The long-awaited, once-delayed rivalry fight between Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Rashad Evans is now signed, sealed and soon-to-be delivered to UFC 114 in Las Vegas.The UFC today officially announced the bout, which was originally supposed to be contested back at UFC 107.
The bout takes place on May 29 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Jackson and Evans were the coaches on season 10 of "The Ultimate Fighter," and were supposed to meet at the show's conclusion before Jackson stepped aside to take a role in the upcoming, big-budget action movie, The A-Team, in which he'll reprise the B.A. Baracus role made famous by Mr. T.
Soon after, Jackson said he'd retire rather than fight again in the UFC, citing his dissatisfaction with the company's reaction to his decision to take the role, among other things. Evans instead took on Thiago Silva at UFC 108 and earned a unanimous decision victory.
By the time Jackson steps into the ring, he will have been out of the UFC octagon for over 14 months. His last appearance was at UFC 96 in March 2009, when he won a decision over Keith Jardine.
Not surprisingly, the UFC is already playing up the renewed feud.
"I really want to knock this guy out," Jackson said in a UFC press release announcing the fight. "I've never, ever wanted to knock someone as cold as I want to knock Rashad Evans out. He's disrespected me so much, for so long. I am so motivated to train my ass off. I've moved my coaches into my house already - Rashad should be prepared to see a brand new Rampage in May. I saw him in Sydney a few weeks back and we picked up right where we left off. I can't stand him. He's a disrespectful person and I didn't even want to beat Wanderlei as much as I want to beat this guy."
Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Please oh please KO Rashad!!
Hopefully Rashad will win just because Rampage is a deuche
HEY RAMPAGE IS NOT A DEUCE YOU ARE!!
this card is actually pretty weak. rampage should be fighting shogun or machida for the belt. i don't think rampage rally ever lost his title as the lhw champ and am still annoyed that ufc is using him just for his namepower to sell ppv's. he's gonna smash rashad. it'll be all hyped up, and the fight itself isn't worth $50, and seeing forrest gump get ko'd again isn't that exciting anymore either. for real.
i can't wait till rampage is finished working for ufc and signs with strikeforce. when people cry about sf having no depth at lhw, try saying that when its mousasi vs rampage for the sf lhw belt. you's are gonna have your foot stuck in your mouths.
WOW piprocks666 I actually thought you were saying something right until you once again had to talk about strikeforce AGAIN. dude get off stikeforce's nuts.
For those wondering about the UFC 114 card, these are the rumored match-ups
# Forrest Griffin vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
# Diego Sanchez vs. John Hathaway
# Michael Bisping vs. Dan Miller
# Amir Sadollah vs. Dong Hyun Kim
# Aaron Simpson vs. Chris Leben
# Efrain Escudero vs. Dan Lauzon
# Melvin Guillard vs. Thiago Tavares
# Cyrille Diabate vs. Luiz Cane
# Todd Duffee vs. Mike Russow
# Joe Brammer vs. Aaron Riley
and Rampage verses Shad. I don't think it's a bad card. We get an epic main event (great grudge match. I hope Page KO's Suga), Rogerio vs. Forrest (Rogerio by KO!), Bisping vs. Miller (pretty evenly matched), a Todd Duffe fight!!, The Snake vs. Luiz Cane (i'm a fan of Diabate), Diego re-entering at 170, Amir vs. Stun Gun...these are good fights man.
Also, I'm a big Page fan, so I follow his twitter (yes nerd.) The UFC just bought him a car. I honestly think he'll bury his beef with Dana. I don't think he'll move to Strikeforce.
also agree with martdogg...Strikeforce Strikeforce Strikeforce Strikeforce Strikeforce Strikeforce Strikeforce Strikeforce Strikeforce Strikeforce Strikeforce Strikeforce Strikeforce Strikeforce Strikeforce Strikeforce Strikeforce Strikeforce Strikeforce Strikeforce
piprocks is totally right though page will bounce to s/f after this for sure he has nothing left to prove he's gonna go and be treated the way fedor and brock are...shad is gonna get smashed
I don't care what Rampage does between UFC and SF as long as the kicks the sh!@ out of Rashad. It would be nice to see him have a shot at the UFC title after this fight, but if he leaves he'll have a good home there.
After watching The ultimate fighter and seeing how rampage treated everyone including his own team, I HOPE RASHAD GET'S THE KO!!!!!!!!!!
But , everyone has their own opinon, right?
agreed!
