The following Rashad Evans? Devin Smyth makes use of godfather as inspiration

Rashad Evans was a rising star within the UFC. It was 2007, and Evans was coming off successful the second season of “The Final Fighter” actuality present, adopted by a victory over Sean Salmon that was a Knockout of the 12 months candidate.

Evans was being booked for meet-and-greet classes with followers, and generally he would carry his godson, Devin Smyth. Inevitably, Smyth, a preteen, would get bored and begin signing individuals’s shirts, posters and motion figures too. When Evans chided him for ruining his followers’ merchandise, Smyth simply shook his head.

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“No, they’re gonna need my autograph — watch,” Smyth advised Evans. “Sooner or later, I am gonna be within the UFC. Watch. I assure it.”

Greater than a decade later, Smyth has an opportunity to show a 12-year-old’s wisecrack into actuality. With Evans in his nook, Smyth will struggle Brok Weaver on Tuesday’s episode of Dana White’s Contender Collection. With a powerful victory, Smyth might earn a UFC contract.

“He did it,” Evans advised ESPN.

Smyth did not have a direct path to reaching his aim. Issues had been laborious for him from an early age. He was raised by a single mom and by no means knew his father. He grew up in East Lansing, Michigan, in a predominantly white neighborhood. As an African American, he was bullied for being completely different.

Smyth was all the time an athlete and began wrestling when he was younger. It was at a wrestling camp at Michigan State College that he met Evans, who was on the group there.

“I wasn’t actually round any black individuals once I was rising up,” Smyth stated. “So I went to [the camp], and I noticed Rashad, and I simply gravitated to him. I used to be younger and ignorant, and I simply knew he seemed like me. He was my favourite particular person on the group.”

Evans observed the eye from Smyth, who was round 7 years outdated on the time. After interacting with him just a few occasions at camp, Evans requested Smyth’s mom if he might take him to the films. His mother agreed. That turned a daily weekend prevalence.

Evans noticed one thing acquainted in Smyth. “My father wasn’t round rising up,” Evans stated. “I like my father to loss of life, however he simply wasn’t round, for no matter purpose. That was all the time one thing that caught with me and was all the time one thing that I want I would had — that relationship. So once I seen Devin in the identical place that I used to be, I used to be like, it might suck for him to undergo his entire life by no means feeling that feeling of getting that male in his life who is basically, actually there for him. I simply needed to be there for him, even when it was selecting him up right here and there and giving him a distinct life, only a completely different view of life.”

As the connection grew stronger, Evans requested Smyth’s mother if he could possibly be her son’s godfather. She advised him she and Devin could be honored.

Devin Smyth, on the time a preteen, used to accompany godfather — and then-champion — Rashad Evans to UFC fan occasions. Courtesy of Devin Smyth

After he graduated from Michigan State, Evans began in blended martial arts. In 2005, he debuted on “The Final Fighter,” and Smyth received to see him on tv.

“He was superb. He was a hero to me,” Smyth stated. “After I noticed him on TV, it was simply amplified occasions 10. I used to be like, ‘Oh, my gosh, he is beating individuals up.’ He is actually a real-life superhero.”

Evans and Smyth have been tight ever since. Smyth stated Evans is “like my dad,” and he is one of many individuals in his life that he trusts probably the most.

In 2013, Evans invited Smyth to dwell and practice with him in South Florida, the place he was with the Blackzilians group. Smyth had just lately graduated highschool and run into some points at Olivet Faculty, the place he had been recruited to play soccer. Smyth stated he failed a drug take a look at and received right into a struggle together with his coach.

Whereas in Florida with Evans, he educated with the likes of Eddie Alvarez however admittedly “wasn’t taking it significantly.” He stated it was a superb expertise to see how a top-tier UFC fighter lived and educated. Smyth knew it was one thing he needed for himself sooner or later, however he wasn’t mature sufficient for it as an 18-year-old.

Smyth ended up getting a name from a pal in Michigan to be in his marriage ceremony occasion. He advised Evans he was going to move dwelling; Evans advised him he knew he wouldn’t be again. Smyth did not consider him on the time, however that is precisely what occurred.

