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LAS VEGAS — MMA Fighting caught up with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson following his UFC 130 win over Matt Hamill. Jackson talked how his injured hand was feeling after the fight, what’s next for him and his takedown defense during the fight. He also took the time to take a few parting shots at yours truly.
Watch the video interview below.
Filed under: UFC, FanHouse Exclusive, Videos
LAS VEGAS — MMA Fighting caught up with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson following his UFC 130 win over Matt Hamill. Jackson talked how his injured hand was feeling after the fight, what’s next for him and his takedown defense during the fight. He also took the time to take a few parting shots at yours truly.
Watch the video interview below.
LAS VEGAS — Watch below as Quinton “Rampage” Jackson holds court at the UFC 130 post-fight press conference. Jackson talked about his entrance song choice and much more. Also, Roy Nelson and Matt Hamill talk about coming out on the losing end of their fights.
Watch the video below.
LAS VEGAS — Watch below as Quinton “Rampage” Jackson holds court at the UFC 130 post-fight press conference. Jackson talked about his entrance song choice and much more. Also, Roy Nelson and Matt Hamill talk about coming out on the losing end of their fights.
Watch the video below.
Filed under: UFCLAS VEGAS – Of all the fighters in the UFC’s reasonably stacked light heavyweight division, Matt Hamill is among the hottest.
And despite five straight wins, he doesn’t seem to mind being a little overlooked – for now. Sure, one of th…
Filed under: UFC
LAS VEGAS – Of all the fighters in the UFC’s reasonably stacked light heavyweight division, Matt Hamill is among the hottest.
And despite five straight wins, he doesn’t seem to mind being a little overlooked – for now. Sure, one of those wins was a disqualification victory against Jon Jones, Jones’ only loss, on a technicality in a fight he was dominating. But Hamill has been asking for the kind of fights that will move him from middle-of-the-pack fighter to top contender.
Against Quinton Jackson on Saturday in the main event of UFC 130, a win would quickly elevate him in the division. Jackson is a nearly 3/1 favorite, but that doesn’t bother Hamill (10-2, 9-2 UFC).
“I’ve probably been the underdog for the last five fights,” Hamill said at Wednesday’s pre-fight press conference at the MGM Grand. “I love to be the underdog.”
A closer look at Hamill’s history with the oddsmakers reveals that this is only the fourth time he’s been an underdog in the UFC – and the first three were against his Season 3 housemate on “The Ultimate Fighter,” Michael Bisping, Rich Franklin and Jon Jones. Along with Jackson, underdog status is understandable for all those fights.
But Hamill’s point is not lost – he’s kicked around in the middle of the division, and he’s ready to make the leap. Count UFC president Dana White as someone who has noticed.
“Obviously Rampage Jackson is one of the best in the world at 205 pounds,” White said. “This is a huge fight for Matt Hamill. He’s had some good wins – he beat (Keith) Jardine, (Mark) Munoz, Tito (Ortiz). A win over Rampage would be huge. This is one of those career-defining moments for Matt Hamill should he be able to pull off the win on Saturday night.”
Considering White also said a win by Rampage puts him “in the mix for a title shot,” a Hamill upset could disrupt a potential title fight between Jackson and Jones.
But Hamill last week alluded to the stair-step mentality he has taken in his career. His dominant unanimous decision win at UFC 121 last fall over Ortiz, his coach on Season 3 of TUF, is what he believes pushed him to the level that has him a shot against Jackson, a former light heavyweight champ, on Saturday.
“It’s going to help me improve my career,” Hamill said through his translator. “Beating Tito definitely put me in line to get some big fights like this, and I knew I was ready for the next level. I’m just really glad I’m here.”
It was a fight that Jackson initially didn’t want much to do with, and Hamill said he understood why and didn’t blame him – that Jackson should be taking on fighters in the Top 5. But when Hamill said his goal was to break Jackson’s will, Jackson emerged from the land of apathy and got into the fight.
