Nick Caron | UFC Betting Sites - The Best MMA Online Bookies

UFC 130 Fight Card: Why Rampage Jackson Has the Most To Lose Saturday Night

The UFC 130 fight card is one that won’t bring anywhere near as much attention as UFC 129 did, but there is still a good amount of drama to be had and jockeying for rankings to be done.The scheduled main event of Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard wo…

The UFC 130 fight card is one that won’t bring anywhere near as much attention as UFC 129 did, but there is still a good amount of drama to be had and jockeying for rankings to be done.

The scheduled main event of Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard would have certainly helped the buyrate for this pay-per-view, though the new main event of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Matt Hamill may end up actually being a more important fight for the long-term future of one fighter.

Of course, I’m talking about Rampage.

Once considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest 205-pound fighter on the face of the planet, Jackson has fallen back quite a bit since defeating Keith Jardine in the main event at UFC 96.

It was after that event when Jackson signed on to coach The Ultimate Fighter against “Suga” Rashad Evans. The fight was built up for months and despite the two fighters having no real prior “heat,” it ended up being one of the most anticipated fights in UFC history—and it wasn’t even for a title.

Jackson was thoroughly dominated by Evans’ takedowns and looked to be on his way to losing the fight, but fought back in the third round. Jackson clipped Evans and nearly finished him, but the fight eventually went to a decision which unanimously went in favor of Rashad.

The loss seemed to be mentally tough on Jackson, who took six months before his next fight against another former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Lyoto Machida, last November. But a second disappointing performance in a row lead fans to question whether or not Jackson still “has it.”

What’s interesting is that Jackson actually won the fight against Machida.

A win over a fighter who only had one previous loss on his career record would normally be considered a high point in many MMA fighters’ careers, but you could literally see the disappointment on Jackson’s face even as the scores were being announced. He even went so far as to say that he thought that the judges made the wrong decision in giving him the victory and that he would love to give Machida a rematch.

How weird is that?

Now with this fight against Matt Hamill, Jackson may be at a crossroads in his career. Does he put on a performance that reminds us of the Rampage of old; or does he drop further into the downward spiral that has become his recent career?

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones recently mentioned that he believes his next title defense will actually be against Lyoto Machida or Rampage Jackson. Of course, that’s assuming a win over Matt Hamill. Without that, the UFC obviously couldn’t justify giving Jackson a title shot…And given Hamill’s awful performance against Jones in their fight, they can’t give a title shot to him, either.

Saturday could very well be the most important night of Quinton Jackson’s mixed martial arts career. He’s back in the spotlight, a title shot may be on the line and his entire future in the sport may just up for debate if he loses.

Rampage needs this one, badly.

And quite frankly, the UFC needs it, too.

UFC 130 Rampage vs. Hamill Fight Card: News, Previews & Predictions, Results and More!

Be sure to check out Bleacher Report’s live coverage of the big event!

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Brock Lesnar: What He Must Do to Come Back Better Than Ever

When the news broke that Brock Lesnar was dropping out of his bout with Junior dos Santos at UFC 131, questions immediately arose about whether he would ever be back in the Octagon. But Lesnar did his best to put those thoughts to rest by proclaiming t…

But we’ve been through this before.

The first time Lesnar was battling this disease, there was even a thought that he might not make it through it as the doctors were unable to diagnose and treat the disease immediately. He got through it eventually, but the physical toll it took on his body was obvious.

Not only did Lesnar lose a dramatic and even unhealthy amount of weight, but he also was out of the sport for nearly a year. He was never the same when he came back, either against Shane Carwin or Cain Velasquez.

In fighting this second bout with diverticulitis, Lesnar will need to take some steps in order to make a successful return to the UFC. It won’t be easy, but he’s the kind of fighter who can do it.

Begin Slideshow

UFC 130 Fight Card Graphics: Custom Pictures for Rampage-Hamill and Each Fight

The finalized fight card is out for UFC 130 and I’m back to provide fight fans with customized graphics for each bout on this pay-per-view event. While the UFC has released its official poster featuring the light heavyweight main event of Quinton …

The finalized fight card is out for UFC 130 and I’m back to provide fight fans with customized graphics for each bout on this pay-per-view event.

While the UFC has released its official poster featuring the light heavyweight main event of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Matt “The Hammer” Hamill, they do not provide individualized graphics for all ten of the bouts.

These graphics are each equipped with the Bleacher Report MMA section’s stamp, but can be used on other websites provided that the user links back to Bleacher Report MMA’s coverage of UFC 130. Higher-resolution versions of the graphics are also available for download.

