Dale De Souza | UFC Betting Sites - The Best MMA Online Bookies

UFC 135 Fight Card: In Victory or in Defeat, Jon Jones Will Test Rampage Jackson

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 Evan…

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.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 134 Rio: Results Live Blog

UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva is the greatest Mixed Martial Artist ever, bar none, according to many in the MMA world—including UFC President Dana White—and even with the many Mixed Martial Artists that you could argue for in retaliation to Silva being pound-for-pound best fighter in the sport, the argument for “The Spider” is a difficult one to ignore.

He made a name for himself in the UFC by facing Chris Leben at the fifth UFC Fight Night event, and the shockingly thorough destruction of The Crippler is where it really all began for him.

From there, The Brazilian Ballet of Violence dethroned Rich Franklin at UFC 64, and the majority of us know the road he’s traveled to get to the HSBC Arena as he return home to Brazil for his UFC 134 vie for vengeance against Yushin “Thuder” Okami in Rio.

This rematch from Rumble On The Rock 8 has all the tools needed for another possible Fight of The Year candidate from The Spider, who hopes to go 9-0 in his UFC Middleweight title run while maintaining an unblemished 13-0 UFC record and improving to 31-4 in his MMA career, but Okami has other plans.

Speaking of other plans, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champions Forrest Griffin and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua have plans for the other, as Forrest wants to defeat the critics that chalked up his UFC 76 win over Rua to Rua’s notorious knee injuries, while Rua wants to avenge the loss in front of his countrymen in what might be one of the most enthralling co-headliners of the UFC’s 2011.

Also on this card is arguably one of the UFC’s top Heavyweight prospects taking on one of MMA’s most revered Heavyweights.

Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira knows that Brendan “The Hybrid” Schaub claimed a common foe at UFC 128 in Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, and Schaub wants to score the biggest win of his young career in Rio de Janeiro with a knockout of Nogueira.

However, only Frank Mir and Cain Velasquez have found success in doing so, and Nogueira has no intent in allowing Schaub to be the third man to knock him out.

In addition, Edson Barboza’s undefeated tenure faces its hardest-hitting test to date in TUF 9 Winner Ross Pearson in a battle of fast-rising Lightweight standouts that is sure to electrify, and Luis Cane looks to carry the momentum of a crushing UFC 128 win over Eliot Marshall over in a successful taking of the “0” of undefeated 11-0 Bulgarian grappling wizard Stanislav Nedkov.

You wanted a highly stacked “Card of The Year” type event for your friends at Bleacher Report to cover with live, up-to-the-minute updates, commentary and analysis?

Well, MMA World, you asked for it, and now you have it!

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 134 Fight Card: Win or Lose, Is Anderson Silva the Greatest of All Time?

Ask some mixed martial arts fans about the greatest fighter of all time and the answers are 100 percent guaranteed to vary. Randy Couture, Fedor Emelianenko and Chuck Liddell are just a few of the names on the short list. Heck, some might put Geo…

Ask some mixed martial arts fans about the greatest fighter of all time and the answers are 100 percent guaranteed to vary.

Randy Couture, Fedor Emelianenko and Chuck Liddell are just a few of the names on the short list.

Heck, some might put Georges St. Pierre in the running nowadays and many anticipate a claim for UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones by the time his career’s out.

But inevitably the argument always shifts to the most enigmatic name in the sport: Anderson “The Spider” Silva.

You’ve heard it all before: pound-for-pound the undisputed king of MMA; 13-0 in the UFC; the only world champion in combat sports to walk out of eight consecutive title fights as undisputed 185-pound world champion.

Despite clowning the outmatched Demian Maia at UFC 112, fighting a rather smart fight with conservative training ally Thales Leites and surviving nearly 25 anatomically fatiguing minutes with Chael Sonnen, Andersen still is argued as possibly the greatest fighter in the illustrious existence of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

He gets Yushin Okami at UFC 134 this Saturday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, anywhere from a nine to 13-hour drive from Silva’s home in Curitiba.

Once again, it is the popular opinion that Okami will beat him as most of Okami’s wins came outside of the U.S.

Will a legitimate loss to Okami shut down the hype of Silva being the greatest fighter of all time?

No, it will not, partially because Okami’s not getting that win.

Yes, Sonnen laid the groundwork to push Silva to his breaking point—albeit with abnormally high testosterone levels attributed to TRT, which Sonnen claims he needs—but at the end of the day, Okami is not Sonnen.

