The Rise and Fall of Rampage Jackson: Part 4

Ladies and gentlemen,

We ended part 3 of the Rise and Fall of Rampage Jackson with his famous third and final bout against Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva.  After having been brutally knocked out by Wanderlei twice before, paying him back in kind must have tasted especially sweet.  He may not have been the UFC world champion any longer, but at least he earned a brutal win over his own personal boogie man.

This win put Rampage at the front of the line for a title shot.  The man who had taken his title, Forrest Griffin, had just been knocked out by "Sugar" Rashad Evans.  The UFC announced that if Rampage won his next fight, he would face Rashad for the championship.

So who stood between Rampage and the title he so desperately wanted back?  A man who, on paper, was made for him.  Keith Jardine was a herky-jerky striker with a questionable chin.  The kind of guy Rampage feasted on back in the day.  Everyone expected Rampage to win easily, and probably by knockout.  And he did win, but it wasn't easy, and it wasn't by knockout.  Rampage looked flat.

Once again, Rampage had little answer for leg kicks.  In the first round, Jardine landed a bunch of them--enough to win the round on two of the judges' score cards.  He went back to it in the 2nd round, but Rampage landed one of his big left hooks.  That hook dropped Jardine, just as it had dropped Wanderlei Silva, but Jardine survived the onslaught, struggled back to his feet and managed to wobble Rampage with a big uppercut later in the round.  With seconds left in the round, Rampage flurried with punches, doing enough to win the round.

The third round was close.  Jardine landed more strikes.  His leg kicks were the big winner for him.  But Rampage landed the hardest strike--a right hand that dropped Jardine again. As before, he couldn't finish his hurt opponent.  Jardine survived.  Rampage's fate was left in the hands of judges.

And they gave the win to Rampage.

With that judge's decision, Rampage was set to fight for the title again.  Great news, right? But at the post fight press conference, Rampage said he wasn't sure he could make it.  His jaw was sore.

That's right.  His jaw was sore.  Now you readers who have been following my posts over the last few months will remember that I've written about how fighters always fight with injuries.  Always.  Even when they say they're injury free, they're simply saying that they don't have anything that incapacitates them.  They are still bruised and banged up from all the training they've been doing.  But, hey, they can walk.  It may hurt like heck when they hit something with their right hand, but they can still throw it.  So they do.

To be fair, I don't know how badly injured his jaw was.  It could be that every waking moment was torture for him.  I don't know.  Only he knows.  What I do know, however, is that Rampage Jackson did not take the offered title fight against Rashad Evans.  He turned it down to nurse his wounds.  The UFC then offered the title shot to Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida.  Lyoto made the most of his chance.  He knocked out Rashad Evans with a left hook in the 2nd round.

Had Rampage faced Rashad that night, he may very well have won.  Rashad, that night, was willing to trade strikes with Machida.  He was an undefeated fighter who had never been knocked out.  He figured he could take it almost as good as he gave it.  Lyoto changed his mind forever.  After the Lyoto fight, Rashad would fight far more conservatively, knowing in the back of his mind that he could, indeed, be knocked cold.  He would carry that mindset into the cage with him one year later when he, finally, faced Rampage.

I didn't use the word finally lightly in the last sentence.  Rampage and Rashad coached the 10th season of The Ultimate Fighter.  As is customary, at the end of the season they were supposed to fight each other.  

But Rampage received a phone call from Hollywood before the season finale--and what a phone call it was!  He was cast as B.A. Baracus in the film version of the hit 1980's television series: The A-Team.  He starred alongside Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, and Jessica Biel.

While this was a great opportunity for Rampage, it likely cost the UFC a ton of money.  All season long, the UFC had been promoting the match between Rampage and Rashad.  During the show, the fighters nearly came to blows on several occasions.  It was one of the most heated rivalries we have ever seen on The Ultimate Fighter.  After all the trash talk from both guys, they weren't fighting.  Dana White, President of the UFC, was very critical of Rampage's choice to choose the movie over the fight:

"He’s a fighter, that’s what he does for a living. Now I’m going through all this crap where I got another fighter saying ‘You know what, this isn't what I wanna do for the rest of my life, I wanna make movies, I wanna be a movie star, this is just a second career for me.’ Like I haven’t seen this one before. Rampage is a grown man. He’s acting like a baby right now but he’s a grown man. He wants to be in the movie business? Rampage, good luck to you, man. I hope you make it big — and I’m not being sarcastic because Rampage Jackson is a guy that I do like. But Rampage Jackson is a guy that doesn't always make the best decisions.”

