Tag: Quinton Jackson

UFC 130: Does Rampage Jackson Have Any Desire to Be Elite in the UFC?

It seems that Quinton Jackson has no desire to be an elite MMA fighter anymore. He said in a recent interview that he is simply now fighting for the money and wants to move on to acting as soon as that pays him more. That’s fine, because if he is…

It seems that Quinton Jackson has no desire to be an elite MMA fighter anymore. He said in a recent interview that he is simply now fighting for the money and wants to move on to acting as soon as that pays him more. That’s fine, because if he is going to treat the UFC like this, then I have no desire to help pay his salary anymore.

First of all, if Quinton really has no desire left to be an MMA fighter, then who wants to pay to see him fight? As soon as I heard that the third Gray Maynard-Frankie Edgar fight had been called off, my stomach sank because I knew that Rampage-Matt Hamill would now be the main event that we would all be stuck with.

I personally feel that Jackson will dispatch of Hamill fairly easily at the MGM Grand Garden Arena at UFC 130, May 28. What is unfortunate is the fact that he has such major talent, yet he forever seems like he does not care and chooses to squander it. I will give two glaring examples that will illustrate my point.

First of all, look at how he coached on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) in his two appearances. He was subpar, and I am being nice by putting it that way. On season 10 he coached heavyweight fighters, and he chose to pick Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson first?! That move made me scratch my head.

Then he seemed to care little about training his fighters and molding them into future mixed martial arts champions—and that is why he was on the show. He was also there to promote a fight with Rashad Evans that was supposed to take place after TUF in Jackson’s hometown of Memphis. Rampage would have drawn a great crowd in support of him.

Instead he took an acting role in the A-Team movie and decided to make the UFC and his fans wait. That was a mistake in my opinion, especially from a guy that still pretended to care about MMA at that point.

Secondly, Rampage clearly does not have a desire to be an elite mixed martial artist or regain his title because of the fact that he is never in shape to fight these days.

He admitted that when he was slated to fight Forrest Griffin and defend his UFC light heavyweight title in the summer of 2008, he had been playing video games and eating pizza and was horribly out of shape before his training camp. He still nearly won that fight! After having his lead leg battered badly, he was able to finish the fight and nearly win it.

On the Prime Time show to promote his fight with Rashad Evans, Jackson made it a point to say he was training harder than he had in his life. Come to find out it was because he showed up to his camp at 252 pounds and was slated to fight a top fighter, Rashad Evans, at 205 a mere two months and change later. He was able to blitz Rashad in the third and may have put him away had he possessed the cardio conditioning to do so.

I used to be a huge Rampage Jackson fan. I have paid to see him on pay-per-view, and I paid to go watch him in Ohio for UFC 96, but if he no longer cares about fighting, the sport in general or his fans, then I find it hard to want to support him. How can we care about Quinton’s career if he doesn’t care himself?

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UFC 130 Preview: Highlight Videos of the Main Card Fighters

Today the realization that UFC 130 has lost its extremely exciting and much anticipated main event has probably began to sunk in. No one would have thought that a third fight between UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar and UFC No. 1 Lightweight Cont…

Today the realization that UFC 130 has lost its extremely exciting and much anticipated main event has probably began to sunk in. No one would have thought that a third fight between UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar and UFC No. 1 Lightweight Contender Gray Maynard would spark so much interest.

Yet that is exactly what happened in the early hours of January 2, not too long after Edgar and Maynard put on a thrilling back and forth affair that encompassed the entire 25 minutes allotted to them for their main event matchup. Once the judges’ scorecards were read and a draw was determined, UFC President Dana White made the decision within an hour or two to have Maynard and Edgar square off one more time.

With Edgar-Maynard leading the way, the main card was shaping up pretty nicely. Rampage Jackson was set to face Thiago Silva, but Silva was suspended and Matt Hamill stepped up to face the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Two heavyweights with backgrounds in both Las Vegas and grappling will meet up as Roy Nelson fights former UFC heavyweight Champion Frank Mir.

And so on and so forth, the wheels keep spinning. With just under three weeks and having both Maynard & Edgar injured, the UFC was forced to scrap the fight altogether and bump the Hamill-Rampage fight to the main-event slot.

So that leaves me with the task of trying to drum up some serious interest in the remaining bouts on the main pay-per-view portion of the card. Let’s take a look at some highlight videos and try and get the blood flowing in anticipation of these fights.

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UFC 130 Fight Card: Rampage Jackson vs. Matt Hamill, Early Head-to-Toe Breakdown

By now I’m sure we have heard the big news. At UFC 130 former Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will meet Matt “The Hammer” Hamill, in what will be the new main event. Both of these fighters co…

By now I’m sure we have heard the big news.

