Despite the loss of the originally scheduled main event between UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, plenty of storylines have still developed prior to UFC 130.With several important questions to be answered with every fight in this…
Despite the loss of the originally scheduled main event between UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, plenty of storylines have still developed prior to UFC 130.
With several important questions to be answered with every fight in this event, there are sure to be some great fights and surprises tomorrow night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
As we prepare for the kickoff of three straight weeks packed with UFC news and action, here are the five most pressing question that will be answered at UFC 130.
The UFC 130 fight card is one that won’t bring anywhere near as much attention as UFC 129 did, but there is still a good amount of drama to be had and jockeying for rankings to be done.The scheduled main event of Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard wo…
The UFC 130 fight card is one that won’t bring anywhere near as much attention as UFC 129 did, but there is still a good amount of drama to be had and jockeying for rankings to be done.
The scheduled main event of Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard would have certainly helped the buyrate for this pay-per-view, though the new main event of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Matt Hamill may end up actually being a more important fight for the long-term future of one fighter.
Of course, I’m talking about Rampage.
Once considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest 205-pound fighter on the face of the planet, Jackson has fallen back quite a bit since defeating Keith Jardine in the main event at UFC 96.
It was after that event when Jackson signed on to coach The Ultimate Fighter against “Suga” Rashad Evans. The fight was built up for months and despite the two fighters having no real prior “heat,” it ended up being one of the most anticipated fights in UFC history—and it wasn’t even for a title.
Jackson was thoroughly dominated by Evans’ takedowns and looked to be on his way to losing the fight, but fought back in the third round. Jackson clipped Evans and nearly finished him, but the fight eventually went to a decision which unanimously went in favor of Rashad.
The loss seemed to be mentally tough on Jackson, who took six months before his next fight against another former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Lyoto Machida, last November. But a second disappointing performance in a row lead fans to question whether or not Jackson still “has it.”
What’s interesting is that Jackson actually won the fight against Machida.
A win over a fighter who only had one previous loss on his career record would normally be considered a high point in many MMA fighters’ careers, but you could literally see the disappointment on Jackson’s face even as the scores were being announced. He even went so far as to say that he thought that the judges made the wrong decision in giving him the victory and that he would love to give Machida a rematch.
How weird is that?
Now with this fight against Matt Hamill, Jackson may be at a crossroads in his career. Does he put on a performance that reminds us of the Rampage of old; or does he drop further into the downward spiral that has become his recent career?
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones recently mentioned that he believes his next title defense will actually be against Lyoto Machida or Rampage Jackson. Of course, that’s assuming a win over Matt Hamill. Without that, the UFC obviously couldn’t justify giving Jackson a title shot…And given Hamill’s awful performance against Jones in their fight, they can’t give a title shot to him, either.
Saturday could very well be the most important night of Quinton Jackson’s mixed martial arts career. He’s back in the spotlight, a title shot may be on the line and his entire future in the sport may just up for debate if he loses.
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?
With UFC 130 about to finally kick off less than 24 hours from now, there is little analysis or predictions left to be done for this particular card.However, nobody has yet took a gander to predict who will be taking home those big, fat submission, kno…
With UFC 130 about to finally kick off less than 24 hours from now, there is little analysis or predictions left to be done for this particular card.
However, nobody has yet took a gander to predict who will be taking home those big, fat submission, knockout, and fight of the night bonuses.
Score!
While most have been critical of this card and its lack of intriguing fights, there could be a few surprises in store for us tomorrow night.
Even though the main event leaves much to be desired, the rest of the undercard has a few pretty interesting fights that could turn out to be entertaining.
Anyway, enough of that. Now on to the predictions.
Matt Hamill’s road to UFC 130 is inspirational, considering the fact that he is the only deaf pro fighter in MMA, and his uncle’s motivation to not let the disability come before anything else, including being the best he can be in whatever he chose to…
Matt Hamill’s road to UFC 130 is inspirational, considering the fact that he is the only deaf pro fighter in MMA, and his uncle’s motivation to not let the disability come before anything else, including being the best he can be in whatever he chose to do.
That motivation has led him to the new main event of UFC 130, pitting him against the PRIDE legend, former UFC light heavyweight champion and MMA icon Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in a bout that became tomorrow night’s main event when injuries prevented the Frankie Edgar-Gray Maynard rematch from happening.
Hamill has said various things about Rampage during the build up to the fight, among which were the most notable items were that he was going to break Rampage’s will and that Rampage IS the same guy he’s always been. In other words, Hamill feels that Rampage has not evolved as a fighter throughout his career, and if he want to move up in the ranks, Hamill needs to expose that.
He needs to showcase his diverse striking, he needs to avoid that right hook, he needs to work outside the range of Rampage and not stand and trade inside the pocket until he knows he has Rampage in a position where all Rampage can do is eat his shots and respond to Joe Rogan by saying, “Hamill whooped my A–!”
As far as wrestling, he’ll need to make sure he’s prepared for the takedowns and slams of Rampage, and we know Rampage nearly pulled out the slam when Lyoto Machida had Rampage in an attempted Triangle Choke at UFC 123 just as well as we know Hamill brutalized Keith Jardine at around this time last year.
Defensive wrestling to set up offensive wrestling—that’s how Hamill needs to work with the Wrestling issue that Rampage could present, and he probably knows well that he might have to use his stand-up just to set up takedowns in this bout.
Again, though, he’s said that Rampage is the same Rampage he was when Rampage fought Jardine, he’s the same Rampage that ended Chuck Liddell’s last UFC light heavyweight title run and he’s the same guy that Wanderlei Silva defeated twice in PRIDE.
Hamill needs to show the world that Rampage has not changed at all tomorrow night if he really wants to prove himself as a legitimate threat at 205.
Just moments ago from the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the weigh-ins were held for UFC 130, which goes down live Saturday evening. Unlike UFC 129, all the participants were on-point with their weight.Below are all the weigh-in results.Light heavyweight bout…
Just moments ago from the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the weigh-ins were held for UFC 130, which goes down live Saturday evening. Unlike UFC 129, all the participants were on-point with their weight.