So, yeah, he wasn't happy with Rampage.  He was even less happy when Rampage announced his retirement after hearing Dana's comments.  That's right. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson quit.  He retired.  But when Rampage finished filming The A-Team, he and Dana made up.  Dana even changed his tune, saying, "Rampage made the right decision.  The A-Team is the big summer hit this year, and from what I'm hearing from the guys in Hollywood, Rampage [nailed] it.  He did an awesome job."

But he only said this once Rampage had agreed to finally fight Rashad Evans.  The fight against Evans was pivotal in many ways.  Coming off the big Hollywood film, beating Rashad Evans would have been the perfect conclusion to a true-life story that was every bit as good as anything Hollywood could dream up. Rampage would have been next in line for a shot at the title and would be riding an all-time high.

But Rampage lost.  Rashad Evans outwrestled him.  Having tasted what it was like to be knocked out, Rashad Evans avoided a stand-up battle with Rampage.  He shot for takedowns at every opportunity, and worked his ground-n-pound from top position.  He never hurt Rampage, and Rampage actually did hurt him in one of their few exchanges, but Rashad did enough to win the 3-round decision.

Again, had Rampage faced Rashad for the title--back before Rashad was knocked out by Lyoto Machida--I think this would have been a very different fight.  Rashad may have slugged it out with Rampage.  If he had, Rampage might have beat him.  Heck, he almost knocked Rashad out in a fight where Rashad stubbornly refused to trade punches with him. But he waited.  And consequently, he lost a fight he might have won a year earlier.

Be sure to check back for the 5th installment of "The Rise and Fall of Rampage Jackson."  In it, I'll discuss Rampage's last fights in the UFC and look at his new run in Bellator.

Until then.

UFC 171 Post Thoughts

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new UFC welterweight champion of the world.  His name is Johny Hendricks.  No, I did not spell that wrong.  It's one n, not two.  Remember the name, because he may be around for awhile.  During his fight with "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler, he looked both absolutely dominant and completely vulnerable.  He hit Robbie with punches that would have dropped lesser men, and Robbie hit him with punches that would have killed lesser men.

It was almost everything you could ask from a championship battle.  For instance, it was high-paced.  Both men threw lots of punches.  And I mean lots of punches.  There were moments--many of them--when the two warriors stood right in front of each other and traded one bomb after another.  Neither man seemed interested in taking a backward step.

 It also had dramatic shifts in momentum.  Johny whipped Robbie's butt in the first two rounds.  He hit Robbie with multi-strike combinations time and again, often ending the combination with a hard leg kick.  Robbie seemed to have no answer.  Being a fan of Robbie's and of his story (long-time veteran makes it big), I shouted at the television, "Don't just stand in front of him, Robbie!  Throw punches!"

I have to pause a moment and discuss how one of the three judges scored round two.  Judge Doug Crosby scored the round 10-8 for Johny Hendricks.  A 10-8 round is rare.  It is reserved for when one fighter beats another fighter so badly, he almost finishes him.  In boxing (where the 10-point-must system was adopted from), a 10-8 is usually only given if a boxer knocks his opponent down.  Otherwise, if one fighter handily beats another, but doesn't nearly finish them, the judge scores the round 10-9.  That's how the other two judges scored the round, and that's how Doug Crosby should have scored it.  

I was so puzzled by the scoring, I rewatched that round.  At no point was Robbie knocked down.  At no point was he dazed or wobbly-legged.  Johny gave him a beating, but he didn't give him a 10-8 beating.  In fact, Robbie landed arguably the best punch of the round when he nailed Johny with a big left hand at the bell.

Doug Crosby needs to be retrained before appointed to another world title fight.  Heck, he needs to be retrained before being appointed to any fight.  These fighters work too hard to have incompetent judges deliver ridiculous score cards. Shame on you, Doug Crosby.

Anyway, after two rounds, Robbie started letting his hands go.  And it paid off.  At the 3-minute-mark, he hit Johny with a blistering left cross.  The punch wobbled Johny and had him backing up, wondering where he was at.    For the next minute, Robbie stayed on him, and hit him with punches that have knocked many a fighter stiff.  Johny took those punches and remained standing.  Barely.  By the end of the round, Johny had regained his composure and was firing back at Robbie.

In the 4th round, Robbie dominated.   He hit Johny with some crazy punches.  Immediately, Johny's face started to swell and bleed.  At the 1:50 mark, Robbie hit him with an uppercutt that darn near ripped his head off his shoulders.  That punch would have ended the night for most people.  But Johny incredibly took the punch and fired back a three-punch combination!  As dominant as Johny was in the first two rounds, Robbie was even more dominant in the 3rd and 4th rounds.  