Without further ado, let’s get to the finalized fight card and graphics for each fight!

Begin Slideshow

UFC 140 in Montreal: Does Zuffa Really Want Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz?

Speculation continues to mount surrounding a potential showdown between UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre and Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Nick Diaz at UFC 140 this December in Montreal. MMAWeekly even reported that the fight could be an…

But is that what Zuffa actually wants, or is it just a product of the current lackluster situation within the welterweight division?

The UFC 127 main event between Jon Fitch and BJ Penn was supposed to essentially set the No. 1 contender for St-Pierre’s crown, but a draw and subsequent injuries prior to the rematch have put the kibosh on that.

When St-Pierre took care of business against Diaz’s training partner and friend Jake Shields at UFC 129, fans and experts alike began calling for the champion-versus-champion contest.

But why?

Sure, Nick Diaz has shown that he can beat up quality fighters like Paul Daley, but that is really the only top-25 welterweight who Diaz has fought since leaving the UFC in 2006 following his third straight loss.

Diaz is on a 10-fight win streak, but the competition just hasn’t been anywhere in the same atmosphere that it would have been if he were in the UFC. Is it that Nick Diaz is making them look that bad, or is it that he’s just a big fish in a small pond?

Whatever the case, this is simply the UFC’s only option at the moment for a logical opponent for their welterweight champion.

Dong Hyun Kim and Carlos Condit could make for quality opponents down the road, but they will be fighting one another at UFC 132 in July. Even then, there’s no guarantee that either fighter will be ready to fight the champion, especially by the end of 2011.

Jon Fitch and BJ Penn obviously still have a score to settle between one another.

Josh Koscheck and Jake Shields got dominated by St-Pierre in their opportunities.

There just isn’t anyone else other than Nick Diaz.

But given all of the negativity that surrounds Diaz, it’s just extremely hard to imagine that the world’s top mixed martial arts promotion wants him as its welterweight poster boy.

Diaz is abrupt and abrasive in interviews, he’s a rumored pothead, he isn’t a proven pay-per-view draw, he complains about his contract despite having signed it himself and he has even shown the desire to quit the sport of mixed martial arts entirely.

Imagine what a train wreck it’d be for the UFC if Diaz won the Welterweight Championship and then retired with the title to go into professional boxing. Or worse yet, what if he kept the title and boxed, only to get knocked out in embarrassing fashion by a mid-level opponent?

But realistically, Georges St-Pierre is a massive favorite in a fight against Nick Diaz. If Zuffa were to keep the UFC and Strikeforce titles separate, as rumored, imagine what a loss would do for Diaz and the Strikeforce title’s credibility. Especially if he gets lit up like almost all of St-Pierre’s recent opponents.

There would still be those who would defend Diaz as a top welterweight, but it’s hard to promote that when he has only beaten one guy (Daley) who is even arguably a top-10 welterweight in the past five years.

Zuffa might as well take the title and bury it in the desert because no one would care any longer.

The UFC is simply stuck between a rock and a hard place, and Nick Diaz is the only fighter they have that could realistically sell a big fight with Georges St-Pierre.

“GSP isn’t down to fight me,” Diaz told MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani in an interview last year.

I’m not sure that’s the case, but perhaps St-Pierre realizes what other people seem to be neglecting—the only real positive outcome of a GSP-Diaz fight is a one-night pay per view payoff.

And there’s no guarantee that the buy-rate would be anything spectacular anyway.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Jon Fitch Twitter: Nick Diaz Is a Paper Champion, Fight with GSP Won’t Be Good

Zuffa’s new pro-Twitter campaign has been getting quite a bit of publicity lately, this time in the form of consensus No. 2 welterweight Jon Fitch bashing Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Nick Diaz. The former UFC No. 1 contender took to the s…

The former UFC No. 1 contender took to the social networking website on Saturday, where he tweeted at his AKA trainer Dave Camarillo as well as some fans.

@FitchFigher:
@DaveCamarillo why would that fight be good. Diaz got title cause Shields vacated the belt. Paper champ.

@FitchFigher:
@DaveCamarillo for realize. GSPvsDiaz=bullshit

@FitchFigher:
@NotMrRendo I will be ok to fight by the time they are saying Diaz gsp will fight.

@FitchFigher:
@MMAf0rum I’ll fight anyone. I’m out till dec. But I’ll fight anyone hopefully gsp in dec.

