When Quinton "Rampage" Jackson decided it was best to walk away from the year long sabbatical he had went on from filming the big screen adaptation of "The A-Team" and return to what he is more famous for at UFC 114 last May, his time off clearly showed. The unanimous decision loss to Rashad Evans clearly showed that Rampage had too much to work on in too limited a space of time (Rampage was in the corner for Wolf's Lair teammate Michael Bisping at UFC 110 3 months prior, and had ballooned up to about 240 lbs while working "The Count"s fight against Wanderlei Silva). While Jackson may have lost, his explosive one punch knockout power had clearly not left him, as he was probably closer to ending the fight than most people had expected (he had floored Evans with a right hand, but seemed too gassed after the big shot in order to end the fight). Many, many people wondered what the former UFC light heavyweight champion had left.
At UFC 123 last November when Jackson fought Lyoto Machida, a slow and methodical pace was in order, and while we never saw the amount of leg kicks we were expecting, Machida clearly didn't do enough to turn the favour in the eyes of the judges, and many people were shocked at the split decision victory awarded to Jackson (including Rampage himself). Despite the controversy surrounding it, the first round was razor thin close and Rampage won the fight clearly because of his aggressive nature and ability to get in and challenge Machida. Again, Rampage was under scrutiny.
So, clearly, going into UFC 130 against Matt Hamill, the story wasn't about whether or not Jackson could deliver a big finish, but whether or not his future plans outside of fighting had clouded his judgement, and whether or not Hamill could pull off a gigantic upset and send Jackson's career into a further tailspin.
Through 15 minutes, we got a clear picture of vintage Rampage Jackson : His aggressiveness and strength were clearly on display, getting inside Hamill's reach and exploiting his opponent's unwillingness to engage, stuffing takedown attempt after takedown attempt and having a clear edge with the barrage of shots he was landing (though Hamill refused to go down). After a round and a half, Hamill went into mere survival mode and Jackson was able to cruise from there on until the end, riding his performance to a unanimous decision victory.
Yet, despite this, fans still booed. Even after Rampage announced he had suffered a broken hand during preparations up to the fight and fought with essentially one hand, fans still weren't satisfied because it wasn't the "Rampage" people were used to seeing. The same one that powerbombed Ricardo Arona in Pride, or who dropped both former UFC 205 lb. kingpin Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva in previous trips to the Octagon. We saw a slower, aged Rampage use his primary skill set to grind it out and win ugly. A title shot against Jon "Bones" Jones was promised, but based on his injury and performance, that is unlikely to happen now.
So what can be gauged by Jackson's performance this weekend? While its clear that a fight between Jones and Jackson would be one sided due to the champ's speed, reach and clear distinct advantage in athleticism, Rampage would still probably hold his own. A more lucrative career is clearly on the horizon in the film business, but I wouldn't write Rampage off just yet. Clearly a few interesting fights still remain for Rampage, with rematches against both Rashad Evans and Shogun Rua front runners, but fights against Ryan Bader, Rich Franklin or (another rematch) Forrest Griffin would be interesting. The sabbatical did clearly cost him a step, but at the age of 32, his career clearly has a few years left in it.
-In other news, Dana White was apparently disappointed in both co-main eventers Roy Nelson and Frank Mir's performance Saturday night, as reported by MMAJunkie. While he later back tracked and called Mir's performance "admirable", He was quoted as saying Nelson's performance "disappointing" and he would meet with "Big Country" on Monday to discuss future plans. Honestly, I don't really know what White was expecting out of Nelson. He took a barrage of knees and still kept coming back. He was lost on his back during the 2nd and 3rd rounds, but I don't think Mir did enough to impress either (in my opinion anyway). Plus, at the end of the fight, Nelson looked clearly the fresher fighter.
- Strikeforce has announce that the much anticipated tilt between former consensus #1 heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson will happen on July 30th, as reported by both ESPN.com/Sherdog and MMAJunkie. The report on Junkie goes onto say the "Superfight" will be at heavyweight, at a weight of 220 lbs. The X-factor to this fight clearly hinges on Fedor : He has fought at 230 for the past 10 years in which he spent the majority of the time at the top. At 34 years old, can he actually take the necessary steps to cut weight? & Will it help or hinder his performance? Stay tuned.
- The new coaches for the 14th season of "The Ultimate Fighter" were announced last week. In a move that shocked well....absolutely nobody, Zuffa brass announced that Michael Bisping (in his second coaching stint) will be paired up with Strikeforce refugee and reality television host Jason "Mayhem" Miller, who returned to the UFC after a cup of coffee in "The Show" in 2005, where he lost to some French Canadian guy named St. Pierre. Reports go onto say that the contest between the 2 coaches will take place at the season finale live on Spike, as opposed to Pay Per View. That was probably their best move, as I could hardly think these 2 could sell as a 5th fight on a PPV card.
Questions? comments? leave one or e-mail me at mmarmaggeddon@gmail.com
Until next time, fight fans!
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