While Johny sat in his corner after the 4th round, his coach, Marc Laymon, didn't mince words.  "This is it! If you want to win this fight you have to do it right [beeping] now!"  It was precisely the kind of message Johny needed to hear.  Too often, I've heard coaches sugar coat what's happening.  In rounds where their fighter got beat up, I'll hear them say, "Not bad.  Now breathe deep and remember to double-up on your jab."  That sort of advice does not create a sense of urgency.  But when your coach essentially says, "Win this next round or you lose," it gets the job done.

When the bell rang to start the 5th round, I believed we were going to see more of what we saw in the 3rd and 4th rounds: Robbie teeing off on a tired and half-concussed Hendricks. But Johny came out and gave as good as he got.  With a little more than a minute left in the fight, Johny rocked Robbie and had him stumbling backwards toward the cage, trying to shake the fog out of his brain.  Seeing his chance to secure the win, Johny shot for a takedown and got it.

For the last minute of the fight, Johny held his foe down.  It was clearly a case of I-know-I'm ahead-so-I'm-going-to-hold-you-down-until-the-bell-rings.  And though I cursed him when he did it, I have a hard time faulting him for it now.  He could have slugged it out with his hurt opponent, but Robbie is always dangerous when he can throw his hands.  Just ask Melvin Manhoef.  So Johny did what he needed to do to secure the win.  It was strategy.  A safety-first strategy employed in the 25th minute of a fight in which he had disregarded safety completely for the first 24 minutes.

I can't knock him for that.

When Bruce Buffer rendered the judge's decision, there was no surprise.  Johny was the new champion.  From where I sit, I think he earned it.  Good work, Johny Hendricks.  Though I was rooting against you, I have to give credit where credit is due.  You won that fight.  You won that championship.

Congratulations, Johny.  Savor the moment.  You are the UFC welterweight champion of the world.  The best 170 pounder on the planet.

Until next time.    

UFC 171 (Hendricks VS Lawler)

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A new UFC welterweight champion will be crowned this weekend!  For the first time in years, someone other than Georges St. Pierre will wear the coveted title.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  Georges was a great champion.  He dominated stellar competition.  He always entered the octagon in perfect physical shape.  He maintained a solid pace for five rounds straight.  Heck, I think he could have fought 20 straight rounds.

And now he's retired.

It's sad.  For me, at least.  Hopefully he is enjoying retirement.  Lord knows, he deserves it--even if many fans don't think he deserved his last victory.  That's right.  A lot of viewers felt that Johny Hendricks beat him.  I'm one of those people.  But the fight was close enough that I'm neither shocked or appalled at the outcome.  Hendricks took the last round off, and it cost him.

Regardless, Johny Hendricks proved that he is a worthy competitor.  When GSP announced his semi-retirement, I'm glad the UFC went ahead and slid Hendricks into a position to fight for the vacant title.  He earned that opportunity.  And so did "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler.

What a story!  Robbie Lawler has been fighting since the stone age.  Okay, that's a bit of hyperbole (an exaggeration), but Robbie fought his first amateur fight in January 2001, when he was only 18 years old.  He fought 6 times that year.  Then he fought in the UFC the following year.  That was long before the UFC blew up and became a household name.  That was UFC 37.  They're on UFC 171 now.  And that's not even counting all the UFC Fight Nights or UFC on Fox shows that have been aired.  So much has changed since Robbie first stepped into the Octagon.

Back then, Robbie was a young up-and-comer.  A kid destined to be their champion.  It was no secret that the UFC brass loved him.  He fought with unmatched intensity.  He punched with freakish power.  He looked like a young Hollywood star.  They made him their poster boy.  And things worked great for awhile. He crushed Aaron Riley, Steve Berger, and Tiki Ghosn.

Then he ran into an explosive and experienced kickboxer named Pete Spratt.  For the first half of the first round, Lawler dominated.  He bullied the kickboxer, pushing him up against the cage, and grinding him with short punches and elbows while on the ground.  He even lifted Spratt high into the air and slammed him so hard, Hulk Hogan would have been proud.

But then Spratt got up.  And whipped a vicious leg kick into Lawler's thigh.  It changed the fight.  Suddenly, Robbie could barely walk.  This allowed Spratt to tee off on him with his large repertoire of kicks and punches.  When the bell rang to signal the end of the round, it was anyone's guess who had won it.  A 10-10 draw would have been fair.

The one-minute rest between rounds wasn't sufficient to heal Robbie's injured leg.  He took another leg kick from Spratt, tried to counter with a leaping right hook, missed terribly, and buckled as he swung.  Before Spratt could attack again, Robbie waved it off.