If Rampage is motivated, he'll destroy Evans, but I agree with Piprock, card is not ppv material. Strikeforce card (FREE) blows it away.You tell me who is catering to the mma fans
i dnk it's not ppv material i mean it's definally a great card though i mean i believe adit through the match ups out there what more could you possibly want in a ppv a great prospect in duffe,pretty even fight with bisbitch and dan miller even match up,griffin vs lil nog is a great co main event it's better than daley koscheck thats for sure,and the main event we've all been waiting for the grude match between my boy page and shad...strike force has nodoubt spoiled us with this 3 title might card coming up i got that and if the 3 title fight card was on the same day as the wec ppv i wouldn't be seeing the ppv live i'd be watching after the strike force broadcast...
A pissed off Rampage will be a tough fight for Rashad, but Rashad is a smart fighter and should come with a good plan- as he did against Silva.
pip, my friend,
i am going to give you my opinion here, and yes i could be wrong.....however, here it is and it is what my educated intiution tells me:
page is a phoney.
him, not the ufc, has manufactured a persona for the public to buy.
he, not the ufc, has done an awesome job of creating his own hype.
like he is this animal badass.
well, fact is, he is good...not great.
and he knows it.
he was the one that passed on the opportunity to fight machida.
but, let's not conjecture...let's look at the facts---let's examime his ufc career:
win - UFC 67 - 2/3/2007 he ko'd marvin eastman....eastman since then has lost 6 of 9 fights.
win - UFC 71 - 5/26/2007 tko of chuck liddell....liddell since then lost 3 of 4.
win - UFC 75 - 9/8/2007 went 5 rounds with hendo for a unanimous decision
loss - UFC 86 - 7/5/2008 5 round decision loss to forrest griffin
win - UFC 92 - 12/27/2008 ktfo of vandy
win - UFC 96 - 3/7/2009 3 round unanimous decision of "the dean of mean", and eventhough i like jardine, the fact is he also has lost his last 2 fights and has only won 1 of his last 5 fights.
so, basically, the only time he fought an up-n-comer...he lost.
where is the impressiveness of him being such a bada**?
now, don't get me wrong...he matches up really well against rashad. i'll actually be shocked if rashad...does find a way... "not"... to get knocked out.
my point is, put page in against any other real contender and he will lose.
anderson will absolutely destroy him. as would mousasi.
page is a phoney....seemingly, along the lines of lashley. he will only accept a fight he really thinks/knows he will win.
and the only way he is running, off, to sf is, as a loser.
so don't be so quick to bask in his glory and believe the manufactured hype of mr. badass. because he ain't all that.
and believe it or not, he used to be my favorite fighter...when he was in pride. it also coincides with him finding god (as if he was lost, god that is) and becoming born again. unfortunately, to me, he became a born again phoney.
so eventhough, i don't think he has much of a shot against page, i'll be rooting for shad.
well, that's my pov...does it make any sense to you?
wait,wait,wait!neozoo to much INFO!
Let me make my point here,Since evans had beaten my hero thaigo silva, I want rampage to kick his ***!
How can you possibly use a 5 out of 6 fight win record to expose a fighter's inability to compete. I find your logic lacking.
Hrmm . . I really like both fighters, but I've stuck with Rashad since TUFII, and I'm not about to turn my back on him now. He's back to being the underdog in a fight, big deal. He wasn't even supposed to beat Chuck, no less win the title, or even win TUF. The man comes through time and time again and I don't see this one being any different. Rampage is no Machida; Slow and powerful compared to deceptive and cerebral. Obviously Rampage presents other difficulties besides his power, like his excellent counter punching and take down defense, but Rashad is, as in every fight (besides the Machida bout) much faster. His punches won't be as clean as Rampage's, but he has much more in his arsenal than Page does.
People that say Shad'll be KOed, end of story, are silly. Both have proven to have rock hard chins and can go three rounds with ease. This is Fight of the Year stuff right here . . . if both come in tip-top, of course. But I give it to Rashad, round two, by ground 'n' pound/TKO ^_^
shorty,
nice to see you again, great post and great breakdown between the two.
there is just one difference....now.
and that is, basically the reason people think he will be ko'd, sadly, including me.
you say both have rock hard chins. well, unfortunately, i gotta disagree with you. shad has seemingly overnight, developed a soft jaw...i won't say glass.
but, like i say i will still be rooting my ass off for shad.
post more, you've got great insights and are always a pleasure to chat with.
Heh, I try. Most of my stuff gets buried under mountains of crap, so I tend to frequent the NBA section now lol. But thanks man. As far as Rashad having a soft jaw, I don't agree. The only person to KO him was Machida, and that was after a few good licks. Thiago Silva made him bobble a bit in their fight, but he was never in any serious danger. Both of these guys have been knocked out, but Rampage has been put down more times than Rashad. In the end I don't see too big a distinction between their chins, but that's just my two cents.
this is gona G a great fight. both fighters are gud at wat they do but mi money going on Rampage Jackson