Four years ago, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was conceived as the most devastating fighter in the UFC’s light heavyweight division. A vicious knockout artist, Jackson ended the legendary Chuck Liddell’s title reign with a thunderou…
Four years ago, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was conceived as the most devastating fighter in the UFC’s light heavyweight division.
A vicious knockout artist, Jackson ended the legendary Chuck Liddell’s title reign with a thunderous left hook in the first round of their 2007 meeting.
He defended the belt in a slugfest against Dan Henderson before the tide changed at UFC 86 on July 5, 2008.
Jackson dropped a unanimous decision to Forrest Griffin, losing his coveted light heavyweight championship in the process.
Unlike other dominant champions of the past and present, Jackson never received a rematch.
He’s had to work his way back into contention and, following a dominant decision win over Matt Hamill at UFC 130, it appears he’s finally earned a shot at the gold once again.
In addition to Jackson’s title shot, here are some other pivotal matchups that should be made following UFC 130.
Rampage vs. Jones With his win over Matt Hamill in the main event of UFC 130, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has seemingly put himself in line for another chance to hold the UFC light heavyweight belt. The problem, however, is that Jackson has a…
Rampage vs. Jones
With his win over Matt Hamill in the main event of UFC 130, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has seemingly put himself in line for another chance to hold the UFC light heavyweight belt.
The problem, however, is that Jackson has an injured right hand.
“He’s one of the top two or three in the world,” UFC President Dana White said about Jackson. “If Rampage is ok, it will be with (Jon) Jones. We have to get Rampage looked at by a doctor.”
The former champion said the injury occurred late last year.
“I didn’t want to tell nobody about it,” Jackson said. “I hurt my hand in Japan in December drinking and messing around on a friend. The doctor said it was fractured, but I said “kiss my *ss, I’m fighting.”
Should Jackson not be able to make the fight, White has a back-up plan.
“If Rampage can’t go, we’d either do Machida since he’s ready to go or have Jones wait for Rashad (Evans),” White said. “Rashad is 100% sure he’s going to win this fight (against Phil Davis), and he wants to turn right around and fight Jones.”
Over the past few years, Evans and Jackson have had their issues with one another. The two are still not the best of friends.
“No, not at all,” Jackson said, when asked if he was surprised about the issues between Evans and Jones. “I figure anyone that knows Rashad is gonna have a feud.”
Fedor vs. Henderson is official
The long discussed attraction pitting two of the most accomplished MMA fighters in history is finally set to take place.
Former Pride heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko will take on Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson. Henderson is also the former Pride middleweight and light heavyweight champion.
The bout will take place July 30th on Showtime. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker confirmed that the match-up would be fought at a catchweight of 220 lbs.
“Dan told me, ‘I’ll fight him at any weight. I’ve always wanted to fight him. I think I can beat him,’” Coker said. “Then, the managers get involved, and they set the weight.”
After Emelianenko lost to Antonio “Big Foot” Silva, there was discussion that Emelianenko should drop to light heavyweight. Coker never had those talks with M-1.
“We didn’t ask him that (to drop to 205),” Coker said. “Fedor’s a heavyweight. They (Fedor’s management) made that clear to me.”
The non-title affair will emanate from the Sears Center in Chicago, IL.
Big Country could need a new home
UFC President Dana White was very disappointed in the performance of heavyweight Roy Nelson in his decision loss to Frank Mir.
“I thought Roy looked terrible tonight,” White said. “I thought it was embarrassing. It was a sloppy, ugly heavyweight fight.”
When asked if Nelson was finished with the company, White was very non-committal.
“I don’t know,” White said. “I have a meeting with Roy next Friday, and we’ll see what happens. I am not happy with the performance.”
The Next Story
After taking a close decision win victory over highly ranked Thiago Alves, Ricky Story wasted little time calling out his next opponent.
“Me and my coach Pat White were discussing this,” Story said, “and the guy we want is Jon Fitch – since he should be next in line.”
Story believes he would fare well against the perennial top contender.
“I think that fight would be a good fight,” Story said. “My former teammate Mike Pierce had a close fight with him. I have all the confidence in the world going into that fight.”
“I think it should be like this one with Thiago Alves.”
In the build-up to the Alves fight, Story became well-known to the entire UFC audience. He was one of the feature fighters on the UFC 130 countdown show.
“I think the countdown show was pretty awesome,” Story said, “I didn’t expect to get that much time. That’s the point they were trying to drive home-that I belong in the fight.”
White believes the hype.
“I really like this kid,” White said. “He fought a great fight.”
Strikeforce television update
Recently, the UFC has expanded coverage of its live fights by broadcasting preliminary fights on both Spike TV and Facebook.
Now, Strikeforce is following in UFC’s path. The preliminary fights from the June 18 show will be shown live on HDNet.
The broadcast will feature two top contender battles in the lightweight division. In one fight KJ Noons will take on Jorge Masvidal, and in the other fight, Justin Wilcox will take on Gesias (J.Z.) Calvacante.
“After those fights, the deck gets reshuffled,” Coker said, “and we’ll determine then who fights Gilbert Melendez.”
Along with the lightweight bouts, Strikeforce will also show three other undercard fights. In total, there will be five preliminary fights televised in the two-hour block.
Walker “itching” to return
Former NFL running back turned MMA fighter Herschel Walker has been inactive since a January 29 victory over Scott Carson.
At that time, Walker was non-committal about taking another bout.
Now, Strikeforce President Scott Coker believes Walker, at age 49, wants to get back into the cage.