Yes, he verbally tapped.  Like Roberto Duran's famous "No Mas" against Sugar Ray Leonard, Robbie quit while still on his feet.  But before you judge him too harshly, know that Spratt didn't just hurt Robbie with that leg kick, he dislocated Robbie's hip.  That's right, Spratt kicked him that hard. 

The mma world didn't quite know what to think of that.  Dana White and the UFC still believed in Robbie.  7 months later, he fought Chris Lytle and won a hard-fought 3-round decision (great fight, by the way).  Robbie was back on track.

But then he was matched against a young and mostly unknown Nick Diaz.

Diaz, who would later become one of the most infamous and notorious fighters in the sport's history, knocked him out with a jab.  Okay, that's not quite true.  It was actually a right hook, but it was thrown with about the same amount of power as a jab.  See for yourself:

This was a huge upset.  Diaz had been knocked out once before.  Most fans expected Robbie to be able to keep the fight standing (which he did) and eventually land a big shot for the knockout (which he did not).  In that fight, Diaz showed the grit and willingness to fight on the ground or on the feet that would make him such a beast in the years to come.  For his part, Robbie showed a suspect chin.  In his next fight, Robbie got triangle choked by the late, great, Evan Tanner.  With 3 losses in his last 4 fights, Robbie received walking papers.

In the 9 years that followed, Robbie grew from a boy into a man.  He fought for a variety of organizations and compiled an 11-6 record.  He beat some good fighters like Frank Trigg, Joey Villasenor, Murilo "Ninja" Rua, Scott Smith, Melvin Manhoef, and Matt Lindland.  The Manhoef fight, in particular, was one of the craziest fights I've ever seen.  Manhoef landed leg kicks on Robbie that made the one Spratt landed look tame.  But Robbie always had dynamite in his hands.  And this is what happened:

As awesome as that knockout was (and it was ridiculously awesome), Robbie also lost 6 fights while he was away from the UFC.  To his credit, he lost to solid, proven competition like Jacare Souza, Jake Shields, Tim Kennedy, Jason Miller and Renato Sobral.  He also lost a decision to Lorenz Larkin while fighting at 185 pounds.  He had Larkin badly hurt in the first round, but Larkin survived and outworked Robbie in the next two rounds.  Since then, Larkin has lost 2 out of 3.  Robbie has gone 3 and 0.  And all of those fights happened in the hallowed arena of the UFC.

That's right, after losing to Larkin, the UFC bought Strike Force (which had Robbie signed to a contract).  And just like that, Robbie was back home.  As I stated above, Lawler has made the most of this new opportunity, beating three opponents: former title challenger, Josh Koshcheck, Bobby Voelker, and the highly touted Rory MacDonald.

The win over MacDonald (and GSP's retirement) put him in line to fight for the championship of the world.  If he wins on Saturday, it will be one of the greatest stories in sports, not just in the UFC. 

I'll be honest.  I'm rooting for Robbie.  I hope he lands one of those nuclear warheads he carries in his fists.  If he does, I will wake up the kids with my shouts of joy.

But he will lose.

Johny Hendricks carries the same nuclear warheads that Robbie does.  And he has a better chin.  He also has way better wrestling (2-time national champion).  That's a combination Robbie will find too difficult to overcome.  He has a chance, mind you--anyone who hits as hard as Robbie does has a chance.  Plus, he has a ton of experience to draw from.  But I just don't think it will be enough.

My official prediction:

Johny Hendricks by 5 Round Unanimous Decision over Robbie Lawler

Until next time.

Post Fight Thoughts: Jon Jones and Why Being a Champion is Hard Work

Once again, a small-time UFC card delivered more than could be expected.  Fight Night 38, which aired here in the states on UFC Fight Pass (internet subscription service), featured some exciting fights, and some strong performances.  Alexander Gustafsson, for instance, looked every bit the world beater that he is when he dismantled power-punching Brit, Jimi Manuwa.  He did exactly what a guy who arguably beat the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world is supposed to do to an unproven prospect: he dominated.  He took the fight where he wanted to, whenever he wanted to.  And he did not let the guy hang around for a decision.  He saw an opening, and took it, knocking the Brit out with a vicious knee strike followed by uppercuts and hammerfists.

Afterwards, he said, "Jon Jones, I want my title shot!"  And he deserves it.  Meanwhile, Jon Jones Tweeted the following:

"Why not give the winner of Alexander and [Daniel Cormier] the winner of myself and Glover?  Call me what you want but I can't be the only person who thinks that makes perfect sense.  I see [Daniel Cormier] congratulating Alexander and making comments about waiting his turn now.  I wonder if they're afraid to fight each other?  People who don't like to think are quick to call me afraid.  Think about it, I'm asking for the meanest of the two..."