“After I seen Devin in the identical place that I used to be, I used to be like, it might suck for him to undergo his entire life by no means feeling that feeling of getting that male in his life who is basically, actually there for him.”

Rashad Evans

“I needed to essentially, actually put him in a superb place to do his factor and get him the very best coaching,” Evans stated. “However what I’ve discovered as a father or mother … is you could’t give someone one thing [if] they are not able to succeed. Regardless of how a lot you need it for them, you possibly can’t give it to them. Even in the event you do give it to them, they’re going to discover a technique to squander it.”

Smyth fell in with a nasty crowd in Michigan. He began ingesting extra and doing extra medication. Promoting them too. He was the lifetime of the occasion. Evans stated Smyth was “spoiled” in East Lansing as a result of everybody there knew him as Evans’ child, the godson of the previous UFC gentle heavyweight champion.

In 2016, on the day after his birthday, Smyth was arrested with cocaine in his automotive. The cost was possession with intent to promote. Smyth stated at that time he was snorting seven to 10 grams of cocaine and ingesting 5 days per week.

“I keep in mind I am sitting in jail pondering my life is over,” Smyth stated. “I believe I’ll jail, and that is the way it ends.”

It wasn’t almost so bleak. Smyth spent per week in jail and agreed to enroll in a transitional residing program. He took a plea deal and received probation.

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Smyth kicked the cocaine behavior however nonetheless partied. In 2017, he received a DUI on his birthday, and his probation was prolonged. Nevertheless, he says he has been clear since then and completed paying his fines in June.

Smyth believes he fell into that life-style as a result of it gave him a means to slot in. When he was promoting medication, individuals would flock to him. He was now not the child who received bullied as a result of he was completely different.

“I noticed in a short time that as quickly because the medication all went away, so did the individuals,” Smyth stated. “I positively found out who was actual in my life and who was faux, which was a blessing.”

The talks with Evans throughout that point weren’t straightforward. “There wasn’t anybody on this planet I hated disappointing or letting down greater than Rashad,” Smyth stated. “After I would speak to him and inform, I might hear the frustration in his voice. It might tear me aside, man.”

Evans jokes now that he needed to let Smyth “hit his head for a bit of bit.” However at age 24, Smyth is rounding into the person Evans all the time thought he’d be.

“It was by his hardships that made him escape of it,” stated Evans, who was inducted into the UFC Corridor of Fame final month. “It was hitting rock-bottom after which seeing all these individuals who had been being a method towards him being a completely completely different means towards him. It gave him that perspective. I could not give him that by telling him. He needed to see it.”

Evans was there for Smyth from an early age by the tribulations. He’ll be alongside him Tuesday when he tries to observe his godfather’s footsteps into the UFC.

Smyth stated that with out Evans, he is not certain the place he’d be now. Actually, he would not have a 9-1 report and an opportunity at a UFC contract. The pair speak about the whole lot. However the one factor Smyth by no means actually requested Evans was why. Why did Evans determine to take him below his wing when he was a baby?

“To be sincere, we each do not care,” Smyth stated. “We all know no matter it was introduced us collectively and put us able the place he was capable of change a younger child’s life. Now, I am able the place I might in all probability do the identical for someone else.”

Dana White’s Contender Collection, Week Eight

Mild heavyweight: Julius Anglickas (6-1, 28 years outdated, Lithuania) vs. Karl Reed (6-1, 30, South Carolina)

Males’s bantamweight: Ray Rodriguez (15-5, 31, Texas) vs. Tony Gravely (18-5, 27, Virginia)

Girls’s bantamweight: Sarah Alpar (Eight-Four, 28, Texas) vs. Shanna Younger (6-1, 28, Tennessee)

Welterweight: Devyn Smith (9-1, 24, Michigan) vs. Brok Weaver (13-Four, 27, Alabama)

Mild heavyweight: Herdem Alacabek (5-Zero, 28, Sweden) vs. William Knight (Four-Zero, 31, Connecticut)