Rashad Evans Explains Being Pulled from UFC 205 | MMAWeekly.com

UFC 205 took its first – and hopefully last – big hit of the week on Tuesday when Rashad Evans was pulled from his fight with Tim Kennedy.

The news broke Tuesday afternoon that Evans was forced out of the bout due to medical concerns of the New York State Athletic Commission.

Evans, according to a report by MMAFighting.com, was still on a plane flying to New York City when he received a letter from the commission denying him a license to fight on Saturday.

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According to MMAFighting, Evans had an MRI on Oct. 19 that showed “irregular findings.” The commission requested that he undergo further tests, which Evans said he did and passed, but apparently, the commission wasn’t satisfied.

Evans declined to reveal the specific medical concern that the commission had with his MRI, but said that he felt fine. He was just extremely disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to fight in his home state, especially considering it is the UFC’s first event in New York since the state began sanctioning mixed martial arts earlier this year.

“I’m disappointed,” Evans told MMAFighting.com. “I’m healthy. I don’t want anyone worrying about me. I’m fine, physically speaking. Never felt better. It’s just the commission and their rules. I guess they have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to this.”

The bout was to be Evan’s first as a middleweight. Despite the setback, he sounded as if it did little to reduce his desire to continue fighting.

“This doesn’t change the fact that I want to fight. This doesn’t change anything for me as far as fighting.”

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