Jon Jones has a point.  It does seem that the UFC is saving the biggest and baddest for title fights.  They're not necessarily knocking each other off the mountain.  They're getting in line and waiting their turn.  On the surface, that seems unfair.  But by Tweeting these comments, Jones reveals why he is not the company man the UFC would like him to be.  From their point of view--a business point of view, I might add--it makes zero sense to further jeopardize a guaranteed pay-per-view winner.  What's the winner, you ask?  Why, a rematch between Jones and the guy many people thought beat him: Alexander Gustafsson, of course!

That rematch will make truck loads of money.  He's actually fortunate the UFC didn't force an immediate rematch since so many observers felt Gustafsson beat him.  But they made Gustafsson win another fight first.  Had Manuwa beat him, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

But by Tweeting those comments, Jon Jones is making another bad public relations move. Whether he is whining or not, it sure comes across as whiny.  He is the champion of the world.

The champion!

We like our champions bigger than life, and badder than bad.  We want our champions to demand a rematch if public opinion says they lost a fight.  We want them to Tweet, "Oh, you think he beat me?!?  Get him in the cage and I'll finish things once and for all!"  Instead, Jones has spent too much time complaining about how the UFC is matching him up.

Again, he has a point.  Jon Jones has faced the toughest opposition of any current champion, and (Gustafsson aside) has looked spectacular in the process.  And it doesn't look to be getting easier.  His next fight is against Glover Teixeira--an absolute monster.  Nobody wants to fight the guy.  But Jones is the champ, so Jones has to fight him.  As good as Jones is, Glover has a real shot at beating him.  As that fight draws closer, I will break it down closely, the same way I broke down the Lyoto Machida/Gegard Mousasi fight, complete with fight histories and fight clips.

If Jones defeats that juggernaut, he has to face the only man to ever put a beating on him.  If you are Jon Jones, that doesn't sound fair, does it?  The man deserves an easy fight every once in awhile, doesn't he?

No!  He is the champion of the world.  With that comes the responsibility to face the very best contender available each and every time out.  It's what he signed up for, whether he knows it or not.  So if he beats Glover "The Juggernaut" Teixeira and Alexander "I-kicked-your-butt-last-time" Gustafsson, he then gets to face none other than Olympic wrestler, and former heavyweight, Daniel Cormier.

In case you missed it, Cormier made his light heavyweight debut a few weeks ago, knocking out last-minute replacement, Patrick Cummins, in mere seconds.  He had no problem cutting the weight, and looked as fast and as powerful as ever.  Jones could not have liked that, since Cormier has better wrestling credentials than anyone Jones has ever faced, and he punches as fast and as hard as any of them (with the possible exceptions being Lyoto Machida's speed and Shogun Rua's power).

If he somehow makes it through that deadly gauntlet unscathed and with the title still wrapped around his waist, I don't know how you couldn't argue that Jon Jones is the greatest mixed martial artist the world has ever seen.

Did I just say that?

I did.

If he beats Glover, Alexander, and Daniel in succession, the man is arguably the greatest fighter in history.  Just look at his accomplishments.  He would have beaten the three men mentioned above as well as:

Lyoto Machida
Rashad Evans
Vitor Belfort
Chael Sonnen
Rampage Jackson
Shogun Rua
And a number of decent contenders like Ryan Bader, Brandon Vera, Stephan Bonnar, and Mark Hamill (DQ my rear end).

Five of those guys are former champions!  Some of them are sure-fire hall-of-famers. Machida and Belfort are both going to be fighting for a title again soon!  And Jones finished them.

So while I understand where Jones is coming from when he bellyaches about how the UFC keeps giving him the top guys to fight, I think he should just keep his comments to himself, put his chin down and continue beating his path to greatness.  While he is facing absolute leviathans, he is also being given an opportunity to leave a legacy that may never be topped. Few fighters will ever get that chance.  

Other champions don't have the long list of great fighters waiting for their chance to face them.  Cain Velazquez doesn't.  Renan Barao doesn't.  Demetrious Johnson doesn't. Consequently, I doubt we'll be talking about them being the greatest fighter in history any time soon.  

Do you?

Until next time.

UFC Fight Night 38 and Bellator 111 Thoughts

Tonight and tomorrow will see yours truly glued to the television (and the computer) to watch Bellator MMA 111 on Spike TV tonight, and then UFC Fight Night 38 tomorrow on Fight Pass.

