Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Quinton “Rampage” Jackson may be 36 years old, but he was still able to show fight fans a little something different in his victory over Fabio Maldonado at UFC 186.
All three judges scored it for Jackson in what was a somewhat definitive performance in his return to the Octagon, per UFC News:
“That guy has a chin of steel,” Rampage said after the fight, per Fox Sports’ Elias Cepeda. “I hit him with everything but the kitchen sink.”
The fight itself fell somewhat short of expectations. Given the fighters’ respective styles and the fact that they had almost nothing to lose, some wondered if Jackson and Maldonado would throw caution to the wind and attack right from the opening bell.
On the whole, Jackson owned the advantage throughout the bout and was clearly the deserving winner. According to UFC.com, he landed 114 total strikes and 99 significant strikes, compared to 94 and 67, respectively, for Maldonado. SB Nation’s Submission Radio felt that Maldonado was basically hoping Jackson would punch himself out:
By the time the third round was wrapping up, it was clear that Jackson was running out of gas. He admitted following the win that his contract dispute with Bellator adversely affected his pre-fight preparation, per Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting:
He had managed to absorb Maldonado’s blows, though, without suffering much damage. Maldonado had a clearly defined game plan that relied on body blow after body blow. It didn’t quite work out as Rampage never looked to be in much danger. He also had Maldonado looking a little worse for wear by the final bell.
Chris Weidman was impressed by what he saw from the former UFC light heavyweight champion:
Jackson even managed to include a surprise in the form of a head kick, which Kenny Florian didn’t see coming at all:
Really, all things considered, it was about as good of a performance as anybody could have expected from Jackson. UFC fans have long labeled him as somewhat lazy and a guy who would never fulfill his massive potential.
It’s not like the Rampage of 2015 is going to be vastly different from the Rampage of old. The time for him to alter his career path has passed.
His run in Bellator wasn’t exactly glittering, either. Yes, he went 3-0 with the company, but none of those victories was overwhelmingly impressive. He basically looked like an aging fighter who was struggling to keep up with the technical and tactical shifts happening in the sport.
It’s tough to tell what the future holds for Jackson. He’s seemingly too old to contend for the light heavyweight title, and beating Maldonado isn’t the kind of victory that makes fans believe he should vault to the top of the rankings. The 35-year-old Brazilian has now lost two of his last three and five of his last nine fights.
In order to earn a rematch with Jon Jones, Jackson will have to seriously increase the difficulty level. There’s no telling whether he’ll stick around long enough to make that happen or if he can truly compete with the cream of the crop in the division.
Still, if Jackson’s remaining time UFC is nothing but midcard bouts on major cards, then that’s not a bad way to wrap up a career.
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