Spring Break
Win or Go Home
Undefeated UFC stars Evans and Machida go toe-to-toe; Jackson will probably unleash "Rampage" on winner
Nick Hunte
Issue date: 5/13/09 Section: Sports
Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view events have been huge moneymakers, and UFC 98 potentially could have been one of them. When it was first announced that Quinton Rampage Jackson was injured and unable to fight light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans, I thought the main event of UFC 98 would never be the same. But I overlooked Evans' new opponent: Lyoto Machida.
All three of these fighters have killer instincts and are thirsting for domination, especially Jackson, whom is still fuming over his UFC 86 loss and losing the light heavyweight title to Forrest Griffin in one of the biggest upsets of 2008. After Jackson defeated Keith Jardine in UFC 96 in March, Jackson showed intensity that fired up the crowd. During his post-fight interview, when Joe Rogan asked Jackson when his plans were, he yelled, "I want my belt back!" Evans then got into Jackson's face both men had an intense stare-down. Afterward, Jackson grabbed the microphone and yelled, "There's gonna be some black-on-black crime!"
That animosity that Jackson and Evans had for each other during that encounter made that title match even more exciting. Their fight was originally scheduled for UFC 100, but when Frank Mir, who was scheduled to fight heavyweight champion Brock Lesner, sustained a knee injury, that fight was postponed and Jackson vs. Evans was moved up to UFC 98.
Jackson sustained torn ligaments in his jaw - which need surgery to repair - and was forced to withdraw from his title bout with Evans. After hearing this, I lost much interest in UFC 98, even after hearing that Machida will replace Jackson for the title match. The intensity and hatred that fueled this title match was gone.
Then again, I did not want to be ignorant and I watched more of Machida's fights and realized that he is actually a very skilled fighter with many different fighting styles. Machida is undefeated at 14-0 with four of those wins by knockout and two by submission.
Some of Machida's biggest victories were against Tito Ortiz, and most recently Thiago Silva in UFC 94. Machida has a mysterious fighting style consisting of shotokan karate, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and sumo, which confused many of his opponents. Machida will probably be Evans' toughest opponents and if he can avoid being knocked out cold like Evans did to Chuck Liddell in UFC 88 (which is still the most wicked MMA knockout I've ever seen) then he has a great chance at obtaining UFC gold.
Evans, who is undefeated at 13-0, has the ability to knock someone out with either a punch or kick so powerful that one would wonder if the opponent is still alive after sustaining such a hit. With five knockout wins and two submission wins, Evans needs to catch Machida off-guard if he wants to knock him out, which won't be an easy task.
I think this will be an exciting match-up and either fighter can win this title bout, but personally, I'm rooting for Evans simply because I still want to see him fight Jackson. After seeing Jackson and Evans talk trash face-to-face like they did at UFC 96, it's only right for UFC fans to see which one of them is for real and which one should shut up.
Evans has not been the fan favorite because of his attitude, and some fans even think Evans coming into UFC events in a suit is overkill. I think that's just pure class if you ask me. Between him and Jackson though, "Rampage" will be too much for Evans to handle.
I will always remember one of my favorite knockouts by Jackson back when he was with Pride in 2004 in Japan. Jackson lifted up his opponent Ricardo Arona from an attempted triangle hold and slammed him down via powerbomb; this knocked him out cold.
At UFC 98, something's got to give. Evans and Machida are both undefeated; whose hands will be raised up? I'm still going with Evans mainly because I want to see Jackson go on a "rampage" against his rival and win back his belt.
Nick Hunte can be reached at nhunte@statehornet.com
All three of these fighters have killer instincts and are thirsting for domination, especially Jackson, whom is still fuming over his UFC 86 loss and losing the light heavyweight title to Forrest Griffin in one of the biggest upsets of 2008. After Jackson defeated Keith Jardine in UFC 96 in March, Jackson showed intensity that fired up the crowd. During his post-fight interview, when Joe Rogan asked Jackson when his plans were, he yelled, "I want my belt back!" Evans then got into Jackson's face both men had an intense stare-down. Afterward, Jackson grabbed the microphone and yelled, "There's gonna be some black-on-black crime!"
That animosity that Jackson and Evans had for each other during that encounter made that title match even more exciting. Their fight was originally scheduled for UFC 100, but when Frank Mir, who was scheduled to fight heavyweight champion Brock Lesner, sustained a knee injury, that fight was postponed and Jackson vs. Evans was moved up to UFC 98.
Jackson sustained torn ligaments in his jaw - which need surgery to repair - and was forced to withdraw from his title bout with Evans. After hearing this, I lost much interest in UFC 98, even after hearing that Machida will replace Jackson for the title match. The intensity and hatred that fueled this title match was gone.
Then again, I did not want to be ignorant and I watched more of Machida's fights and realized that he is actually a very skilled fighter with many different fighting styles. Machida is undefeated at 14-0 with four of those wins by knockout and two by submission.
Some of Machida's biggest victories were against Tito Ortiz, and most recently Thiago Silva in UFC 94. Machida has a mysterious fighting style consisting of shotokan karate, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and sumo, which confused many of his opponents. Machida will probably be Evans' toughest opponents and if he can avoid being knocked out cold like Evans did to Chuck Liddell in UFC 88 (which is still the most wicked MMA knockout I've ever seen) then he has a great chance at obtaining UFC gold.
Evans, who is undefeated at 13-0, has the ability to knock someone out with either a punch or kick so powerful that one would wonder if the opponent is still alive after sustaining such a hit. With five knockout wins and two submission wins, Evans needs to catch Machida off-guard if he wants to knock him out, which won't be an easy task.
I think this will be an exciting match-up and either fighter can win this title bout, but personally, I'm rooting for Evans simply because I still want to see him fight Jackson. After seeing Jackson and Evans talk trash face-to-face like they did at UFC 96, it's only right for UFC fans to see which one of them is for real and which one should shut up.
Evans has not been the fan favorite because of his attitude, and some fans even think Evans coming into UFC events in a suit is overkill. I think that's just pure class if you ask me. Between him and Jackson though, "Rampage" will be too much for Evans to handle.
I will always remember one of my favorite knockouts by Jackson back when he was with Pride in 2004 in Japan. Jackson lifted up his opponent Ricardo Arona from an attempted triangle hold and slammed him down via powerbomb; this knocked him out cold.
At UFC 98, something's got to give. Evans and Machida are both undefeated; whose hands will be raised up? I'm still going with Evans mainly because I want to see Jackson go on a "rampage" against his rival and win back his belt.
Nick Hunte can be reached at nhunte@statehornet.com
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