Bleacher Report’s Nick Caron:Tough news was dealt to the UFC and its fans, as today as the main event for UFC 130 has been canceled due to injuries sustained by both Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. The news broke earlier today from UFC President Dan…
Bleacher Report’s Nick Caron:
Tough news was dealt to the UFC and its fans, as today as the main event for UFC 130 has been canceled due to injuries sustained by both Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard.
The news broke earlier today from UFC President Dana White, who confirmed it with MMA Fighting’s Mike Chiappetta.
The bout was originally scheduled to be the third match in the trilogy between the UFC’s top two lightweights after they battled to a draw at UFC 125. Maynard won the first contest back in April 2008 and remains the only blemish on the UFC Lightweight Champion’s record.
According to sources, Edgar has been sidelined with broken ribs while Maynard will miss time due to an unnamed knee injury. There has been no timetable set for the rescheduling of this very important contest.
(Life: It’s more about the journey than whether you actually beat Travis Pastrana in arm wrestling. Pic: Zimbio)
Ah, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. At this point, we honestly don’t know if we should applaud the guy for his honesty or criticize him for continuing to waste everybody’s time. After conducting a lengthy interview with the former UFC light heavyweight champion recently wherein it becomes painfully apparent that the guy just can’t bring himself to be terribly dedicated to fighting anymore, maybe Five Knuckles says it best. As the MMA website quips in the very first line of its resulting story about Jackson: “You can call Quinton “Rampage” Jackson a lot of things, but dedicated isn’t necessarily one of them.”
Dude, ouch. Then again, that seems like a pretty apt description anymore. Heading into his upcoming bout with Matt Hamill at UFC 130, Rampage claims he’s training hard, but says he hasn’t bothered to chase down any film on Hamill and even admits he “doesn’t know a whole lot” about the guy. Really? You don’t know a whole lot about Matt Hamill? Interesting. Anyway, a bit later on Jackson flat out admits he’s just biding his time until he can find another movie role that will compensate him as much or more than his current UFC contract.
(Life: It’s more about the journey than whether you actually beat Travis Pastrana in arm wrestling. Pic: Zimbio)
Ah, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. At this point, we honestly don’t know if we should applaud the guy for his honesty or criticize him for continuing to waste everybody’s time. After conducting a lengthy interview with the former UFC light heavyweight champion recently wherein it becomes painfully apparent that the guy just can’t bring himself to be terribly dedicated to fighting anymore, maybe Five Knuckles says it best. As the MMA website quips in the very first line of its resulting story about Jackson: “You can call Quinton “Rampage” Jackson a lot of things, but dedicated isn’t necessarily one of them.”
Dude, ouch. Then again, that seems like a pretty apt description anymore. Heading into his upcoming bout with Matt Hamill at UFC 130, Rampage claims he’s training hard, but says he hasn’t bothered to chase down any film on Hamill and even admits he “doesn’t know a whole lot” about the guy. Really? You don’t know a whole lot about Matt Hamill? Interesting. Anyway, a bit later on Jackson flat out admits he’s just biding his time until he can find another movie role that will compensate him as much or more than his current UFC contract.
“As soon as movies start paying me more than I make to fight, I’m gone,” Jackson says. “It don’t hurt to make movies. It don’t hurt that bad. Every day I train. Every day I’m like, ‘Man, I can’t wait until I get another big movie’ … I don’t have the type of blood Randy Couture has. I give it up to him. I take my hate (sic) off to that guy, but I’m not that guy. I don’t plan on fighting until I’m 40. And I’m not Chuck Liddell. I’m not coming to work inside the UFC office when I retire. That’s not me. I’m an entertainer, I like making people laugh. I like doing movies, action moves and stuff like that. I might even try to be a comedian one day, who knows?”
Again, hard to blame the guy. Fighting is hard work and by comparison the movie business – with its trailers and craft services and production assistants who’ll just back down from any confrontation over who is the real “faggot” – probably seems like paradise. On the other hand, the very fact that being a fighter is so hard is precisely what makes Jackson’s admission that he doesn’t really like doing it anymore so troubling. Don’t know about you, but we’re not sure this is the right sport for half-assers. Conventional wisdom says that it’s going to be hard to continue to compete at MMA’s highest level when your level of deciation is in any way less than 100 percent. Not sure it’ll translate to those “exciting” fights everyone is always hungry for, either.
Oh, and also? Please God, for the love of all things sacred and holy, please never let “Rampage” Jackson get near a live microphone on a public stage in any kind of “comedic” type setting. That would just be bad news for everyone.
But anyway, by way of closing we’d like to leave you with one final quote from Jackson about his recently reported nightclub run-in with longtime rival Rashad Evans. While Jackson disputes the previously alleged version of the encounter – we’ll save you the details on that – he admits slapping Evans. Rampage just wants everyone to know that the whole thing was Rashad’s fault, since Rashad approached him when he’d been drinking. Hanging out in a night club. Just trying to be a human being.