The Bellator card starts minutes from now, and though I'm pretty fanatical about this sport, I'll be honest and admit that I am only familiar with a handful of its fighters.  I've seen Eduardo Dantas and Lavar Johnson, but that's about it.

And that's why Bellator is, for the moment, at least, the minor leagues of mixed martial arts.  While Bellator does have some legitimate world-class fighters on its roster (Eddie Alvarez and Michael Chandler), most of their guys are hoping to make a name for themselves at Bellator and then jump ship to the UFC.

But you know what?  That's okay.  We'll probably still see some entertaining fights tonight.  We may even see a proverbial diamond in the rough.  Anytime there's a fight, there's potential for insane action.  We may jump out of our seats when we see Blake Griffin dunk over two defenders, but we do back flips out of our seats when we see some guy get stretched with one punch.  It leaves us wide-eyed and stunned, with our chins glued to our chests.  That's a fight, ladies and gentlemen.  You can't get that anywhere else.

So I'll tune in to Bellator and see what happens.

But tomorrow at noon my time (Eastern Standard Time), I'll have the laptop open and I'll have the UFC Fight Pass streaming Fight Night 38, live from London, England.  The UFC is truly international.  Last weekend we saw a much better than expected card when the UFC paid a visit to red China.  Dong Hyun Kim landed a blistering spinning elbow that dropped John Hathaway like a sack of tire irons.  If you're keeping track, I picked Kim to win.  And while I didn't officially pick two other fights on the card, I did state that if I absolutely had to bet, I thought that Matt Mitrione and Hatsu Hioki would win their fights.  And they did.  So I'm still running pretty hot.  I've only made one wrong pick since I started this blog back up a few weeks ago.

So let's talk about Fight Night 38.  There are some good fights on this card, dear readers.  The most intriguing matchup, by far, is the co-main event between Michael Johnson and Melvin Guillard.  These guys used to be members of the same camp--the famous Blackzillians.  That is, until Guillard left or was kicked out--the story keeps changing.  But back when they were there together, they sparred a lot.  For those of you who have never trained in a combat sport--it's bad manners to really hurt your training partners.  Sparring is meant to be a learning experience--one from which you can walk away without serious injury.  These guys said to heck with that.

I've seen video footage of their sparring sessions.  They didn't play around.  They went at it hard.  Other members have said they constantly had to keep an eye on them because they would try to knock each other out.  I predict they will pick up where they left off.  Especially since their bad blood only got worse when Guillard left the Blackzillians.  The camp didn't have great things to say about him, and he had even less to say about them.

Melvin claimed that he almost always got the better of Michael during their sparring sessions.  "About 80% of the time," he said.  But the one clip I saw showed Johnson doing quite well against the far more seasoned Guillard.

All the same, I think now is a good time to pause and share a story with you.  Being a long time mma fan, I've seen the sport evolve from an underground sport with a small cult following into what it is today.  I won't claim it's mainstream, but it is certainly well known.  Melvin has been fighting since before it blew up.  The first time I saw him, in fact, was not on Season 2 of The Ultimate Fighter, but on a Bad Breed DVD.  What in blazes is that, you ask?  Bad Breed was a subscription service that sent DVD's packed with mma stuff to its subscribers.  Sometimes the DVD's had whole fight cards from smaller shows around the country.  Sometimes they contained fighter interviews, behind the scenes looks, and even instructions on how to pull off some of those crazy mma moves we marveled at back in the day.

But one of them had an early fight of Melvin Guillard's.  I remember being struck.  Simon Cowell often looked for the "X-Factor" when watching performers sing.  Well, it was plain to see that Melvin had that X-Factor for fighting.

He was super explosive.  Immensely strong.  Incredibly athletic.  His punches flowed like a man who had been boxing his whole life.  His kicks made a sound like a baseball bat slamming into a side of beef.  I thought, this kid is special.

Then I watched him on The Ultimate Fighter and fully expected him to win.  But he didn't.  He was signed to a UFC contract anyway.  And since then he has gone on to fight more than almost any other active fighter inside the octagon.  He has racked up a ton of knockout of the night bonuses, fight of the night bonuses, and has never been in a boring fight.  He either knocks out his opponent, or gets knocked out or submitted.

I've come to terms with the fact that he will never be a world champion--he simply lacks the mental fortitude and discipline that the absolute best guys have--but that doesn't change my opinion that he is, indeed, a special fighter.  Watch him, and enjoy.

