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?
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.”
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.
UFC 130 lost its main event earlier today when it was announced that both Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard had sustained injuries. MMA Junkie is reporting that the pair will both be out for six to eight weeks and the match could be re-booked for either a…
UFC 130 lost its main event earlier today when it was announced that both Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard had sustained injuries. MMA Junkie is reporting that the pair will both be out for six to eight weeks and the match could be re-booked for either an August for September fight card.
Jeremy Botter at Heavy.com added an interesting twist to the storyline when he reported that the UFC asked Anthony Pettis if he would be interested in accepting the bout with Maynard. He eagerly agreed only to lose out on the opportunity when Maynard himself sustained an injury.
Pettis will remain in his originally scheduled fight opposite Clay Guida—that fight is serving as the main event for the TUF 13 Finale show which is set to take place June 4.
That leaves UFC 130 without a proper headliner thus forcing the UFC to promote the “Rampage” Jackson vs. Matt Hamill fight to lead billing while Frank Mir vs. Roy Nelson will serve as the co-main.
While Edgar vs. Maynard III does not carry with the same PPV gravitas of a Brock Lesnar anchored card, their come-to-blows match was much anticipated following their epic clash at UFC 125. It anchored what many were branding a very “stacked” fight card.
Beyond Rampage vs. Hamill and Mir vs. Nelson, it featured intriguing bouts like maturing heavyweight Stefan Struve taking on Travis Browne, the UFC return of Jorge Santiago vs. All-American Brian Stann and welterweight stud Thiago Alves vs. a very game challenger in Rick Story.
It is amazing what the loss of one fight, all be it the main event, can do to the dynamic of a card.
Will people still shell out their hard-earned dollars to see UFC 130 in its revamped form? How will Rampage vs. Hamill sit with fans that aren’t already committed to buying every event?
The last time Rampage headlined a fight card—when it didn’t involved Rashad Evans—was at UFC 123 when he took on Lyoto Machida. That card was anchored with B.J. Penn vs. Matt Hughes III and did a respectable 600K PPV buys.
Before that, it was UFC 96 when Rampage picked up a decision win over Keith Jardine and Shane Carwin waxed Gabriel Gonzaga. That fight card brought in a meager 350K PPV buys. It is imperative that the UFC starts hyping up the laurels of Rampage, along with the dueling heavyweights, although Rampage hasn’t always been reliable to properly market a fight.
Mir vs. Nelson is a fairly compelling co-main event (for namesake alone) even though there are no immediate implications to the heavyweight title picture. Mir was involved in one of the worst performing PPVs of all time when he took in Mirko “Cro Cop” at UFC 119, but overall Mir is a solid draw.
While UFC 130 will likely not do great numbers at the box office, don’t sleep on this event. Some of the best events are the ones that people end up passing on.
Let’s just hope that the UFC can get Rampage, Mir and Nelson out in full force and talking up the value of this event because they have some of the best mouths the sport has to offer.
(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.”
Think back to the summer of 2009. Rumors were swirling about the Ultimate Fighting Championship bringing its December pay per view, UFC 107, to the city of Memphis for its first UFC event. The original main event set was to be an ep…
Think back to the summer of 2009. Rumors were swirling about the Ultimate Fighting Championship bringing its December pay per view, UFC 107, to the city of Memphis for its first UFC event.
The original main event set was to be an epic battle between the city’s native son, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and fellow Ultimate Fighter coach Rashad Evans. Tempers were high during the entire 10th season of the show and fight fans were anticipating an all-out brawl.
The brilliant idea would undoubtedly sell out in minutes and be watched by millions around the world.
However, as quickly as the rumors emerged, they disappeared, as Rampage decided instead to take a movie role to play B.A. Baracus in the summer blockbuster “A-Team,” a role Rampage has always longed to play.
Jackson would later announce his retirement from MMA so that he could focus on his acting career.
Jackson has since returned to the octagon, signing a three fight deal and has gone 1-1 since. He and Evans would finally meet to settle their differences, but Jackson came out on the losing end in a fight that UFC President Dana White referred to as a “snoozefest.”
Jackson would then fight former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida in Detroit, Michigan and narrowly squeak out the decision victory.
Now, as Jackson focuses on his next opponent, wrestler and TUF alum Matt Hamill at UFC 130, the idea of his retirement from MMA has once again come about.
According to Five Knuckles, Rampage has said that when he gets that next big movie role, that will spell the end to his career in MMA.
“Honestly, I’ve been known for keeping it real and I have to keep it real,” Jackson said. “As soon as movies start paying me more than I make to fight, I’m gone. It don’t hurt to make movies. It don’t hurt that bad. Everyday I train. Everyday I’m like, ‘Man, I can’t wait until I get another big movie.'”
Jackson would go on to say that he, unlike Randy Couture, has no plans of fighting until he is 40. He also does not want to come work for the UFC office after he is done fighting, like legend Chuck Liddell, who was forced into retirement by UFC President Dana White.
“I’m not coming to work inside the UFC office when I retire. That’s not me,” Jackson said. “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?
When asked about what the fans would think, Jackson stated that some fans are being selfish with wanting him to continue to fight.
The fans, according to Jackson, do not realize that he has four kids that he still needs to put through college and working in Hollywood would not only pay more, but it would also be less physically demanding.
Jackson talked about how he does not want to lead the fans on and make them think that he is going to be in MMA for another 10 or so years, but wants them to have a good time while he is still around.
“I’m just here to fight people,” Jackson said. “I’m here to just make you laugh and give you exciting fights. I’m not cocky like these other guys. I’m not a big arrogant fighter and stuff like that.”
Although this is not the first time fight fans have heard this song and dance from Rampage, it seems that his days inside the octagon are numbered.
However, a win over Hamill would put him right back in title contention, and a date with current champ Jon Jones may keep Jackson around for a little longer.