That’s just where Hamill plans on taking the fight, saying he believes Jackson has become too reliant upon his standup game through the years and less focused on his wrestling. “That’s why I want him,” Hamill said.
Six straight wins in the light heavyweight division, a feat matched right now only by Phil Davis thanks to Jones’ DQ loss, would be enough to put the upper echelon of the class on notice. Forget questions about Jackson’s motivation for the fight. Hamill has his own motivation.
“I figured Rampage would be eying Rashad Evans or a rematch with Forrest Griffin or what have you,” Hamill said. “I thought that Rampage would believe that this match is not in his league. But it’s my next chance to prove that I am in his league.”
Filed under: UFC, NewsLAS VEGAS – The near-lovefest that has become UFC 130 came to a partial stop Friday at the official event weigh-ins at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Main event fighters Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Matt Hamill each weighed in at …
LAS VEGAS – The near-lovefest that has become UFC 130 came to a partial stop Friday at the official event weigh-ins at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Main event fighters Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Matt Hamill each weighed in at 205 pounds for their bout, then engaged in the afternoon’s most intense staredown. It was a stark contrast to Wednesday’s press conference, where the two shared a couple light moments on stage even before their staredown photo op.
When the fight was booked, Jackson was vocal about not having much interest in the fight. But after Hamill said he planned to break the former light heavyweight champion’s will, Jackson took a new level of motivation. And Wednesday’s cordiality went out the window Friday in favor of a forehead-to-forehead showcase, Hamill’s hands up and Jackson’s at his sides.
Hamill told emcee Joe Rogan that the fight against Jackson will be the most important fight of his career.
“This is the biggest opportunity for me to help my career,” Hamill said. “I know from Day One he didn’t want to fight me, but I promise you one thing – it’s going to be a good fight.”
Jackson, who doesn’t have a knockout win since his UFC 92 victory over Wanderlei Silva, promised fans he’s looking for a finish against Hamill, and that Hamill’s comments about breaking his will got him amped up.
“It motivated me to train extra hard,” Jackson said. “I was already training hard ’cause it’s been a while since I knocked anyone out. But I’m ready to put on a show for you guys and get a knockout.”
Co-main event heavyweights Frank Mir and Roy Nelson, though, continued to be almost playful about their fight. The two Las Vegas residents, who share many mutual friends and sometimes train together, each weighed in at 260 pounds, and fought back smiles as they squared off.
And despite trouble making weight in the past, Thiago Alves weighed in at 170 pounds for his welterweight bout against Rick Story, who was also 170 and brings a five-fight winning streak into the event.
UFC 130 airs live on pay-per-view at 9 p.m. Eastern on Saturday and is preceded by a pair of fights on Spike TV at 8 p.m. In addition, three preliminary card fights will air on Facebook at 6:20 p.m.
The official weigh-in results are below:
Main Card
Quinton Jackson (205) vs. Matt Hamill (205)
Frank Mir (260) vs. Roy Nelson (260)
Stefan Struve (255) vs. Travis Browne (247)
Thiago Alves (170) vs. Rick Story (170)
Brian Stann (186) vs. Jorge Santiago (185)
Spike TV Prelims
Miguel Torres (135.5) vs. Demetrious Johnson (135.5)
Kendall Grove (185) vs. Tim Boetsch (186)
Facebook Prelims
Gleison Tibau (155) vs. Rafaello Oliveira (155)
Michael McDonald (136) vs. Chris Cariaso (135)
Renan Barão (135) vs. Cole Escovedo (135)
Filed under: UFC
LAS VEGAS — MMA Fighting spoke to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson on Wednesday about his UFC 130 fight against Matt Hamill, why it bothered him when Hamill said he would break his will and why didn’t sound like he wanted to be interviewed during his recent appearance on The MMA Hour.
Check out the video interview after the jump.