At UFC 130 former Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will meet Matt “The Hammer” Hamill, in what will be the new main event.

Both of these fighters could move up the light heavyweight ranks with a win.

Jackson is coming off of a controversial win over former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida.

Hamill, on the other hand, dominated Tito Ortiz in his last bout. 

Here is a look at how these two will stack up against each other.

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Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard Off UFC 130 After Injuries Sideline Both

Filed under: UFC, NewsInjuries have sidelined both Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, forcing the cancellation of UFC 130’s main event fight, MMA Fighting has learned.

UFC president Dana White confirmed to MMA Fighting that both fighters are out.

Accord…

Filed under: ,

Injuries have sidelined both Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, forcing the cancellation of UFC 130‘s main event fight, MMA Fighting has learned.

UFC president Dana White confirmed to MMA Fighting that both fighters are out.

According to sources with knowledge of the situation, Edgar had the more serious injury of the two, suffering two broken ribs during training, while Maynard suffered a knee injury.

UFC 130 Fight Card: Without Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar, Everyone Loses out

Bleacher Report’s Sal DeRose:Now that both Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar are out of UFC 130 due to injury, the whole lightweight division has been set back.Not only that, but everyone involved loses. The UFC, fans, pay-per-view numbers—everyone.The …

Bleacher Report’s Sal DeRose:

Now that both Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar are out of UFC 130 due to injury, the whole lightweight division has been set back.

Not only that, but everyone involved loses. The UFC, fans, pay-per-view numbers—everyone.

The rematch and third installment of the Edgar/Maynard series was supposed to take place at UFC 130. Now, neither fighter will get the chance to settle the debate as to who really is the UFC lightweight champion.

The UFC loses out  in a huge way. Both the UFC and pay-per-view numbers go down hand-in-hand with this lost from the card. Now, instead of promoting the lightweight championship, they promote a less-sexy matchup in Quinton “Rampage” Jackson versus Matt Hamill.

Are people really going to pay to see that? Only a hardcore MMA follower will. Is that really worth the money? A main event with almost no implications?

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MMA: Should It Extend Title Bouts to 10 Rounds?

The judging system in MMA has been a perennial topic of hot debate. Whether it’s due to inexperience or a lack of monitors, fans and fighters are fed up with controversial decisions. What if extra rounds were added to every fight? Just think about it. …

The judging system in MMA has been a perennial topic of hot debate.

Whether it’s due to inexperience or a lack of monitors, fans and fighters are fed up with controversial decisions.

What if extra rounds were added to every fight?

Just think about it. What if the first championship bout between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua went five more rounds? How about an extra two rounds in the grudge fight between Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson? Machida versus Rampage?

UFC heavyweight contender Roy “Big Country” Nelson recently spoke to ESPN.com about the addition of three-minute rounds.

This would extend the rounds in every professional MMA bout to five, and championship bouts would be decided in 10 rounds.

“They want to add more championship rounds. That’s where I say switch everything to three minutes and go 10 rounds. Then you have a lot of ups and downs,” said Nelson.

The increase in momentum shifts would add to the general excitement for MMA fans. Also, fighters won’t have the luxury of eating time off the clock in an attempt to feel out an opponent. With three-minute rounds, it could encourage fighters to be more aggressive to avoid losing the shorter rounds.

“You’ll probably see a lot more action because you’re constantly trying to win the round,” Nelson said. “Guys wouldn’t be feeling out for two minutes. It’s boom, you’ve got to go right away.”

The ambiguity of MMA judging has definitely raised eyebrows over the years. A last-minute takedown could be the difference between winning and losing, even if you’ve edged out the majority of a round.

“I’d say judges lose sight. One guy will dominate for four minutes, the other guy dominates for a minute, and they give the round to the second guy,” said Nelson.

“I’ve watched fights where I actually take a stopwatch and say, ‘No, he won four minutes of that round, but the judges gave it to the other guy.’ They just remember that last minute. Three minutes is short enough that the whole round stays in your head.”

A controversial fight that many point to, including Nelson, is the UFC 123 light heavyweight tilt involving Machida and Jackson. The judges awarded the split decision to Jackson, who edged out the first couple of rounds. There wasn’t much action in the bout until Machida pounced on an opening in the final round and stunned Jackson with a combination of punches.

“Split that up and Machida wins, hands down,” stated Nelson. “The first two rounds could have been 10-10, because nothing happened. Then Machida dominated late.”

While intriguing, the sport could be a long way away from this kind of adjustment, but the chances of such a major change happening isn’t unrealistic. Even Keith Keizer, who is the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, sees logic in Nelson’s proposal.

“Three-minute rounds is less stuff to judge,” said Kizer. “It’s easier to run a mile than a marathon. Five minutes is a long time, and it does make judging difficult.”

 

(SportsHaze.com)

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