knows what he needs to do against the 42-year-old veteran.

“For me, what I need to do is what I always need to do and that’s just fight my fight,” said Evans.  “I need to have my transitions from my punches to my takedowns, and they have to be sharp.  No lazy half shots, none of that pitty-pat punching.  I mean hard punches and hard takedowns.”

UFC 161 takes place at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and his headline by an interim UFC bantamweight championship bout between titleholder Renan Barao and challenger Eddie Wineland.