Filed under: UFC
LAS VEGAS — MMA Fighting spoke to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson on Wednesday about his UFC 130 fight against Matt Hamill, why it bothered him when Hamill said he would break his will and why didn’t sound like he wanted to be interviewed during his recent appearance on The MMA Hour.
Check out the video interview after the jump.
Filed under: UFCLet’s say, for the sake of wild, purely speculative conversation, that Quinton “Rampage” Jackson could stay home this Saturday night.
Say he could press a magic button (years of TV and movies have taught me that this button would nece…
Filed under: UFC
Let’s say, for the sake of wild, purely speculative conversation, that Quinton “Rampage” Jackson could stay home this Saturday night.
Say he could press a magic button (years of TV and movies have taught me that this button would necessarily be big and red, and may or may not be covered by a glass case) and create a Rampage clone that would go and fight for him at UFC 130. Say Real Rampage would get the money and Clone Rampage would do all the work, make the decisions, and live with the pain of defeat or the satisfaction of victory, but to the rest of the world the two would be indistinguishable.
My question isn’t whether Jackson would choose to press the magic button under these circumstances. That’s too easy. Obviously he would press it. The way he talks about his fighting career these days, I don’t think you could keep him away from that button with a pack of wolves and a stun gun.
But say he pressed the button. Say he sent Clone Rampage out into the Las Vegas night to do his bidding against Matt Hamill. My question is: would Real Rampage, still lodged comfortably at home, bother to buy the pay-per-view so he could watch what happened? Or would he decide to do something else instead, maybe opting to find out the results via text message later that night?
This is the question I can’t answer, and it’s also why I don’t know what to make of the current state of Jackson’s MMA career.
To hear him tell it, fighting is just something to fill the time and earn a paycheck between movie roles. The minute he gets paid more to act than he does to fight, Jackson has said, he’s out of here. Nobody can fight forever, and he doesn’t particularly want to try.
Which is completely reasonable to most of us. If you can get paid more for sitting around on movie sets eating organic potato chips than you can for spending weeks living like a monk in training camp and waking up sore every morning, that’s not too tough a decision for most people.
Then again, there’s a reason most people don’t become pro fighters, and a complete lack of skill and athleticism is only part of it.
What it comes down to is a lack of enthusiasm. All fighters have to have it to begin with, because when you’re just starting out the money isn’t good enough to justify doing it for any other reason. Unless you’re Brock Lesnar. Or maybe Bobby Lashley.
But when Jackson made his pro debut in 1999 against a 175-pound Mike Pyle in Memphis, he did it for no more than a couple hundred bucks and a chance to punch someone in the face without legal repercussions.
I don’t know what mix of ambition and anger and competitive zeal was driving that Rampage, but it seems to have evaporated in the eleven-plus years since then. Now when he talks about upcoming fights he seems to be the person least interested in the conversation. Even when he deigns to dredge up some the charisma that made him a fan favorite – such as he did last night on ‘The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson‘ – he still seems far more enthusiastic about the after-party than the fight.
It makes you wonder, what exactly is Jackson trying to accomplish in MMA at this point? Is he only after the money? The fame? Is it nothing more than a way to keep him in the limelight just long enough to hold the interest movie producers? Or does he still want to etch a legacy for himself beyond what he’s already accomplished in the sport? Does he want to be champion? He’s still quite good at it, but does he actually want to participate in the physical act of fighting?
It’s hard to come up with a clear answer right now, and that’s a problem. This is the same Jackson who recently turned down a title shot because he thought six weeks wasn’t enough time to prepare. It’s also the one who waffles between mild interest and complete apathy when the subject of his next fight comes up.
Not only is he not fired up about fighting for a living, he rarely even pretends to be. I don’t know what that means for his immediate future in pro fighting, but it’s probably not the best sign for his acting career. If he can’t convince fans that he’s in the cage because he truly wants to be, how’s he ever going to convince movie audiences that he’s an entirely different person?
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