“He wouldn’t rub me the wrong way if he wasn’t the one walk up to me in a night club, where I have to smack him,” Jackson says. “In a night club, most likely, I’d been drinking and that’s the worst time to get on my nerves …. If I’m in a night club and I’m kickin’ it with some girls and I’m on the dance floor, I’m just being a human being, don’t come bother me. Don’t come try and take a picture, don’t come ask me, don’t come challenge me and don’t say no B.S. to me … He knows the only reason he beat me is because I was rusty and I was injured.”
Bleacher Report’s Cody Slovensky:Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has had one of the greatest careers in MMA history.He burst on to the Pride scene and took it by storm, starting his career with an impressive 19-3 record. Rampage is best known for his “pow…
Bleacher Report’s Cody Slovensky:
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has had one of the greatest careers in MMA history.
He burst on to the Pride scene and took it by storm, starting his career with an impressive 19-3 record. Rampage is best known for his “powerbomb” slam against Ricardo Arona at Pride Critical Countdown 2004.
Rampage defeated Chuck Liddell at UFC 71 for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. He has posted a 6-2 record inside the UFC.
However, to many observers, Jackson hasn’t been “Rampage” since defeating The Iceman.
In the past couple of years, Rampage has been a very marketable person. His personality is very likable and this has led to endorsement and movie deals.
As his showbiz career was taking off, Rampage faced Rashad Evans and put on arguably the worst performance of his career in a decision loss.
Weeks after that, it was announced that he would face Lyoto Machida at UFC 123. Leading up to that fight, Rampage stated that he was going to be the old Rampage. When it came time for the fight, he walked out to the Pride promotion’s old theme song, and you could see the hunger in his eyes. For the first two rounds, Rampage controlled the pace and out-struck Machida, as well as scoring a couple of takedowns. In the end, Rampage received the split-decision win.
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has had one of the greatest careers in MMA history.He burst on to the Pride scene and took it by storm, starting his career with an impressive 19-3 record. Rampage is best known for his “powerbomb” slam against Ricardo Arona a…
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has had one of the greatest careers in MMA history.
He burst on to the Pride scene and took it by storm, starting his career with an impressive 19-3 record. Rampage is best known for his “powerbomb” slam against Ricardo Arona at Pride Critical Countdown 2004.
Rampage defeated Chuck Liddell at UFC 71 for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. He has posted a 6-2 record inside the UFC.
However, to many observers, Jackson hasn’t been “Rampage” since defeating The Iceman.
In the past couple of years, Rampage has been a very marketable person. His personality is very likable and this has led to endorsement and movie deals.
As his showbiz career was taking off, Rampage faced Rashad Evans and put on arguably the worst performance of his career in a decision loss.
Weeks after that, it was announced that he would face Lyoto Machida at UFC 123. Leading up to that fight, Rampage stated that he was going to be the old Rampage. When it came time for the fight, he walked out to the Pride promotion’s old theme song, and you could see the hunger in his eyes. For the first two rounds, Rampage controlled the pace and out-struck Machida, as well as scoring a couple of takedowns. In the end, Rampage received the split-decision win.
At UFC 130, Rampage will meet up-and-coming Matt “The Hammer” Hamill. This fight has a lot riding on it. With a win, Rampage will be one step closer to facing Jon Jones for the light heavyweight championship. If he loses, Hamill would move into that role, and Rampage might never receive another title shot under the UFC banner.
Hamill has the opportunity to not only defeat a legend, but break into the top 10 and be taken seriously as a title contender. With a loss, Rampage would start to take the path of many Pride veterans, but a win will keep him going.
Bleacher Report’s Dale De Souza:UFC 130 is only a few weeks away, but already the card is shaping up to be one of the most solid nights of fights in recent history–only another great card to add on to what the UFC has already put on in 2011.On the …
Bleacher Report’s Dale De Souza:
UFC 130 is only a few weeks away, but already the card is shaping up to be one of the most solid nights of fights in recent history–only another great card to add on to what the UFC has already put on in 2011.
On the Spike TV card, which also features Rick Story facing Thiago Alves, Miguel Angel Torres will look to extend his streak in the UFC to 2-0 at Demetrious Johnson, who has a great Wrestling base and has been known to be very explosive when he lays in some shots.
Torres is a former WEC Bantamweight Champion with great striking, long limbs, and some very good Jiu-Jitsu, but without question Johnson poses one of the toughest threats to date for Torres.
Bleacher Report’s Sal DeRose:UFC 130 is the unfortunate card that gets to follow the great UFC 129 event. UFC 130 features a lot of good fighters, including some on the undercard like Thiago Alves.UFC 130 will showcase the rematch between Gray Mayn…
Bleacher Report’s Sal DeRose:
UFC 130 is the unfortunate card that gets to follow the great UFC 129 event. UFC 130 features a lot of good fighters, including some on the undercard like Thiago Alves.
UFC 130 will showcase the rematch between Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar. At UFC 125 these two fighters fought valiantly to a draw and now Maynard will get yet another shot at the lightweight title.
So with all the great matchups and fighters on the UFC 130 card, who wins and who loses?