The Strikeforce welterweight champion since the belt was created in January 2010, Nick Diaz has been tentatively scheduled to be the next challenger to Georges St-Pierre’s UFC Welterweight Championship.

The situation surround that potential fight has been surrounded by controversy, as not only has Diaz been toying with the idea of a professional boxing fight in the near future, but the rumors of a potential Georges St-Pierre vs. Anderson Silva superfight continue to swirl around.

Unfortunately for him, with Jon Fitch out until later this year, the UFC may not have much of an option for a welterweight opponent for St-Pierre, if they want to get in another fight for him in 2011.

But Fitch has an idea for Joe Silva and the decision-makers in the UFC.

@FitchFigher:
Let’s see Shields vs. Diaz for number one contender while I’m hurt.

With Shields and Diaz being close friends and Cesar Gracie Jiu Jitsu teammates, that fight is highly unlikely to ever materialize.

If another title defense happens in 2011, Fitch may find himself frustrated again, watching another fighter get what he believes to be his shot at the UFC Welterweight Champion, GSP.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Strikeforce: Is Brett Rogers in over His Head Against Josh Barnett?

When the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament was announced, many fans and experts thought that one fighter stood out like a sore thumb—and not in a good way. That fighter was Minnesota native Brett Rogers. Despite an 11-2 mixed martia…

Despite an 11-2 mixed martial arts record, Rogers came into the event as the biggest underdog among the eight original contestants.

Not only was he the least experienced fighter in the field, but he was facing one of the most experienced and skilled men in the tournament in the first round, in Josh Barnett.

Rogers started off his career on an impressive nine-fight win streak, ending every fight by knockout. Then a surprising victory over Andrei Arlovski in June 2009 earned him a shot at the world’s number one heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko, later that year.

Like any fighter in the world would have been at that time, Rogers came into the bout as a major underdog. But his performance shocked even the most skeptical of anti-Fedor fans.

Rogers avoided the early submissions, but took it to Emelianenko on the feet before landing some big shots on the ground.

Though he ended up getting knocked out in the fight, many would argue that Rogers was actually getting the better of Emelianenko in the fight up until that point.

The next fight was easily the most damaging of Rogers’ career, as he took a violent beating from Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion and favorite to win the Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament, Alistair Overeem.

In a fight where Rogers landed just one punch according to CompuStrike, he was overwhelmed by a flurry of punches just 3:40 into the first round.

While Rogers bounced back, winning the first decision of his career against Ruben Villareal, many are still viewing him as a huge underdog in this first-round contest against perennial top heavyweight, Josh Barnett.

As a fourteen year professional, Barnett absolutely has the experience to defeat a relatively inexperienced fighter like Brett Rogers. But there’s a lot more that goes into winning a mixed martial arts contest than just knowledge of the sport.

One of Rogers’ advantages in this fight will be his natural size. At 6’4” with a 81.5 in reach, “Da Grim” is one of the larger heavyweights in the division.

While there are certainly smaller fighters in the division than Josh Barnett, he stands a considerably smaller-than-Rogers at 6’3” with a 76” reach. He will also likely be conceding around 20-25 pounds at fight time.

Reach advantages have been known to be some of the biggest difference makers in fights over time and a five-inch difference is nothing to sneeze at. Barnett will need to get inside on Rogers or risk the possibility of eating punches from a distance all night long.

In addition, the ground game may actually be an overrated difference in this fight. Barnett is absolutely more experienced in fights that go to the ground, but Brett Rogers showed us a surprising amount of composure and ability to break loose when he fought Fedor Emelianenko.

It should come as no surprise to viewers, but it will anyway, if the fight goes to the canvas and Rogers is able to neutralize Barnett’s normally very effective ground game. He did it against Fedor, so why not Barnett?

But as most would guess, Rogers’ punching power is likely to be the most important factor should he be able to defy the odds and move on to Round 2 in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix.

Brett Rogers has some of the heaviest hands of any fighter in all of mixed martial arts. This is where “Da Grim” has to be considered most dangerous to any opponent.

Barnett has been solid on his feet throughout his career, but he has also shown that he can be knocked out and picked apart with punches in the past.

If “The Babyfaced Assassin” isn’t careful, he could find himself eating some serious leather before he wakes up staring at the lights.

Mike Reilly and the coaches at Ambition MMA will have their man ready. There’s a reason that Brett Rogers made this tournament, and it’s not just because he has an awesome mohawk.

Rogers has defied the critics before and will be ready to do it again on June 18 at Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com