Rashad Evans vs Lyoto Machida officially on

UFC President Dana White confirmed yesterday that Lyoto Machida will fight Rashad Evans for the light heavyweight title at UFC 98 on May 23. Rashad was supposed to fight Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, but Dana White said Jackson needs jaw surgery and wouldn't be ready for UFC 98.

I'm glad Lyoto Machida is finally getting a title shot, but it shouldn't have taken Rampage having to get jaw surgery for it to happen. Despite Machida's destruction of Thiago Silva, there are still a lot of haters who find him to be boring. I don't fall into that camp, so I'm just hoping he manages to beat Rashad in exciting enough fashion to win some people over. Machida doesn't get the respect he deserves by the UFC or by the MMA fans, but hopefully a light heavyweight title can change all that. And, if not, he can always resort to plan B: weeping in the corner while crying out, "Why won't they love me?!" Which, actually, doesn't sound like a very good plan.

Rashad Evans expects to fight Lyoto Machida

Despite the announcements at UFC 96 that Rashad Evans would fight Quinton "Rampage" Jackson for the title if Rampage managed to defeat Keith Jardine, it looks like it's going to be Lyoto Machida who finally gets the title shot. Sherdog reports:

"As I learned, 'Rampage' might need time off," Evans told the Sherdog Radio Network's "Beatdown" show on Monday. "It'll probably be Lyoto Machida, but I haven't gotten a confirmation on that."

"I don't know. I've just got that feeling," said Evans. "Just listening to him when we were in the ring talking he was kind of like, 'Yeah man you're lucky I wasn't 100 percent' and he started making excuses and I was thinking like it sounds like an excuse-fest is about to happen, so I know he ain't going to take no fight with me. He's making excuses now."

And on facing Lyoto Machida:

"The kid's been phenomenal," said Evans. "He's been better than phenomenal. He's been looking better every fight. But that's the fight business. That's the fun part about a fight is the fact that you go in there with an opponent that sometimes seems insurmountable. But then you figure it out and that makes the victory that much sweeter. With that said, there may be some kinks in his armor that I have yet to see that I can exploit when I look at the tapes more closely. Nobody's unbeatable. Machida's been looking slicker than I don't know what, but everybody has a weakness even if you do look slick as oil. Everyone has a weakness."

Ooh, this is exciting. I really hope this happens, because as much as I like Rashad and Rampage, I love Lyoto Machida. Hmm, maybe "love" isn't the right word here. What do you call it when you have a life sized cardboard cutout of somebody and a print of their face on your pillow case?

Dana White's UFC 96 Video Blog - 3/7/09

Here's Dana White's final video blog for UFC 96 filmed the day of the event. Highlights include Dana pounding on the Octagon trying to get Yves Lavigne to stop the Matt Brown/Pete Sell fight, and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson getting sucker punched in the balls. Dana also asks Rampage if he wants to take the Rashad Evans fight in May at UFC 98, though no definitive answer is given because Rampage just finished beating Keith Jardine. C'mon, Dana, at least wait until the guy has his pants back on. I'm surprised Dana didn't just jump into the Octagon during the fight and push Keith Jardine out of the way. "Get out of here, Jardine! Hey, Rampage, want to fight Rashad in May?"

Post UFC 96 thoughts: Rashad Evans' commentary

I wouldn't have guessed, but Rashad Evans is probably the best fighter commentator I've heard yet. And that's including Randy Couture. He was incredibly insightful and really showed the difference in mentality from a person who watches fights to a person who actually fights. I'm sure a lot of the insight came from the fact that he helped train Keith Jardine for Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, but it was extremely refreshing to hear. In addition to the very general (and also very entertaining) comments from Joe Rogan, you got a very detailed analysis of Jardine's gameplan. I felt like I was in his brain, and that's all thanks to Rashad Evans. For some reason the guy gets booed, but he's earned himself a tip of my hat. Oh yeah, and I guess Rashad Evans and Rampage Jackson are fighting for the title in May now at UFC 98. Poor Lyoto Machida. He should consider a new career in Never Ever Getting Title Shots. Because I think he would be very good at that job.

UFC 96 Picks: Rampage Jackson vs Keith Jardine

I'm going with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson on this one. Rampage has shown he's susceptible to takedowns and leg kicks, but Keith "The Dean of Mean" Jardine has shown he's susceptible to getting punched really hard in the head. And that's exactly what Rampage Jackson does very well. As long as Rampage doesn't give Jardine too much room to work and establish his very awkward and twitchy rhythm, Rampage's superior boxing should overwhelm. I say either Rampage wins by TKO, or Jardine pulls out the decision by outpointing with leg kicks and peppering jabs. It pretty much depends on how aggressive and confident Rampage is, though judging by his last performance neither should be an issue.

UFC 96: Quinton Rampage Jackson vs Keith Jardine pre-fight video

Here's some pre-fight footage of Quinton Rampage Jackson and Keith Jardine talking about their upcoming fight at UFC 96: Jackson vs Jardine. Pretty typical stuff here, "can't look past my opponent", "training hard", "yadda yadda yadda." Somebody needs to come up with some new pre-fight talk. Maybe break out into song and dance. Or do a magic trick. God, how I would love for a fighter to do a magic trick during their pre-fight interview.

Check out Keith Jardine's video after the jump.

Continue Reading "UFC 96: Quinton Rampage Jackson vs Keith Jardine pre-fight video"

Dana White explains Rampage-Jardine-Evans

Wonder why Rampage Jackson is fighting Keith Jardine instead of jumping straight into a title match against Rashad Evans as many had expected? Dana White explains the whole situation in an interview with FanHouse:

When do you think we'll see Lyoto Machida again and who might his opponent be? That's a good question. That's going to depend on how the light heavyweight fights shake out in the next couple of fights. Obviously, Keith Jardine and Rampage Jackson are fighting (at UFC 96). Rampage is next in line for a title shot.

Assuming he beats Jarinde?
Yeah, Rampage was supposed to fight Rashad Evans, and Rashad wasn't ready to fight. Rashad was just coming off the Forrest Griffin fight, he was all beat up, he wanted to take some time off, so Rampage said f**k it, I want to fight anyway. Give me another fight.

Rampage wants to keep fighting and stay active, which I love. I love guys like that. That's the way Chuck Liddell was, too. Chuck didn't want to wait for anything, he just wanted to keep fighting. People respect that. I think that's why Chuck became so big.

So Lyoto is in that top tier but we'll have to see how the other fights shake out before we'll know who he's going to fight next?
Yes.

I don't see why Rampage Jackson or Keith Jardine should get a shot at Rashad Evans before Lyoto Machida. At this rate I suspect he'll finally get a shot at the light heavyweight title when he's somewhere in his 80's.