“He doesn’t have a fight scheduled, but he’s getting the itch,” Coker said. “He’s quite an amazing athlete. We’ll do it when he’s ready.”
At UFC 130, Matt “The Hammer” Hamill will headline a PPV for the first time in his career against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Despite being born deaf, Hamill has become a star in of the world’s most difficult and dangerous sports, MMA….
Despite being born deaf, Hamill has become a star in of the world’s most difficult and dangerous sports, MMA.
Hamill is riding a five-fight winning streak that dates back to 2008.
Despite this, the odds are against Hamill. Although he has not had a KO victory since 2008, Jackson is still a dangerous striker and considered one of the top five light heavyweights in the world.
This is a fight Hamill had to take in order to prove he wants to make a serious title run.
But Hamill will need to do more than just win this fight to be seriously considered a top contender.
While he has wins over impressive fighters, Hamill’s 11-2 record may not be as impressive as it seems.
For starters, he was completely dominated by current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones in their fight. Hamill was well on his way to being TKO’d before the referee disqualified Jones.
Hamill’s next fight was a close battle with Keith Jardine. Jardine was deducted a point in the fight leading the judges’ scorecard to give the fight to Hamill by majority decision.
Although Hamill dominated Tito Ortiz in his most recent fight, Ortiz is far removed from the fighter he was when he was light heavyweight champion.
Hamill is a good fighter who has overcome a lot. But he’ll have to win out against top competition if he wants a title push.
That competition will not be easy to get through. The light heavyweight division features the likes of former champions Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida, Forrest Griffin, and Shogun Rua fighting for position. Also in the division is up-and-comer Phil Davis, who is a perfect 9-0.
MMA is a sport where anything can go. And with the way things have gone in the UFC lately, a top contender could be moved out of position due to injury.
In any case, Hamill will have some work to do if he wants to be considered a legit title contender. Beating Rampage would be a good start.
What do the Bleachers think? Is Matt Hamill on his way to being a title contender with a win?
In this episode of his UFC 130 vlog, Dana spends some time with his son, attends the UFC Fighter Summit and gears up for this weekend’s event.
If you don’t have time to watch it or your boss is a tight ass who banned YouTube in your workplace, the key points in a nutshell are after the jump.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFC)
In this episode of his UFC 130 vlog, Dana spends some time with his son, attends the UFC Fighter Summit and gears up for this weekend’s event.
If you don’t have time to watch it or your boss is a tight ass who banned YouTube in your workplace, the key points in a nutshell are as follows:
• Jon Jones is rooting for fellow white boy Matt Hamill over Quinton Jackson, but says Rampage will probably win.
• Jones also picks Frank Mir to knock out Roy Nelson with a high kick or to win by decision. Later in the show we get to hear Jones tell the boss that he doesn’t require surgery and that he could be back in action by the fall.
• Jones and White will be in a Bud Light commercial being released soon.
• Evan Dunham stops by to drop some F-bombs in front of Dana’s son, (Dana Jr) and talks about his foot injury and upcoming wedding.
• We get to witness the moment Josh Barnett and Dana take the infamous photo of the two of them that made the rounds two weeks ago with their arms around each other, to which Barnett remarked, “No one ever thought they’d see that again.”
• ‘Mayhem’ Miller thanks Dana for bringing him back to the fold.
• Vitor Belfort says he’s recovered from his KO he suffered against Anderson Silva, but says he was “scared for a few days” afterwards.
• Roy Nelson has lost some weight.
• Nelson and Mir are very friendly with each other.
• Although it was no “The Secret,” Rampage liked Hamill’s movie.
Bleacher Report’s Mike Hodges:Since losing to UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva at UFC 112, Demian Maia has never looked better. The Brazilian, who is currently riding a two-fight win streak, will compete against Silva’s fellow teammate, Ma…
Bleacher Report’s Mike Hodges:
Since losing to UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva at UFC 112, Demian Maia has never looked better.
The Brazilian, who is currently riding a two-fight win streak, will compete against Silva’s fellow teammate, Mark Munoz at UFC 131.
While speaking to TATAME.com, Maia opened up on his opponent and said he is training all aspects of the fight so that he is prepared for any situation during the bout.
“With me, he’ll only have two options: or he’ll want to strike, or, in case he wants to take me down, he’ll use his ground and pound game, like he always does,” Maia said to TATAME.com.
“I have to train and be prepared for anything.”
Known primarily for his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills, Maia has been working extensively on his weaknesses, such as wrestling and boxing. Evolving in others parts of his game has made Maiamore confident in his approach to his bout with Munoz, who is a national wrestling champion.
Bleacher Report’s Mike Hodges:Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, Alistair Overeem has dealt with a lot within the last year, accomplishing almost everything in mixed martial arts. However, “The Demolition Man” has yet to compete in Strikeforce, …
Bleacher Report’s Mike Hodges:
Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, Alistair Overeem has dealt with a lot within the last year, accomplishing almost everything in mixed martial arts.
However, “The Demolition Man” has yet to compete in Strikeforce, or defend his title since defeating challenger, Brett Rogers last year. Overeem will step back into the Strikeforce cage when he faces Fabricio Werdum in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix next month.
Despite the extended layoff, Overeem said his body is rested.
“After my fight against Todd Duffee I could go on a holiday and enjoy life, instead of being in the gym all the time. So it gave my body a good rest and that was needed,” Overeem said in an exclusive interview with LowKick.com.
While it is often debated on where Overeem fits within the rankings of the heavyweight division, the Dutch kickboxer said there will no longer be a debate on his placement following a victory over his opponent. Werdum already holds a win over Overeem dating back to Pride FC, where he lost via submission.
