Should Quinton “Rampage” Jackson get past Matt Hamill this weekend at UFC 130, he may be the next on tap for a title-shot at Jon Jones who is currently healing a thumb injury. Both fighters.
Should Quinton “Rampage” Jackson get past Matt Hamill this weekend at UFC 130, he may be the next on tap for a title-shot at Jon Jones who is currently healing a thumb injury. Both fighters share a mutual disdain for Rashad Evans, so it will be fun for us to see how the smack talk turns if the two are scheduled to meet in October. Jones revealed the UFC‘s plans for Jackson as the next contender (or even possibly Lyoto Machida) during a radio interview with 1260 The Score
“I had to postpone my first title defense against Rashad Evans due to some torn tissues in my thumb. My last doctor’s appointment they told me I should be able to get back to full out training within the next month. I’m excited about that. I’m expected to compete against Lyoto Machida or Rampage Jackson in maybe October, mid-October.”
MMA promoter and renowned hypnotist Tony Lee attempted to put Jonny “Bones” Jones under his spell after the MMA Live 1 weigh-ins last week in London, Ontario Canada, but the UFC light heavyweight champ was having none of his mind games.
Jones pulled out of the trance before he got too deep and said he was very close to losing control of his subconscious to Lee’s suggestions.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/CagePotato)
MMA promoter and renowned hypnotist Tony Lee attempted to put Jonny “Bones” Jones under his spell after the MMA Live 1 weigh-ins last week in London, Ontario Canada, but the UFC light heavyweight champ was having none of his mind games.
Jones pulled out of the trance before he got too deep and said he was very close to losing control of his subconscious to Lee’s suggestions.
Despite the bad blood that exists between light heavyweight contenders Rashad “Suga” Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Evans still thinks that Rampage has what it takes to beat Matt “The Hammer” Hamill at the main…
Despite the bad blood that exists between light heavyweight contenders Rashad “Suga” Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Evans still thinks that Rampage has what it takes to beat Matt “The Hammer” Hamill at the main event of UFC 130.
In speaking with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Suga actually said that he is a fan of Hamill’s and would love to see him crack the top 10 among UFC light heavyweights with an upset in Las Vegas.
“But I think Rampage should get it done,” Evans admitted. “If he goes in there with his mind right, I think Rampage will win the fight.”
However, Evans was not ready to count Hamill out of the fight.
“It all depends though. I haven’t heard anything out of his camp, as far as how he’s mentally doing. Rampage is all mind. Sometimes if he goes in there and his mind isn’t right, it’s almost like he throws a tantrum just by not fighting the way he can.”
Both Rampage and Hamill have went on the record saying they expect a high-profile fight after posing a dominant win on Saturday, May 28.
Duff Holmes, Hamill’s trainer and manager, has stated that he thinks The Hammer deserves another crack at Jon Jones with a win against Rampage.
Hamill is the sole fighter to own a professional victory over “Bones,” although he was thoroughly being dominated by the current light heavyweight champion before Jones got disqualified for illegal “12 to 6” elbow strikes.
Holmes rationalized that a rematch would make sense since a documentary about Hamill’s life comes out around October, when Jones is expected to return to action.
The release of Hamill’s movie would only add to the hype of the title fight, Holmes added.
Of course, none of that matters unless Hamill can get past Jackson.
Evans, who beat Jackson via unanimous decision almost exactly one year ago (May 29, 2010), feels that Hamill is capable of beating Rampage the same way, but not without first modifying at least one aspect of his fight game:
“For Hamill to win, he’s going to have to bring his punches back,” Evans said. “One thing Hamill does is he leans on his punches. When he throws the jab, he leans on it. Rampage is very good at the counter punch because he catches whatever you throw and, if you don’t bring it right back, he’s going to hit where you just left that punch.”
Evans, one of the most accomplished wrestlers in the division, feels that Hamill would be making a mistake by keeping the fight standing for long. He isn’t banking on Hamill taking Rampage down at will, either.
