Last time we talked, dear reader, Rampage had just lost his world title to Forrest Griffin. In his two previous fights, Rampage had defeated hall-of-famers, guys who will undoubtedly be looked upon as two of the greatest fighters of their times. Rampage beat them both.
Yet he lost to Forrest Griffin.
Now, I don't mean to besmirch Forrest or to imply that he was not a good, or maybe even a great, fighter. But he wasn't Chuck Liddell. He wasn't Dan Henderson. He never would be. In fact, he would lose his next fight--and the world title along with it--to another Ultimate Fighter: Rashad Evans.
Losing to Forrest was befuddling. Rampage should have won that fight. If they fought a hundred times, Rampage should win 90 times or more. But he lost. And he didn't know how to handle it.
Days later, Rampage went crazy.
While driving a huge gray truck with his own photograph plastered on it, Rampage slammed into two cars. That's bad, right? But wait, it gets worse. Instead of stepping out of the truck and checking on the other drivers (one of them was pregnant), Rampage hauled tail.
Police quickly began a pursuit that would last approximately five minutes. In that time, Rampage would slam into at least one more vehicle, pop several tires on his truck, and drive on the rims while ignoring the police cruisers' wailing sirens and flashing lights.
Eventually, he pulled over and was arrested.
Dana White, president of the UFC, offered the only explanation for Rampage's insane behavior. "He went on some crazy fasting thing," White said. "He didn't drink anything but water and energy drinks for four or five days. He didn't sleep a lot."
So since the loss to Forrest, Rampage had been starving himself, chugging energy drinks, and refusing to sleep. Sounds crazy, right? But can you blame him? He had been champion of the world.
Of
The
World.
And had lost it. To a man he knew, in his heart and in his soul, he should have beaten.
After posting bail and going through a psychological evaluation, the UFC had to figure out what to do with him. They decided, as they so often do, that he needed a trilogy. And that meant Rampage would face none other than Wanderlei (pronounced Vander-lay) "The Axe Murderer" Silva. The man who had brutally knocked out Rampage. Twice. That's right. Rampage lost his belt, went insane, and the UFC's idea of therapy was to feed him to a man who he still had nightmares about.
Now make no mistake, while this was the same man who had been the cause of Rampage's most humiliating defeats, he was also a man with far more years on him. Far more wear and tear. The young, almost demonic Wanderlei Silva who had brutalized Rampage back in 2004, was gone. This Wanderlei had lost 3 of his last 4 fights--2 of them by knockout. He was a step slower than the 2004 Wanderlei. He was getting hit more often, and when he took a clean shot to the chin, he disconnected.
This is a bit of an exaggeration. He did go three hard rounds with Chuck Liddell in a recent fight without being knocked out. But Chuck had him hurt and on wobbly legs several times. And it must be noted that in his last fight, Wanderlei looked sensational in knocking out Keith Jardine. Would you care to see it?
Yes, that looked a lot like the old Wanderlei, the same guy who had smashed 101 dalmatians--er, I mean knees--into Rampage's face. And coming off a vicious knockout win like the one shown above, Wanderlei had regained some much needed confidence.
Additionally, there were many fight fans who argued that regardless of how good or bad Wanderlei looked in recent years, he would always have Rampage's number. And they had history to draw upon. Some guys just have the style to give certain other guys fits.
For instance, when George Foreman hammered his way through the heavyweight division back in the 1970's, few thought Muhammad Ali could beat him. After all, Foreman had destroyed the man who always gave Ali a hard fight, Joe Frazier. And Foreman had made it look easy. But Joe Frazier was tailor-made for Foreman. He was a guy who walked straight forward and was willing to take a few shots to give a few. But you couldn't do that against Foreman. Doing that was like walking straight into a wrecking ball (please, try not to think of Miley Cyrus).
But Ali didn't fight like Joe Frazier. Frazier's style was made to give Ali fits. Ali's style was made to give George fits. Ali refused to move forward. He made George do all the stalking, while he stood back, popping his jab, and rope-a-doping away from punches. Eventually, George got tired, and Ali knocked him out.
The same way Ali's style was seemingly engineered to defeat George Foreman, some argued that Wanderlei's style was engineered to defeat Rampage. After all, he had done it twice already! Both times, leaving Rampage a broken and bloody mess. Could this time, truly, be any different?
The answer, dear reader, was yes. Early in the first round, Rampage landed a short left hook on Wanderlei's chin that dispelled, at once, any notion that Wanderlei would always be the monster under his bed. In fact, if Wanderlei was the monster, then Rampage was the howling demon wolf from the 8th level of Hades. See below.
What you see in the above clip is Rampage expertly defending against a three-punch combination from the Axe Murderer, and then landing a single devastating left hook. What you don't see are the punches Rampage landed after that. To Wanderlei's lifeless body. Before the referee could stop the fight, Rampage slammed several more fully-loaded punches to Wanderlei's face. It was so vicious, the mma community went nuts!
Some felt that Rampage was trying to kill his hated foe, that he knew beyond a doubt that Wanderlei was already out cold, yet punched him anyway. Several times.
Whether he did or didn't may be up for debate, but what isn't up for debate is that Rampage enjoyed his sweet, sweet revenge.
Years from now, when he is old and reminiscing about the good ol' days, Rampage will likely treasure that victory over Wanderlei Silva more than any other. Winning the UFC title may rank higher. But then again, it may not.
Tune in later for the 4th installment of "The Rise and Fall of Rampage Jackson."
Until then.
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