Tag: Jon Jones

Dana White on Rampage’s Boxing Aspirations: “The Grass is Always Greener”

(Props to MMAWeekly.) 

You can say what you want about Dana White when it comes to title fights, but the man never beats around the bush when it comes to his fighters. In a recent interview, “The Baldfather” spoke in typically frank fashion when asked about former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s claims to pursue boxing at the end of his UFC contract on the heels of his fourth round submission loss to current champ Jon Jones at UFC 135. A few highlights from the interview:

On boxing promoter Bob Arum’s claims that the UFC underpays their fighters: “You hear [boxing promoter] Bob [Arum] out there: ‘Yeah, they don’t pay their guys anything.’ Rampage got paid for his last fight, trust me. A lot of money. Bob Arum pays guys $600 on his cards. We’ve never paid a guy that, ever. We’ve only been around ten years, Bob’s been promoting fights for 120 years”


(Props to MMAWeekly.) 

You can say what you want about Dana White when it comes to title fights, but the man never beats around the bush when it comes to his fighters. In a recent interview, “The Baldfather” spoke in typically frank fashion when asked about former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s claims to pursue boxing at the end of his UFC contract on the heels of his fourth round submission loss to current champ Jon Jones at UFC 135. A few highlights from the interview:

On boxing promoter Bob Arum’s claims that the UFC underpays their fighters: “You hear [boxing promoter] Bob [Arum] out there: ‘Yeah, they don’t pay their guys anything.’ Rampage got paid for his last fight, trust me. A lot of money. Bob Arum pays guys $600 on his cards. We’ve never paid a guy that, ever. We’ve only been around ten years, Bob’s been promoting fights for 120 years”

On Rampage’s belief that people won’t run from him in the boxing ring: “He’ll find out when he starts boxing that [running from opponents is] pretty much the game these days. The game is: Let’s step in there and do everything we can do avoid a fight, so we can get on to the next payday. No matter where you are, no matter what you do, you’re always going to have guys chirping about something.”

On Rampage’s thought process in general: “Rampage thought the movie business was the answer to all his fucking dreams and that didn’t work out too good. The pay over there wasn’t what he thought it was, the pay over here was a lot better. A lot better. The grass is always greener until it’s not there any more, and then you realize you made a lot of mistakes and you should have done things differently.”

DW makes some interesting points here, and given Rampage’s history of mental…let’s say shakiness following title fights, it’s hard to judge whether he is truly serious about moving to boxing or just blowing smoke up our ass. What do you guys think? Is Jackson really serious about this move, or is it just a case of his infamous post-loss blues?

-Danga 

UFC 140: Lyoto Machida Confident in His Skill to Beat Jon Jones

The main event has been announced for UFC 140 in Toronto and the surprise challenger has caused some controversy in the mixed martial arts world.Light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will defend his title against Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida, not widely-r…

The main event has been announced for UFC 140 in Toronto and the surprise challenger has caused some controversy in the mixed martial arts world.

Light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will defend his title against Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida, not widely-regarded number one contender Rashad Evans.

On the surface this matchup appears to be a bit out of sync, as Jones-Evans seemed primed and fans have been teased with that fight for some time now. However,  Evans has shown that he is clearly injured and not in good enough form form to train and get prepared in time for the December 10th event.

Two and a half years have passed since Lyoto Machida’s spectacular knockout of Rashad Evans to take the title at the time, and performance, timing and circumstance has left him in a no man’s land with his place in the division.

I have always been intrigued with the style matchup that is Jones-Machida, and according to Sherdog.com, “The Dragon” is confident that he has the skill set to defeat Jones.

“It’s hard to say what the perfect style is to stop Jones.” Machida said. “I have a lot of trust in my skills against any fighter. I won’t change what people have seen, and I would rather show them in the Octagon rather than talk about it beforehand. Jones wasn’t my problem before the UFC booked the fight. I’ll spend a lot of time studying him and find the best way to stop him. I now he is versatile, but I have my own talents and I know what it takes to win.”

Machida does feel that he will be an underdog in the fight with the hotter than lava Jones, but Machida cares nothing about the odds.

