Rashad Evans: If Daniel Cormier loses to Jon Jones, he has to retire

Rashad Evans and Daniel Cormier may have become friends through their analyst roles on Fox Sports 1, however the way Evans sees it, if Daniel Cormier were to lose to Jon Jones in their rematch at UFC 197, DC might have to retire.

In the pair’s first meeting, Jones dominated Cormier for 5 full rounds at UFC 182 to retain his UFC light heavyweight championship. Following that fight, Jones was stripped of the light heavyweight championship following a hit-and-run incident.

In the meantime, Cormier defeated Anthony Johnson to win the UFC light heavyweight championship. In addition, Cormier defeated Alexander Gustafsson to defend his UFC light heavyweight championship. Now, with the pair slated to fight at UFC 197 on April 23rd, Rashad Evans believes that if Jones bests Cormier a second time, it might be time for DC to retire.

He spoke on The MMA Hour:

“I think that DC definitely can [win]. He definitely can. You know, DC, he seems different this time around. He seems different this time mentally speaking. Honestly speaking, this is a fight that DC…he has to win. Like, if DC doesn’t win this fight, there really — he would have to retire if he doesn’t win this fight.”

“It’s like, what does he do then?” Evans said. “Does he try to face Jon again for the third time? Once you take away a man’s desire to be the best — or he knows that he can’t be the best — then in a sense, you just kill that man off. So if he loses this fight, Jon would have killed him off. There’s no reason. The competitive grind would be gone.”

How do you see Jones vs. Cormier going down at UFC 197? Give us your predictions in the comments below PENN Nation!