Even with a takedown or two, or even a few brushing blows, Silva’s not going to be in any position that he hasn’t already seen.

The consensus is that Okami is all sizzle and no steak when it comes to besting Silva in any aspect of the sport.

Sonnen won’t be at UFC 134, but he claims Okami will do what he almost did by beating Silva.

That very claim of victory over Silva is exactly where his faithful’s constant “greatest of all time” claims originate.

Yes, the Curtis Stout win was nothing more than proof that Silva is capable of great ground and pound. But victories over the likes on Tony Fryklund, Alexander Otsuka and Roan Carneiro aren’t easy to dismiss.

Nobody was using the “he’s not that good” argument for those fighters when Silva fought them.

Hard to believe that this is the same guy that tapped out twice and lost a decision before the DQ loss to Okami, isn’t it?

Not only has Silva defeated credible fighters in their best days in the sport while shutting down some future notables in their “prospect stages,” but there’s also the men he’s beaten in the UFC.

Chris Leben, Rich Franklin, and Forrest Griffin are just few of the many that all said in their own way that they were going to be the man to defeat Silva before they fought him.

While the ill-timed, illegal upkick at Rumble On The Rock 8 led to Okami becoming technically the last man to beat Silva, nobody has decisively done it.

One has come close, but he tapped out in the fifth round and his solid efforts have since only served as a testament to the heart and endurance of Silva.

If Okami does win, the expectation is that he will not put Silva in legitimate danger and will smother Silva until the ringside judges give Okami his rounds—hence, the hopes of a Silva win have never been higher than they seem now.

Yes, Okami has the recipe to beat Silva with his wrestling game. But what makes anyone think that he’ll be able to do in five to 15 minutes what his training partner could not do in the full 25 minutes of championship action?

Silva has proven to be mortal, but he has also proven to be probably as intelligent a mortal menace as any percentage of wrestlers in MMA.

Every time someone appears to showcase the blueprint to finish Silva, he finds a way to shut them down. On multiple occasions, he’s finished fights with something that no one outside of his own camp could have honestly predicted.

Regardless of whether he avenges his DQ loss to Okami in front of his homeland or not, Silva has to go down as one of the top 10 greatest fighters, if not the greatest of all time.

But considering Silva’s track record since he entered the UFC, expect him to pull off the unexpected in avenging his loss and cementing his stature as the greatest fighter in MMA, bar none.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 134 Fight Card: The 25 Ways Anderson Silva Could Finish Yushin Okami in Rio

“The last time Anderson Silva fought Yushin Okami…”How many times have you seen this sentence lately?The fight history between Silva and Okami has had people talking on and on about a potential rematch between undisputed UFC Middleweight Champion And…

“The last time Anderson Silva fought Yushin Okami…”

How many times have you seen this sentence lately?

The fight history between Silva and Okami has had people talking on and on about a potential rematch between undisputed UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva and the last man to defeat him in the last five years, Yushin “Thunder” Okami.

Only after Silva’s shocking UFC 126 knockout of Vitor Belfort—when a prodigious kick sent Belfort crumpling to the tarp—did we learn that Silva-Okami “Round II” would be a reality.

Now, UFC 134 in Rio will be the stage on which Silva-Okami II—the originally planned main event for UFC 90 before Okami pulled out with a hand injury—will finally happen.

To quickly bring you up to speed, the last time Okami and Silva fought, it was at Rumble on The Rock 8 in the opening round of the ROTR Welterweight Tournament.

As many of you know, the controversy surrounding the bout is due to the upkick that Silva landed on Okami while Okami was on his knees and inside Silva’s guard.

Now while the kick was illegal, some people believe Okami saved himself from an inevitable slaughter by choosing to not fight on after Silva illegally checked his chin, and some others felt that the disqualification call was absolutely justified.

It’s the expectation of many that when Silva keeps the fight standing next weekend, he will knock Okami out—perhaps with something unexpected, as has been the norm for Anderson as of late. It would be the first KO loss of Okami’s career, and the first time Okami has lost by a form of KO since 2003.

What exactly will Anderson pull out “when” he knocks out Okami?

He’s got some options, and it’s our hope that you bear with us, because it’s a long list of options.

Begin Slideshow

UFC Lightweight Spotlight: Is Ben Henderson Good Enough to win the UFC Title?

