If you had to choose a single word to describe the UFC career of Rashad Evans to this point, you couldn’t do much better than to simply say: Unlikely.

During his four-year, nine-fight stint in the Octagon, the former Michigan State wrestler has babied-stepped his way along a path from a low-ceiling heavyweight prospect to surprising knockout artist and – suddenly – light heavyweight champion.

Now, the only thing between the undefeated Evans and a legitimate claim at being the best in the world is a main event fight with Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida approximately 10 days from now at UFC 98.

It is undoubtedly the biggest fight of his career and the only people who don’t seem surprised by his journey from the bottom-feeder to the top dog are Evans and trainer Greg Jackson. And, heck even Evans admits he’s a little flabbergasted.

“How did I get to be headlining over Matt Hughes on a UFC card?” exclaimed Evans in an interview with former CraveOnline columnist and current CagePotato.com blogger Ben Fowlkes a couple weeks back. “I mean, Matt Hughes?  It’s Matt Hughes, man.  It just makes you really stop and think.”

It does indeed. Hughes, a UFC legend and arguably the company’s greatest ever champion, has been relegated to “co-main event” status in his fight with long-time nemesis Matt Serra next Saturday. Evans is getting top billing and smart money says that’s probably eating at Hughes a little bit.

As a coach, Hughes branded Evans a showboat early in the pair’s appearance in the second season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” saying he was happy the 5-foot-11, 225-pound fighter wasn’t on his team after Evans clowned his way through his first couple of fights.

They eventually made peace and the Illinois farm boy even cornered him during his semifinal victory over future Jackson teammate Keith Jardine. Evans then shocked everyone, including probably the UFC, by defeating the huge but unskilled Brad Imes at the finale to capture the company’s “lucrative” contract. 

When you consider that Evans used to wrestle at 174-pounds in college, you being to realize what a true long-shot he was. Certainly the most unlikely TUF winner this side of Amir Sadollah. Turned out, he was just getting started.