UFC 108's Rashad Evans: "Rampage" clash inevitable but Thiago Silva remains top priority

From all the questions he's answered in the buildup to next week's UFC 108 event, you might just think Rashad Evans is fighting Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.

The former champs, of course, were supposed to tangle following their coaching stints on the recently concluded 10th season of "The Ultimate Fighter" before Jackson's clash with UFC management put him on the sidelines.

Jackson has decided to return to the octagon to fulfill the terms of his contract, and Evans thinks their matchup is inevitable. But he wants to make one thing clear: the focus remains solely on opponent Thiago Silva for now.

Evans (13-1-1 MMA, 8-1-1 UFC) vs. Silva (14-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) headlines the Jan. 2 UFC 108 pay-per-view fight card, which takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. That fight was booked after Jackson announced a short-lived retirement and pulled out of a planned bout with Evans that was supposed to take place earlier this month at UFC 107.

While the two coaches often butted heads on the reality show and helped create record ratings, and though Evans is still hungry to settle their rivalry, he knows he's got a lot – including a potential title fight with current champ Lyoto Machida – riding on the line against fellow contender Silva.

Evans, in fact, hasn't competed since he lost his belt to Machida in May.

"Every time I find myself drifting away from the person I've got to fight, I just watch some of the tape and just see what I can do," Evans recently told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) in a UFC 108 media call. "And then it just gets me motivated all over again.

"I really don't think about the last fight as far as me losing. I just think about some of the mistakes as far as mentally, as well as execution-wise, in that fight. For the most part, though, I'm not going to put any pressure on myself to go out there and say, 'Well, I have to win. I have to win.' I'm just going to go out there and perform well."

Despite the fight with Silva, whose (like Evans') only career loss came to Machida, and the possibility of getting a chance to fight for the title again, Evans is often asked about the Jackson fight instead. With so much riding on his UFC 108 bout, Evans admits the never-ending questions do wear on him.

"It has been tiresome just answering the same question about wanting to know if I'm going to fight Rampage," Evans said. "'Is it going to happen? How much do you dislike him?' All that stuff. But I've made it a point not to get distracted on what I want to do because Thiago is a very hungry fighter.

In fact, Silva quickly rebounded from his loss to Machida in January with a vicious knockout of Evans' teammate, Keith Jardine, in August. While avenging a loss would help team morale at Greg Jackson's New Mexico-based camp, Evans said he already has all the motivation he needs for UFC 108.

But win or lose at next week's first-of-year UFC show, though, he knows the Jackson clash is coming. However, Evans knows the highly anticipated fight loses some luster if he can't get by Silva.

"In due time, that (Jackson) fight will be happening," he said. "But my focus is just on Thiago so much. You know I don't want to overlook him, not even a little bit. You know a lot of people are wondering about Rampage ... but you know Rampage doesn't mean nothing if I can't beat Thiago."