Wrestling haters of MMA, your prayers have been answered.Ben “Smooth” Henderson handled Jim Miller with some difficulty, but he survived the submission attempts and delivered the most punishment that any man has ever inflicted on Miller en route to his…

Wrestling haters of MMA, your prayers have been answered.

Ben “Smooth” Henderson handled Jim Miller with some difficulty, but he survived the submission attempts and delivered the most punishment that any man has ever inflicted on Miller en route to his electrifying unanimous decision win over the AMA Fight Club phenom this past Sunday at UFC on Versus 5.

Miller was seen as a win away from a Clay Guida, a Melvin Gullard or maybe even the winner of Edgar vs. Maynard 3 at UFC 136 if he wanted Frankie Edgar or Gray Maynard, but Henderson did what nobody else had done to Miller up to that point, and it’s now attracted quite the conversation.

The same opponents for whom Miller would’ve been lined up are now the opponents for whom Henderson is lined up for if he wished, which asks the question:

“Is The Smooth One good enough to win the belt one day?”

In answering this question with an emphatic, “Yes, he is,” I’d like to also pose a counter-question:

“Is there any good reason to think Ben Henderson will never win the belt one day?”

Now, to that counter-question, I say there is probably one or two good reasons, one being Guillard and the other possibly being Guida, but Miller was also a reason why Bendo would never win the belt.

Guillard is a better striker than Bendo, and Guida could be a much more aggressive threat on the ground than Bendo, but it seems as though it will take a sledgehammer, a sniper-rifle or a trio of Showtime Kicks from Roy Nelson to put the former WEC lightweight champion down.

With Henderson’s improving striking skill set, his already scary submission offense and his indescribably-frighteningly-superb submission defense, it seems unfathomable to believe that Henderson will end his UFC run without winning the UFC lightweight title at least once.

He has the talent and the skills, and now all he needs to do is shut down the men standing between him and either Edgar or Maynard.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 134 Fight Card: Is Donald Cerrone Already in the UFC Lightweight Title Mix?

In the MMA World, there are certain things we can’t ignore, like the Strikeforce Nashville brawl, the passing of renowned trainer Shawn Tompkins this past Sunday, pretty much every disputed decision win in MMA history, and the perceived downfall of man…

Ascents are also something that we as a community of the Combat Sports Universe cannot ignore anymore, and right now, “Cowboy” Donald Cerrone is one of the top examples of a Lightweight that we can no longer ignore.

Ever since his WEC 48 loss to Ben Henderson, Cerrone has posted a five fight win streak, including his TKO win over Charles Oliveira, and now the question has to be asked:

Is The Cowboy, Donald Cerrone, already in the mix of the UFC’s 155-pound title picture?

I answered this question when I covered the UFC on Versus 5 event this Saturday, saying that if Cerrone wasn’t ready now, he never would be.

However, consider UFC 134’s two Lightweight bouts: Thiago Tavares vs. Spencer Fisher, and Ross Pearson vs. Edson Barboza.

Now, I’d like to think that the Tavares-Fisher winner would stylistically be more interesting for Oliveira’s next bout, but for Cerrone, both men could pose enough of a threat to Cerrone in that he might find himself in a similar situation to what he encountered with Vagner Rocha at UFC 131.

Fisher probably is the more well rounded threat, but we won’t know how much Tavares has improved his standup from the Shane Roller fight until we see him against Fisher next weekend.

The Pearson-Barboza winner might be more of a threat on the feet, but their ground games may come into question against Cerrone, who has some of the sweetest Jiu-Jitsu in the division.

Cerrone is in the mix for sure right now, but give him one of these four men–whoever is successful next Saturday–before giving him a Top 5-Top 3 fighter, if he’s not ready for the big dogs yet.

With how far Cerrone’s rising in stock, and with how far two of the aforementioned four Lightweights will rise in stock after UFC 134, maybe pinning Tavares, Fisher, Pearson, or Barboza against Cerrone might give us a better idea of who’s really ready to lead the Lightweights into their next great era.

Look, Joe Silva, we know Cerrone said to keep him on speed dial for UFC 135, just in case Tony Ferguson vs. Aaron Riley fell through, or in case Takanori Gomi vs. Nate Diaz fell through, so keep a third eye out on the two Lightweight fights next weekend.

Maybe, just maybe, you might have to give Cerrone a buzz after all.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com