His opponent, Michael Johnson, is also a bad son-of-a-gun.  Like Melvin, he has been inconsistent in the ring, losing to guys he should have beat, and winning against guys he should have lost to.  On paper, at least.  But he's looked sharp lately, and Melvin had best bring his A-game if he wishes to win this one.

My read end has been in this chair too long, ladies and gentlemen, and I'm in desperate need of a break, so I am going to give a couple quick takes on some other fighters on the card and then get off of here.

Main event: Gustafsson vs Manuwa

Alexander Gustafsson, to many, is the uncrowned 205 pound champion of the world.  In his last outing, he put a beating on pound-for-pound great, Jon Jones.  Many thought he was robbed of a victory by the judges.  Pause for a moment, and understand what that means.  It means that Gus is truly one of the best fighters breathing oxygen right now.  Line every fighter in the world up in one line from least to greatest, and he is near the front of the pack.  He is that good.

Jimi Manuwa is a crippling puncher, blessed with incredible knockout power.  If he lands solid on Gus, he could win.  But he has only had 14 fights (though he did win all of them...), and not against the level of competition that Gus has fought.  Plus, he has gotten visibly tired in the 2nd and 3rd rounds of recent fights.  This one is scheduled for 5 rounds.  Unless he lands a big shot, Gus handles him.

Alexander Gustafsson TKO 4 Manuwa

Other fighters to watch closely are Gunnar Nelson and Luke Barnatt.  Both guys are officially unbeaten, and have looked good.  Plus, the Cyrille Diabate retirement fight against Ilir Latifi should be fun to watch.

So go watch the fights, and tune in next time for Part 4 of "The Rise and Fall of Rampage Jackson."

Until then.

The Rise and Fall of Rampage Jackson: Part 3

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.

The Rise and Fall of Rampage Jackson: Part 2

We ended Part 1 with this historic slam:

After that slam, a rematch with Wanderlei Silva was a foregone conclusion.  4 months later, he got his rematch.  And for the first 10 minutes of their fight, he more than held his own.  Some feel that he was winning.  But then, in the 2nd round, Wanderlei clutched him in the same muay thai plum that he had used to finish him in their first encounter.  And just like the last time, he started ramming his knee into Rampage's exposed face.  Over.  And over.  And over.  Until, finally, Wanderlei moved aside and allowed Jackson's lifeless body to fall through the ropes.  To this day, it is one of the most brutal knockouts I have ever seen.

Here it is:

Gruesome, isn't it?

How does a man come back from that?  That was no ordinary loss.  That was the kind of loss that could ruin a man.  His health.  His confidence.  His value as a world class fighter.  After the fight, Rampage claimed that he had been so confident that he would win.  The loss crushed him.

His next fight was a split decision win over Murilo "Ninja" Rua.  Many felt he was gifted the victory.  If it was a gift, Pride sure didn't give him a gift in his next fight.  Instead, he was given Ninja's younger brother, "Shogun."  Shogun beat him mercilessly.  Backed him against the ropes and soccer kicked him until the fight was stopped.  He broke several of Rampage's ribs in the process.

Twice in 3 fights, Rampage had been brutally finished.  He didn't look like the same guy who had once struck terror in the hearts of 205 pound fighters everywhere.

The Pride brass perhaps felt sorry for him, because they matched him softly for his next 2 fights, giving him relatively easy matches against Hirotaka Yokoi and Dong Sik Yoon.  He finished Yokoi in the first round but went the distance against Yoon.

Afterwards, he and the Pride organization brass couldn't agree on how much he should be paid for future fights.  So they went separate ways.  A fledgling mma promotion called the World Fighting Alliance (WFA) scooped him up, and paid him big money to face former UFC standout, Matt Lindland.  Rampage beat the Olympic wrestler, and even showed a glimpse of his old self when he slammed Lindland several times.

So Rampage had won 3 straight fights and was getting paid handsomely by the WFA.  Life was good.  And then it got better.  The UFC bought the WFA.  And they did it to get Rampage.

You see, in the years since Rampage had beaten Chuck Liddell, Liddell had made a comeback of his own.  In fact, he hadn't lost a fight since.  Chuck had knocked out Randy Couture twice, Tito Ortiz twice, and also finished Jeremy Horn, Vernon White and Renato "Babalu" Sobral.  He looked unbeatable.  And he wanted revenge.

So after just one fight in the UFC, Rampage was fighting for the Light Heavyweight championship of the world, against a man he had already beaten.

Though he had defeated Chuck in the past, many observers felt that things would turn out differently this time.  Remember, Chuck had looked unstoppable since their first fight, while Rampage had been finished three times since then.

