Following last night’s main event at UFC 130: Rampage vs. Hamill, fans were quick to blame Quinton Jackson for putting on what can only be described as a lackluster main event. But is it really Rampage’s fault?
Jackson dominated the fight by using superior boxing and defensive wrestling. As the third round was winding down, Joe Rogan said something like, “I can’t imagine a world in which Rampage didn’t win the first two rounds.”
And he’s right.
Hamill never had a chance.
But that’s also why the fight was so lackluster.
Much like UFC 129’s main event with St-Pierre against Shields, once it became clear that Hamill had almost no way to win, the fight became very boring to watch. There was no suspense, and the only thing we had to look forward to was Hamill getting knocked out.
When that didn’t happen, it was a big letdown.
But it’s not like Rampage wasn’t trying to knock Hamill out, and it’s not like he gassed himself out doing nothing.
He swung for the fences and tired himself out doing so.
Hamill himself is partly to blame for not taking bigger risks, but it’s hard to blame him when he probably just would have been knocked out for his effort.
It’s also hard to blame the UFC for marketing the main event when they had no better option after Edgar and Maynard pulled out.
If you’re one of the fans out there complaining about the main event, you have nobody to blame but yourself.
If you were buying UFC 130 for the main event, you really weren’t thinking properly.
The main event wasn’t the best reason to buy the card.
UFC 130 featured a whole host of fights that looked interesting and competitive on paper.
MMA fighters aren’t fighting just for your entertainment. They fight to win, and if they’re going to lose, they’re still going to try to avoid getting knocked out or injured because injury suspensions cost fighters money, and concussions can lead to a lower quality of life.
In order for MMA to move forward as a sport, the MMA fanbase needs to be one that watches because of the competitive aspects of the sport, not the theatrical ones.
UFC 130 lacked the drama and the grudges surrounding many high-profile UFC events, but it still was an event featuring a ton of high caliber fighters in competitive bouts.
It turns out that some of those fights weren’t all that exciting, but as they say, sometimes these things happen in MMA.
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