Part of a mixed martial arts fighter's life is the slew of injuries that comes from twice-a-day trainings, post-fight aftermath, and even various illnesses.
Fans saw the UFC strip longtime bantamweight champion, Dominick Cruz, of his belt after failing to defend the title due to separate ACL injuries on both knees, as well as a torn groin.
For Rashad Evans, the road to his comeback match at UFC 192 against Ryan "Darth" Bader felt like an eternity, yet he still managed to look on the bright side and make sure he still gets himself involved in the fight sport.
"The hard thing is when you travel a lot, it's just staying at it and making sure you do something every single day," Evans said in an April interview with MMAmania. "I've just been diligent about doing something every single day and getting my drills in."
Aside from being a fixture on the FOX broadcast team, the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion helped prepare Blackzilian teammates Vitor Belfort and Anthony Johnson for their title fights last May.
In a way, this time-off from competition allowed Rashad to heal nagging injuries and recalibrate his body to have another run at the UFC gold.
"I want to go out and show I'm still at the top of the division," he claimed. "I need to find my rhythm and find all the things I need to do to win so I can sleep at night."
Evans continued: "Ryan Bader has been looking good lately. Ryan puts me in-line to get to DC (Daniel Cormier)."
The two wrestling standouts, Evans and Cormier, were supposed to fight each other at UFC 170 but the former withdrew from the bout citing a knee injury.
Being on the shelf for a long period of time can take its toll on an MMA fighter, and like the aforementioned Cruz - who blasted Takeya Mizugaki in 61-seconds during his comeback fight - Rashad Evans is just eager to step inside the octagon once again.
"I'm excited to show everyone what I've been working on the last two years besides being injured," Rashad stated. "The biggest key was training smart with the same intensity. I had to reform some things in my training, but I completed this camp without any injuries."