But Rampage was ready.  In the first round, Chuck came out aggressively.  He threw a left hook to Jackson's body, but made a fatal mistake.  He left his hand low after the punch instead of rechambering it to help defend against a counter punch.  Rampage, having spent a great deal of time honing his boxing skills, reacted on instinct, and fired as good a right hook counter as you're likely to ever see in mma.  It hit Chuck square on the chin and dropped him.  Rampage followed him to the canvas, throwing punches as he went, and moments later the fight was stopped.

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson was on top of the world--champion of the biggest, most important mixed martial arts organization on the planet.

What was next for Rampage?  None other than Dan Henderson, another legend, and the only man to hold both the Pride 205 pound title and 185 pound title at the same time!  That's right.  When Zuffa purchased Pride, Dan Henderson held both titles.  In fact, in his last fight, Dan Henderson had knocked out Rampage's greatest enemy, Wanderlei Silva.

So when they faced each other on September 8th, 2007, they unified the Pride and UFC titles.  So, who walked away with the belts?  Rampage did.  It was a grueling affair, and it went all five rounds.  Both men did their best to knock the other man's head off, but neither man could finish the other.  After 25 minutes of combat, the judges gave the decision to Rampage.  Henderson thought he had done enough to win, but most viewers agreed that Rampage had earned the victory.

After the super fight with Henderson, the UFC matched Rampage against Forrest Griffin, winner of the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter (and perhaps the most important single fight in the history of modern mixed martial arts--the TUF finale against Stephan Bonnar, which is often credited for the UFC's rise to prominence).  Like Henderson, Griffin had defeated one of Rampage's conquerors.  But it wasn't Wanderlei Silva.  No, Griffin had welcomed Mauricio "Shogun" Rua to the UFC.  Shogun's arrival was one of the most hyped in the sport.  After crushing Rampage, Shogun had went on to win the 2005 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix.  He was the hottest 205 pounder in the world when he faced Griffin.  But he was coming off a layoff and an injury, and Griffin simply had more gas.  Rua couldn't put away the Ultimate Fighter, and Griffin, fighting the greatest fight of his life, choked him out in the third round.

Even with that win under his belt, few thought Griffin had the skills to beat Rampage.  In fact, most considered this match a "gimme" for Jackson--an easy win after enduring a brutal five round affair with Henderson.  But Forrest didn't fight like a man who expected to lose.  He slammed Rampage with leg kicks and kept him off balance for much of the fight.  Rampage did hurt Forrest though--almost knocked him out, in fact.  But Forrest survived and fought until the final bell.

Before the judges rendered their decision, I checked my scorecard, and then double checked it.  I had scored the fight for Rampage.  By one point.  However, I knew the fight had been close.  When Bruce Buffer cried, "and NEW Light Heavyweight Champion!" I can't say that I was shocked.  Of the two fighters, Griffin seemed to want it more.

And that is one of the constant knocks on Rampage--that he doesn't work hard enough.  That he doesn't care enough about himself and the sport to stay in shape, or to train like an absolute mad man.  Compare that to a champion like Georges "Rush" St. Pierre, who was always in shape, no matter if he was two weeks from a fight or two years from one.  Georges was a professional.  He took the sport seriously and put in the work to ensure that he was the best he could be on fight night.

Rampage, on the other hand, has almost missed weight on several occasions.  He fights at 205 pounds, but reports state that he walks around at closer to 230 pounds.  That's a ton of weight to cut.  Some would argue that he should be more mindful of his diet and of his cardio between fights; that way he's not killing himself during training camp to make weight.  After all, if a fighter's mind is on cutting weight, how well can he focus on important factors like strategy?

Regardless, on the night that Rampage lost to Forrest Griffin, it was obvious that he hadn't planned for Griffin's leg kicks.  This was a major tactical flaw.  Griffin had used leg kicks in many of his previous fights.  Even as Griffin slammed one after another into Rampage's thighs, Rampage seemed unable to adjust.  The most common leg kick defense is to "check" the kick.  That is, to raise your own leg off the ground and block the kick with your knee.  Chris Weidman famously broke Anderson Silva's leg in half when he checked Silva's kick.  Simply put, checks work.  Yet Rampage looked like he had no idea what one was.

Who knows?  Perhaps if he hadn't been so focused on cutting weight, Rampage may have made the time to practice checks during training camp.  A few solid checks could have completely changed the tone of their fight, forcing the brittle-chinned Griffin to stand and bang with the heavy-handed champion.

So after one title defense, Rampage was no longer the world champion.

Tune in next time to see how Rampage bounced back from that loss.  I'll give you a hint: he faced a familiar foe.

Until then.