“The fight will be decided in the Octagon. Let him be the favorite, he will enter with the label of being a prodigy, but I’ll be stronger because of that. Since I’m the underdog, I will enter the fight even more motivated to show that I deserve to be here and show why they offered me the chance.”

Machida is banking on experience being a key factor, adding “I’m a complete man now that I am 33-years old. I’m not a 22- or 23-year old kid anymore. It’s something subtle that people don’t see easily, but you feel the change, you acquire things you couldn’t even imagine.”

it is clear that Machida also thinks the longer it goes the better for him.

“I can get Jones to the fifth round,” he said “I believe in myself in what I am doing and in my teammates.”

Sounds like the mental part of training camp is already in full swing.

Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA and (also a Correspondent for MMACanada.net)

Catch him on Facebook and Twitter at wakafightermma

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Dana White Says Rashad Evans Will ‘Probably’ Fight Again Before a Title Bout

Rashad Evans wants to remain active while he can, unfortunately, his next bout won’t be against Jon Jones. Evans’ plans on competing for a UFC title shot have been scrapped once again due to a hand injury, which will likely keep him sidelined for …

Rashad Evans wants to remain active while he can, unfortunately, his next bout won’t be against Jon Jones. 

Evans’ plans on competing for a UFC title shot have been scrapped once again due to a hand injury, which will likely keep him sidelined for the remainder of the year. As a result, Lyoto Machida has stepped in to face the champion instead at UFC 140 on December 10 in Toronto. 

But Evans informed UFC President Dana White that he would rather continue fighting as opposed to waiting for a title shot again. 

“He was like ‘I’m not gonna sit around and wait again.’ So he probably will (fight),” White told MMAWeekly.com. “We’ll see how this whole thing goes down, we’ll see what happens.”

Evans has been unfortunate in his quest to reclaim the UFC light heavyweight title. 

Last year, “Suga” opted to protect his No.1 contender status by waiting for Mauricio “Shogun” Rua to heal from a knee injury and ironically Evans suffered an injury himself that would cost him his opportunity. 

Since then, Evans’ record is 16-1-1, with his most recent victory coming over Tito Ortiz at UFC 133.

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Power Ranking the Remaining UFC Events of 2011

UFC 136 was one of the best fight cards in UFC history, and it seems unreal that the UFC could even come close to topping it anytime soon. But, since Dana White and company never seem to disappoint, there are seven more fight cards left this year and a…

UFC 136 was one of the best fight cards in UFC history, and it seems unreal that the UFC could even come close to topping it anytime soon.

But, since Dana White and company never seem to disappoint, there are seven more fight cards left this year and a few of them have potential to join UFC 136 as instant classics.

Guys like Brock Lesnar, Jon Jones and George St-Pierre are all returning to action in the next three months, making the potential for amazing fight cards a very real thing.

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3 Reasons Rashad Evans Is the Biggest Threat To Jon Jones

Before it was announced that Jon Jones would be facing Lyoto Machida at UFC 140, fight fans were expecting the long-awaited showdown between Jones and Rashad Evans. Machida is a fighter who has already defeated Evans. If Jones defeats Machida many peop…

Before it was announced that Jon Jones would be facing Lyoto Machida at UFC 140, fight fans were expecting the long-awaited showdown between Jones and Rashad Evans.

Machida is a fighter who has already defeated Evans. If Jones defeats Machida many people will argue he can defeat Evans, too. That isn’t necessarily the case as Evans is a different fighter than he was when he faced Machida.

Read on to see why Rashad Evans is the best equipped light heavyweight to dethrone Jon Jones.

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UFC 136 Results: Where Does Frankie Edgar Stand in the Pound-for-Pound Rankings?

Pound-for-pound rankings are things that change wildly after every event. This is no truer than after UFC 136, where UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar took a tremendous leap up the rankings.But is this deserved? Does Edgar truly deserve to be rank…

Pound-for-pound rankings are things that change wildly after every event. This is no truer than after UFC 136, where UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar took a tremendous leap up the rankings.

But is this deserved? Does Edgar truly deserve to be ranked higher than the other champions?

It’s not a question that can be answered easily; an entire slideshow needs to be dedicated to figuring out “The Answer” and how he matches up against each of the other six UFC champions.

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