Rampage Jackson vs Rashad Evans

Rashad Evans beat Rampage Jackson by unanimous decision. In the first round Rashad badly hurt Rampage, but was unable to finish him of. It went against the cage most of the time with Rashad having the advantage and scoring a beautiful picture perfect takedown. In Round 2 they trade off and end up against the fence, with the last time resulting in a seperation by Herb Dean. After all Rashad takes this round as well, leaving Rampage behind 2:0. In round 3 Rampage catches Rashad with a hard punch that leaves him wobbling and he takes him to the ground, is unable to finish it though and gives Rashad enough time to recover. After a brief recovery Rashad takes down Rampage and starts some nasty ground and pound at the end of the round. You could give this round to each of the athletes or call it a draw, as both fighters did good damage(is there something like good damage?), but none of them was able to finish it. The bell ends the fight, leaving Rashad looking better while Rampage seems to have little gas left in his tank. The judges give the fight to Rashad, which is more than justified.

Rashad was quicker and came in better prepared with a good gameplan that luckily did not look like lay and pray and was better entertainment than expected. Good fight, both fighters show a lot class at the end, especially Rampage who gives Rashad credit for the win and asks for a rematch. It's time to watch the A-Team now, B.A. would go down like this I can tell. We pity the fool's who bet against Rashad and his team.

That's what the people thought who visited this site!

• 52% Rashad Evans
• 41% Rampage Jackson
• 7% one of them pulls out

And as you can see, 52% were right.

Read on for the pre-fight evaluation:

MMA might not be dog fighting, but for this fight, there has been so much barking involved, no picture could be better fit than two dogs fighting. Starting even before the casting show "The Ultimate Fighter 10 - The heavyweights" those two guys have been trash talking about how they want to beat up each other for eternity. Wether it's to sell their fight, or due to some serious relationship problems between those two who could use a marriage counselor, UFC 114 Rampage vs Evans is sheduled for 02010-05-29 May 29, 2010 in Las Vegas.

Pure entertainment? Violent behavior? Maybe. TUF had Rampage losing almost every fight and looking like someone who is better known for his pranks than his coaching abilities, while Evans seemed to care more about both teams and went to the opposing figthers when they lost to his fighters. It was a strange season to say the least. The heated atmosphere between those two fighters was close to exploding to create another universe, yet nothing happend. And that's what probably will happen in this fight: not much.

Meet Mr. Quinton Jackson

Rampage hasn't entered the octagon for over a year and did not look too stellar against Keith Jardine in his last fight, even though the fight won fight of the night. He was busy shooting the A-Team and training in England. So the mystical ring-rush might be an issue. Who did not love the pride Rampage and his powerful slams? Hopefully he proves that he is worth a 6 fight extension. His name is as he co-stars one of this summers Blockbusters, but is his desire to fight still there? Some of his interviews indicate that it is not.

Say Hello to Rashad Evans

After all this talk, does this make Suga a favorite? I don't think so. Sure he dominated Thiago Silva not. He had good wrestling, had him under control, but did not look really impressive. Just like Rampage. If their last fights are indicators for the entertainment, we better hope that their intentions to commit "black on black" crime will motivate them a tan bit more. Not to take anything away from those two fighters, it might turn out awesome and hopefully it will be a great fight, but there has been too much talking before. It's possible that they won't back it up.

Who has the edge in this?

It's probably a good coinflip. There is a two year age difference, which won't be a factor. There are loads of hardcore Rampage fans who think he will rip through Suga, but Suga still has 14-1-1 and those fights were not against cans, while Jackson has 30-7 and you have to ask which toll those knees to the head in pride took. Let's have a look at the fighters both fought: Both won against Chuck Liddell, Rampage lost to Griffin while Evans defeated him. Both fighters seem to have lost to better opponents in their prime, Rampage lost twice to Wanderlei in Pride and finally defeated him in the UFC. Suga lost to Machida with a brutal knockout. Ramage was K.O.ed by Shogun Rua, who now defeated Machida (twice as some might say). So, both fighters have a history of losing to great fighers and are not unbeatable. Rampage has more experience, Suga took less punishment during his career. Rampage fought at heavyweight and is supposed to be stronger. Evans probably has faster hands and a slight speed advantage, yet has less range. Both have a good background in wrestling making the all-state team. Ramapge is a bit taller and has a reach advantage.

Training Camps

Rampage is training in England at Wolfslair with the likes of Michael Bisbing, Cheick Kongo and Paul Kelly, all good fighters, but none of them a champion. Suga on the other hand has one of the best training camps available with Jackson's Submission Fighting. Greg Jackson seems to be one of the greatest coaches out there as he is producing title contenders and prospects en masse. Right now he trains the interim heavyweight Shane Carwin, the welterweight titelholder George St. Pierre and loads of interesting fighters including Keith Jardine (who was beaten by Rampage) and fellow light heavyweight and promising rising star of the future Jon Bones Jones. Just by looking at the potential training partners Evans probably has the better camp.

If Rampage wins, there is Shogun waiting for him, someone who already beat the shit out of him in Pride. If Rashad wins there is Shogun waiting for him, someone who beat the shit out of someone who KOed Rashad in the second round. To make a long story short, those guys are awaited by the titleholder who happens to be the best light heavyweight in the world and who delivers pain- even though soccer kicks are not allowed anymore.

This fight as close to a coinflip as it can get. While Rampage has some advantages resulting from his physique, it's pretty obvious that Rashad has quite a few advantages from training partners and preparation. Jardine even fought against Jackson before. Adding into this is the simple fact that Rashad is not the weak loser some fans of Rampage want him to be. Given all those insights it seems pretty astonishing that Rampage is a favorite over Rashad at this point. The reason behind this is probably Jackson's leading role in the A-team, giving him the more popular name. Unless something like an injury happens during training, we favor Rashad Evans to win the fight, even though it could go both ways.