When Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has his switch flipped “on;” there’s very few guys in the light heavyweight ranks that can come anywhere close to touching him.
As a matter of fact, the run of the PRIDE legend in the UFC alone shows that only Rashad Evans truly handled Rampage easily, as history says Forrest Griffin took the title from Rampage, but some in the MMA world say Rampage did enough to beat Griffin.
Otherwise, it has been Rampage that has been the one testing many fighters’ mettle in the UFC since his debut, and if you don’t believe it, ask everyone he’s ever beaten in the sport of MMA.
Nobody’s arguing that Rampage can test out elite fighters, nor will they accuse him of not giving UFC Light Heavyweight Champion the greatest test of his young MMA career yet at UFC 135. However, as much as you can stack the excuses for Mauricio “Shogun” Rua’s UFC 128 performance in the same way Donald Trump stacks his money, the fact remains that Jon Jones is not the only man that will be tested greatly in Denver next month.
Don’t believe it? Just ask Shogun yourself.
Yes, Shogun underwent major surgery to remove his appendix and had a major knee surgery done, but when the world found out that “Suga” Rashad Evans blew his own knee out and Jones took Evans’ spot, nobody mentioned a bummed knee or cage rust for Shogun when they swiftly underestimated Jones merely because he took the fight on six weeks’ notice.
Shogun fought as healthily as he could, but at the end of the day, Jones thoroughly outclassed and annihilated Shogun, all the while testing Shogun’s will to battle forward despite receiving some legitimate punishment, and also making Shogun look like he was making his pro MMA debut.
He did the same thing to Ryan Bader, Vladimir Matyushenko, Brandon Vera and, despite the 12-6 elbow, he did the exact same thing to Matt Hamill.
All of the above are credible guys, and Rampage should know as much about the fact that Hamill is tough as Jones does because while it was expected by some that Rampage would defeat Hamill at UFC 130, Rampage was not able to knock Hamill out or put him at risk of losing by TKO, so Rampage is not facing a non-credible champion.
If anything, Rampage is facing arguably the most credible challenge he’s faced in quite some time, and that’s not just to hype the fight, folks.
Jones is young and, to Rampage’s credit, he is accurate in saying Jones is the least experienced holder of the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, but while the 33-year-old sports icon may be another test of Jones’ so-far-iron jaw, think of what Jones will be testing.
Not only will Rampage be tested against a younger fighter who has taken hard shots before and likely will survive even the strongest of Rampage’s power strikes, but in all blatant and deliberate honesty, Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva were not as crafty or innovative as Jon Jones.
Ruthless, dominating and destructive they were, but pulling moves ranging from Greco-Roman back suplexes to spinning elbows and backfists all the way to superman elbows, Jet Li-style flying kicks—and even things ranging from power guillotines to facially reconstructing elbows and forearms from a modified Salaverry position—both the Iceman and the Axe Murderer were not.
Rampage has never faced a guy who was so unpredictable in every realm of the game the way Jones is, as nobody has been so willing to throw the entire neighborhood—foundation and all—at Rampage the way Jones will be.
As tough as the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion will be for the younger Jones, it’s not the champion that will be facing such a great test in Denver, and the reason is very simple:
With or without a spy sent by Malki Kawa, we all know what Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will throw at Jon Jones.
What we don’t know—and won’t know until Sept. 24—is what Rampage will have thrown at him by Jones, but fans of both the legendary challenger and the polarizing young champion can rest assured that whatever Jones throws at Rampage, it will be something that not even Jones’ camp sees coming.
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