“So, if Hamill is leaning on his jab, Rampage is going to catch it, he’s going to roll and he’s going to land the right. Can Hamill take Rampage down? Probably. But Rampage is hard to take down. He’s probably got the strongest hips I’ve felt at 205.”
While Evans gave Hamill plenty of credit, and at least a fighting chance to win, he stuck by his original pick of Rampage in the end.
Last time he (Rampage) was real quiet before a fight was when he fought Wanderlei Silva, and it didn’t turn out well for Wanderlei,” Evans said. “Looks like he might be focused for this one.”
Bleacher Report’s Michael Evans:Dan Severn is a UFC hall of fame fighter, the first one to be exact. He fought in the old days of the UFC against other legends such as Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie. He has been a powerful wrestler, UFC tournament w…
Bleacher Report’s Michael Evans:
Dan Severn is a UFC hall of fame fighter, the first one to be exact. He fought in the old days of the UFC against other legends such as Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie. He has been a powerful wrestler, UFC tournament winner and an ambassador to the sport.
The bad part of this story is that Dan is still fighting. He is now 53 years old and he has not fought in the UFC in over 14 years yet he pushes on. He should be at home relaxing, enjoying retirement from fighting and the rest of his life.
But, instead he was in the cage for the 124th time. In 2009, 2010 and 2011 he won ten fights in a row, but recently dropped two in a row including this knockout loss on May 20.
Bleacher Report’s MMA News recap for Monday May 23:Rashad Evans is confident that Jon Jones is ducking him.Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz: the battle of the welterweight champions takes another step closer to becoming reality.Vitor Belfort’s coach dec…
Bleacher Report’s MMA News recap for Monday May 23:
Rashad Evans is confident that Jon Jones is ducking him.
Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz: the battle of the welterweight champions takes another step closer to becoming reality.
Vitor Belfort’s coach declares that Steven Seagal is “all propaganda.”
Jon Jones and Rashad Evans: fallout continues between the former friends.
New York Senate Passes Bill to Legalize MMA.
UFC 132: Jason “Mayhem” Miller looking for all three “Fight of the Night” bonus awards.
The beef between UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and his former friend and training partner Rashad Evans has taken on an Energizer Bunny type quality, it just keeps going and going and going, well, you get the picture. The latest chapter …
The beef between UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and his former friend and training partner Rashad Evans has taken on an Energizer Bunny type quality, it just keeps going and going and going, well, you get the picture.
The latest chapter in the ongoing saga has Evans sending a tweet to Jones that said in part, “U r my son!! Get off my phone fake a** white boy!!” The good folks over at CagePotato.com have posted photographic evidence of the text and Jon Jones also confirmed that it was from Evans.
Evans admitted to MMAWeekly Radio that he did send the message to Jones, “Yeah I did say that to him, but he also said a lot of things to me that I didn’t want to put out there. I mean, we were arguing—I said a lot of things, heated, back and forth, you know? But I did call him a fake ass white boy, I did,” Evans admitted.
“But its not that I think being a white boy is a bad thing, its not against white people in general. It’s an insult to him because, of course, he’s not white, you can see where the insult comes in,” Evans continued. “That’s the extent to the insult right there—it’s not anything against white people, it’s that he’s black and I’m calling him white.”
“It showed that it made him mad because he posted it on the Internet. What kind of move is that anyway, that’s like high school, not even high school, that’s like grade school. Look at what Rashad said to me.”
Jones and Evans had once said that they would never fight each other, but when Jones defeated Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the light heavyweight title at UFC 128, a rift developed between the two after it was announced that Evans would be Jones’ first title defense.
A hand injury to Jones prevented that fight from taking place,
Since that time, the two have been exchanging words, mostly through Twitter and text messages.
If a fight between Jones and Evans were to ever take place, the UFC will have a great deal of material with which to promote this grudge match.
Dan Severn is a UFC hall of fame fighter, the first one to be exact. He fought in the old days of the UFC against other legends such as Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie. He has been a powerful wrestler, UFC tournament winner and an ambassador to the sport.