(Same time tomorrow? Same time tomorrow. PicProps: UFC.com)
OK, three things: 1) Did Rampage deserve to win? Yes. 2) Was it a great fight? No. 3) After spending much of the last couple years making movies and generally acting disinterested in the fight game, did we think Jackson had it in him to beat Lyoto Machida leading up to UFC 123? No we did not, but we were wrong. Look, we’re not going to try to sell you a bill of goods that says Rampage looked outstanding out there on Saturday night. He didn’t, but he looked better than he has in some time and he implemented a solid, if unexciting game plan. Props to the much maligned Lance Gibson for cooking up a strategy (controlling the distance, punching off the break, trying to mix in some takedowns) that on this night was good enough to win two rounds against a suddenly very ordinary seeming Machida. Do we need to see them do it again? Meh … not really, so we’re glad UFC President Dana White is also opposed to the idea. Feels nice to agree with Dana for once.
BJ Penn is the real story here. Pretty much everyone on the planet said leading up to his third bout with Matt Hughes that the key for the former lightweight and welterweight champion was to come in motivated and in shape. Well, Penn proved very motivated this weekend. Crazy-eyed, mumbling-to-himself motivated. Unintelligible-after-the-fight motivated. So motivated that we had no time at all to see what kind of shape he was in after he came out of his corner like a house of fire and knocked Hughes cold in just 21 seconds. Now, if you thought Penn-Hughes III was a weird booking for Penn following his back-to-back losses to Frankie Edgar at 155-pounds, just wait to hear who Big DW says he’s got next …