Mike Chiappetta • E-mail

Rashad Evans needed a break.

During a recent breather from his training camp in preparing to fight Chuck Liddell, he drove to a theater to take in the Seth Rogen movie Pineapple Express and let his mind be distracted from its normally singular focus.

He was content to inhabit another world for a couple hours when he was shocked back to reality. He leaned closer for another look. In the background of the scene he could see the man who he was trying to forget for two hours. The characters on the screen had a TV on in the background, and Liddell was fighting Vernon “Tiger” White.

“It was funny because I was trying to get away and think of something else, and Chuck was beating a black dude up on the screen,” Evans said with a laugh.

Evans couldn’t escape Liddell in the movie theater, but he’s going to have to be more elusive in the octagon to defeat the former UFC light-heavyweight champion in the main event of this Saturday night’s UFC 88.

Both fighters come with a strong wrestling base, but that’s where the similarity in their styles end. While Evans uses his skill to score takedowns and control the action, Liddell uses his to stay upright in the “sprawl and brawl” style, where he feels he has a standup advantage on anyone who opposes him.

And that struggle in the clinch will very likely determine the fight’s outcome. If Evans is able to take Liddell down, he’ll go a long way in moving towards victory. If he can’t, he’ll have to try to avoid Liddell’s powerful striking while landing from the outside, which is a tall order accomplished by few.

“I know Chuck is good at what he does in stuffing takedown,” Evans said. But I’ve been working around that problem, and we’ll see what happens.

“You’d be foolish to go in there to fight Chuck and think you’re going to take him down all the time,” he added. “My standup is something I always focus on. Wrestling comes so easy for me. You’ve got to work on standup, but I look for a good exchange standing up and see what happens. See if I can stand up to those blows.”

Evans is still unbeaten in his MMA career, with a 13-0-1 record, but he’s been tested in each of his last two fights as he’s moved up the talent ladder. At UFC 73, he fought to a draw with Tito Ortiz after Ortiz had a point deducted for grabbing the cage on a takedown try. And at UFC 78 last November, he won a razor-close split decision over Michael Bisping.

Liddell, re-energized after his thrilling three-round war with Wanderlei Silva last December, represents his greatest test.

Liddell, however, says he doesn’t take anything from Evans’ struggles since moving into the upper tier of light-heavyweights.

“It’s apples and oranges,” says “the Iceman,” who holds a 21-5 record. “These are different fighters, different matchups. [Against Tito], that was two wrestlers, and they struggled in a wrestling match. I think Rashad got caught up in his first real big show match, too.”

Video   Evans, Liddell ready for battle UFC 88 preview - Rashad Evans and Chuck Liddell talk about preparing for their light-heavyweight bout. NBC Sports

Evans attributes his lackluster win over Bisping to “not taking care” of his body after making weight. Though he didn’t elaborate, he concedes that during the fight, he was tired and didn’t perform well.

The science of sport isn’t an exact one, and Evans believes that his lessons learned will translate into victory this time around.

But to do that, he’s going to have to stay out of Liddell’s crosshairs. The former light-heavyweight champ is a brilliantly effective counter-puncher and lands shots from very unorthodox angles, making him difficult to prepare for. Evans says he’s prepared.

“I got a pretty good chin anyways,” he said. “I’m not a person that worries about someone’s power. I respect it, but if you think ‘Oh my God, he can hit hard,’ that’s when you get hit hard. If he catches me with a good one, I’ll hear about it in the dressing room. But I’ve taken a lot of hits from heavy hitters, I’m not worried.”

Evans has the advantage of working with a teammate, Keith Jardine, who fought and defeated Liddell. But he acknowledges that their styles are so different, only a few things can be implemented for use this weekend.

It’s been suggested that the winner of the bout could be next in line to challenge champ Forrest Griffin, but it seems more likely that Liddell would get a title shot before Evans. Evans says he’s unconcerned with that or keeping his record unblemished.

“People say you’re undefeated, but I don’t think about that,” he says. “When you fight from the position of trying to hold something, to protect something, that’s a bad thing. You don’t fight right. I forget about my record. I’m starting out 0-0.”

Liddell, however, makes it no secret that the title is his goal above all else.

“I’m on a mission to get my title back and end my career on a streak of wins. That’s the way I want to do it,” he said.

Upset watch
Rousimar Palhares isn’t widely known by most fans, but he’s a pit bull with a violent submission game and if he’s able to take Dan Henderson to the ground (no easy feat), he’s more than capable of tapping any fighter in the world. Palhares might just shock Hendo on Saturday night.

Worth rooting for
Martin Kampmann is an intriguing middleweight prospect who suffered a catastrophic knee injury in a fight last year that needed two surgeries, a cadaver transplant and a 16-month layoff to rebound. But he’s on the comeback trail. He’s won nine fights in a row and is hoping to climb the ladder. A win over Nate Marquardt would be a major step.

Full UFC 88 card
Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans
Rich Franklin vs. Matt Hamill
Dan Henderson vs. Rousimar Palhares
Martin Kampmann vs. Nate Marquardt
Karo Parisyan vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
Jason Lambert vs. Jason MacDonald
Thiago Tavares vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Roan Carneiro vs. Ryo Chonan
Dong Hyun Kim vs. Matt Brown
Tim Boetsch vs. Mike Patt

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