Filed under: UFC, NewsQuinton Jackson is headed back to Japan.
After campaigning for a spot on the UFC 144 card immediately after his loss to Jon Jones in September, the UFC has granted Jackson’s wish of fighting in the Land of the Rising Sun. Jackson…
After campaigning for a spot on the UFC 144 card immediately after his loss to Jon Jones in September, the UFC has granted Jackson’s wish of fighting in the Land of the Rising Sun. Jackson (32-9) has agreed to meet Ryan Bader (13-2) on the Feb. 26 card at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta confirmed the news with ESPN.com on Thursday.
Amazingly, when Jackson meets Bader at UFC 144, it will mark exactly six years since his last fight in Japan. On Feb. 26, 2006, “Rampage” defeated Yoon Dong-Sik via unanimous decision at PRIDE 31. In total, the former PRIDE star competed in 20 MMA/kickboxing fights in Japan.
The 33-year-old Jackson is 2-2 in his last four fights. He had won two in a row before losing to Jones in a UFC light heavyweight title fight at UFC 135.
Bader, 28, snapped his two-fight losing streak last weekend at UFC 139 when he knocked out Jason Brilz in the first round. Prior to that win, Bader had lost to Jon Jones and Tito Ortiz in 2011.
UFC 144 will mark the organization’s first event in Japan since Dec. 2000. The main event will feature Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson for the UFC lightweight title.
2011 has not been the year of Ryan Bader, but Saturday night’s victory over Jason Brilz at UFC 139 should be a great boost in his confidence as he heads into 2012. “I finally found the right way to train and the right people,” Bader t…
2011 has not been the year of Ryan Bader, but Saturday night’s victory over Jason Brilz at UFC 139 should be a great boost in his confidence as he heads into 2012.
“I finally found the right way to train and the right people,” Bader told MMA Heat’s Karyn Bryant Saturday night after his victory.
A former The Ultimate Fighter winner, Bader struggled to get into the win column this year after an amazing start to his career that saw him at 12-0 heading into 2011. Back-to-back losses to current and former UFC light heavyweight champions Jon Jones and Tito Ortiz saw him drop to 12-2 heading into 139.
He knew that something had to change if he hoped to continue to climb the ladder in the UFC and even possibly if he hoped to stay employed by the world’s largest MMA organization.
“Coming in with two losses, I haven’t won this year, and you don’t want a third loss anytime,” Bader admitted regarding his feelings heading into his fight with Brilz on Saturday night. “There’s a lot of pressure to win. I really had to kind of put it in the back of my head and say that, ‘You keep that pressure knowing that you have to go out there and fight hard, but you don’t let it get to you. You don’t let it let you fight differently.’ “
Bader fought through the pressure and earned a first-round knockout victory over Jason Brilz, utilizing his powerful punching to catch his opponent and finish him early.
“A lot of guys go out there and fight not to lose and that changes everything up. You don’t fight like you normally do. So I went out there and try to do every time and knock him out, and it ended up happening. So I’m confident in that.”
Bader made quite a few changes to his training for this fight, but it may have been an unexpected one that gave him the confidence to get back into the win column. He started using his old theme song again, a remix of the original “Darth Vader” Star Wars song.
“I found [the song] on the internet. It’s the Rage Against the Machine of it and I was like, ‘I’ve gotta’ roll with this,” he told Bryant.
He didn’t get to use the song in his last couple of fights against Ortiz and Jones, and he joked that the lack of his usual entrance song may have played a part in the outcomes, both losses.
Maybe it’s his theme song or maybe it’s that his skills have been refined. Whatever it is, Ryan Bader appears to have his confidence back, and that’s a very, very dangerous thing for the light heavyweight division.
Ryan Bader may have dominated Jason Brilz, but this doesn’t mean that Bader is a top-echelon light heavyweight.The NCAA Division-I wrestler burst onto the scene on the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter reality series where he won the light heavywei…
Ryan Bader may have dominated Jason Brilz, but this doesn’t mean that Bader is a top-echelon light heavyweight.
The NCAA Division-I wrestler burst onto the scene on the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter reality series where he won the light heavyweight portion of the tournament. After that, he instantly became a hot prospect at light heavyweight.
But did he deserve this status at all?
Bader’s victories in the UFC were over Vinny Magalhaes, Carmelo Marrero, Eric Schafer, Keith Jardine and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (also known as Lil’ Nog). Four of those men departed from the UFC at some point after losing to Bader (although Schafer would eventually return).
After beating gatekeepers and an overrated “legend” in Rogerio Noguiera, there was talk of Bader being the next big thing at light heavyweight.
He was therefore paired up with the other next big thing, Jon Jones.
Jones made short work of Bader and got the MMA world questioning just how good he was.
If Jones got the world asking about Bader’s questioning abilities, Tito Ortiz confirmed these notions by stumbling Bader with a short right hand and then choking him out.
After this fight, Bader was considered a glorified can.
Fortunately for him, he was given a chance at redemption against Jason Brilz. Bader was simply too much for Brilz and he won by TKO.
Bader was seemingly “back.”
But does this mean that Bader is one of the best in the division?
Hardly. Bader has yet to beat anyone of real talent. Until then, he’s just an average fighter at light heavyweight.
Ryan Bader looked strong in his return to the Octagon last night, taking out Jason Brilz with a big right hand halfway through the first round. Obviously this was an impressive performance by a man who was in desperate need of a victory, but there&rsqu…
Ryan Bader looked strong in his return to the Octagon last night, taking out Jason Brilz with a big right hand halfway through the first round.
Obviously this was an impressive performance by a man who was in desperate need of a victory, but there’s something that needs to be stopped before it even starts.
Ryan Bader is not “back”, and he needs to win at least another fight or two before he is considered a contender again.
Mixed Martial Arts may be the ultimate “What have you done for me lately?” sport, as evidenced by people already forgetting how average Bader looked against Tito Ortiz and Jon Jones earlier this year, much like they proclaimed Ortiz as “back” after his win over Bader this July.
Ortiz ended up taking a fight against light heavyweight title contender Rashad Evans on short notice and lost just a month after resurrecting his career, and if he is unsuccessful against Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 140 in a few weeks he’ll be right back on the verge of unemployment.
While the comparison between Ortiz and Bader makes sense to a degree, it ends when you realize that Bader has neither the prestige, nor the draw power that Tito possesses.
Bader needs to be extremely careful in making sure his next matchup is a winnable fight and a well-known opponent, or he may find himself back on a losing streak and out of a job in early 2012.
Be sure to stay tuned to Bleacher Report for all things UFC 139. B/R is your home for complete coverage of the November 19 fight card, including results and post-fight analysis.
SAN JOSE, Calif. – MMA Fighting caught up with Ryan Bader after his first-round knockout win at UFC 139. Bader talks about how he’s changed in the past two months, the pressure he faced coming into the event with a two-fight losing skid, how long it took him to get over the Tito Ortiz loss and much more.
SAN JOSE, Calif. – MMA Fighting caught up with Ryan Bader after his first-round knockout win at UFC 139. Bader talks about how he’s changed in the past two months, the pressure he faced coming into the event with a two-fight losing skid, how long it took him to get over the Tito Ortiz loss and much more.
Quinton Jackson is headed back to Japan.
2011 has not been the year of