(In retrospect, eating that gallon of chili before the fight was probably a bad idea. / Photo courtesy of MMA Fighting.)
Sorry for the delay on this one, dear readers — the Potato Index was waiting on its customary bribe from the UFC before it could give favorable rankings to the fighters at "Rampage vs. Evans." Now that the check has cleared, we're ready to roll. So who went from zero to hero? And who went from classy to gassy?
Rashad Evans+125 Sugar's measured, wrestling-based gameplan didn't exactly transform the haters into fans, but he achieved something a lot more important — he beat an arch-rival and stayed relevant. Rampage can keep his legion of devotees; Rashad is getting a title shot against Shogun, so eat it.
Quinton Jackson-150 Except for his brief blast in the third round, Quinton was just too slow and too predictable. Ring rust was obviously an issue; still, we're more concerned about Jackson's ongoing unwillingness to do anything other than box. Those who don't evolve in this sport are destined to get their asses dug by hungrier competitors. Rampage's days as an elite light-heavyweight may be numbered.
("This is bullshit, I'll be in my trailer. Somebody come get me when craft services arrives.")
Before Rashad Evans restored order to the universe by outmaneuvering and out-grappling Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the main event, UFC 114 turned out to be a surprisingly good night for guys sporting what might charitably be described as the “man on the street” build. A dumpy Mike Russow and a doughy Jason Brilz each turned in the evening’s most interesting performances, for different reasons.
Brilz, who stepped in on short notice for an injured Forrest Griffin, got flat-out screwed in dropping a split decision loss to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira after clearly winning at least two rounds of their fight. Russow, on the other hand, spent almost three full periods letting Todd Duffee use his face for target practice before he calmly clicked Duffee’s off switch with a lucky right midway through the final round.
It’s a shame the UFC doesn’t award a bonus for “Most Obvious Post-Fight Comment,” because the winner certainly would’ve been Russow, who (without a hint of irony) told Joe Rogan: “I need to get back in the gym,” during their in-ring interview, after Rogan called his KO of Duffee “the best come-from-behind, one-punch knockout in (MMA) history.”
("I dare you to open your mouth, Rashad. Just give me one reason to tell you yo breff stank." Photo courtesy of the UFC 114: Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.)
It's been a long time coming. Tonight in Las Vegas, after sixteen-and-a-half years of promoting fights, the UFC is putting on its very first event headlined by two African-American competitors. It's a historic moment that speaks volumes about the development of the sport in this country, as well as the shifting attitudes toward...oh, who the hell am I kidding, THERE'S GONNA BE SOME BLACK ON BLACK CRIME!!!!!
Tonight's lineup features the grudge-iest of grudge matches between TUF 10rival coaches Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Rashad Evans, in a fight that will most likely determine the UFC's next light-heavyweight title contender. Also: Michael Bisping battles Dan Miller in the co-main, Todd Duffee gets his long-awaited second course, Lil' Nog toys with late-replacement Jason Brilz, and Diego Sanchez returns to familiar welterweight haunts against tough British prospect John Hathaway. But first, Spike TV gives us a couple of guaranteed bangers in their Prelims broadcast. Round-by-round UFC 114 results will be piling up after the jump, beginning at 9 p.m. ET. Hit refresh every few minutes for all the latest, and pass the wings, bitch, because it's about to pop off...
With just a few hours left before they actually climb into the cage, there is not much more to say about the UFC 114 bout between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans that hasn’t already been written and rewritten by MMA scribes, or said by the fighters themselves. Said, and then repeated … then repeated again while standing uncomfortably close to each other. Indeed, after wasting so much of our time with their ridiculous (and repetitive) trash talk during the past few months, these two dudes better fucking bring it tonight.
Instead of adding to the mountainous pile of terrible clichés already being used to describe this fight – i.e. “it’s time to let their fists do the talking!” as the radio ad airing in my town declares -- as a final look at this odd coupling, I offer just a few numbers that characterize each man’s career up to this point.
Just a reminder that we will be streaming the weigh-ins for UFC 114: Rampage vs. Evans live at 7pm ET.
There's a rumor swirling around that Rashad is having trouble cutting the last few pounds and had to pass on a planned interview with the Jim Rome show.
(There's only one song that can put Rashad Evans in the proper headspace before a fight: Lee DeWyze's cover of "Beautiful Day." Photoprops: allelbows.)
We're going to try a little something different for this week's H2H column. Instead of going through all the MMA FightPicker questions for UFC 114, we're just going to cover a handful of them, and pepper in a few questions that Mike Russell has generously pulled out of his ass. (By the way, have you joined a FightPicker pool yet for this weekend? Because you really should. No, really. No, seriously.) Check out our analysis of Saturday night's card below, and make sure to come back tomorrow for our always-entertaining liveblog of the fights, starting with the Spike TV prelims broadcast at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT. And let's begin...
Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans @ UFC 114: Who will win? MR: I'm picking Evans. I just think that Rashad's wrestling and conditioning will be too much for Rampage. The fact that we never saw Quinton without a shirt on, that it's rumored he was smoking like a chimney while on the set of The A-Team and that his face looks like Anthony Anderson's makes me bet against him. BG: Yeah, I have Evans by decision for this one. Besides the conditioning disadvantage, Rampage has become such a one-dimensional boxer in his last fights. He could always catch Rashad with a knockout punch, but he's not going to present anything that will surprise Evans.
Will they quash their beef after the fight? MR: No. If anything, I can see them having to be restrained by their corners when it's all over. If Rashad wins, he'll likely not be respectful on the mic, but if Rampage has his hand raised he'll go off about how Rashad pissed him off and he had to teach him a lesson. BG: For the most part, Rashad has that Team Jackson martial-artist-respect thing going on. If he wins, I think he'll shout out Rampage as a great fighter who he has a ton of admiration for — even if it's just to make himself look like the bigger man.
It's fight week for Rampage and Rashad, which means it's time to make final preparations in body and mind, and get those last insults in. The third episode of their UFC Primetime mini-series aired yesterday after TUF, and you can watch the first half above, in case you missed it. Some highlights:
- The notorious media call where Rashad accuses Rampage of putting on a "minstrel show" and acting dumb for the amusement of the fans.
- Rashad gets in some Olympic-caliber workouts with Jonathan Chaimberg, and does a very unflattering impression of Rampage shouting "HE'S DEAD."
- Rampage spends some daddy-time with his two youngest kids.
- Trevor Wittman puts together a dinner for some of the Grudge Sports guys, and presents Rashad with a pencil drawing he made of him. Pretty impressive for a guy who's self-taught. (I'm assuming those skills didn't come from any sort of accredited art school.)
("Your mama's so big, I had to walk three blocks and turn left to get on her good side")
Just a friendly reminder that we will be streaming the UFC 114 presser here today at 4:00 ET. Should be more of the same Rampage and Rashad bickering like an old married couple, insulting each other's mamas and chins.
"I hate it. I hate it so bad, I can't even tell you how bad I hate it. I'm so mad at Rampage over this. Rampage is a guy that we've obviously taken under our wing the last few years. We really like him and have done a lot of good things for him. For him to do this to me, and pull out and do this goofy A-Team movie, I'm not happy about it at all...You're gonna be a huge bonafide movie star with one role? They're not paying him jack. Okay? He's giving up literally millions of dollars to play Mr. T. If you think he's gonna go in and say 'I pity the fool' and he's gonna become a huge serious actor off that role, give me a friggin' break...
"I'm mad at Rampage right now. Rampage is somebody that I consider a friend, and he put me in a bad position. I'm not happy about it. He hurt himself, he hurt us. Sometimes, seriously, you gotta save these guys from themselves. What he's doing makes no sense whatsoever, so we'll see how this whole thing plays out and what happens, but I'm mad at him, I don't even want to talk to him right now. Lorenzo's talking to him, not me."
After making a solid profit on Heavy Artillery, the Gambling Enabler is ready to let it ride on UFC 114. Are you ready? Or are you too chickenshit to claim what's yours in this life? Seriously, if you don't have the balls to make hypothetical online wagers on UFC fights, then LEAVE NOW BECAUSE WE DON'T WANT YOU. Odds are only being offered on seven matches from the #114 card, but that's enough to make us a little cash, so lets take a look at the numbers courtesy of MMAMoneyline...
Rashad Evans (-115) vs. Quinton Jackson (+105) Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (-540) vs. Jason Brilz (+375) Michael Bisping (-185) vs. Dan Miller (+160) Todd Duffee (-430) vs. Mike Russow (+325) Diego Sanchez (-220) vs. John Hathaway (+185) Amir Sadollah (-130) vs. Dong Hyun Kim (+120) Efrain Escudero (-400) vs. Dan Lauzon (+350)
"Athletically, I'm pretty much where I'm gonna be — I'm 24, I'm probably in the prime physical peak of my life — it's the mental side of the game that I really have to develop and work on."
So says Todd Duffee (6-0), the impressive-looking heavyweight prospect who has acquired just seven seconds of professional MMA experience since 2008. Duffee's blitz of Tim Hague at UFC 102 caught the attention of the MMA world, but his momentum was doused due to a back injury suffered in November. Now, the Xtreme Couture member is set to make his long-awaited Octagon return on the main card of UFC 114 against Mike Russow (12-1, 1 no-contest).
Both guys are known as finishers: Duffee has defeated all of his opponents by KO/TKO, with just one fight making it out of the first round. Russow's unanimous decision win against Justin McCully at UFC 102 broke a seven-fight streak of stoppage victories, all of which came in the first two rounds. And yet, all of the heat is on the side of the 24-year-old. As he told UFC.com: “Here we have one of the most over-hyped fighters going against one of the most underrated in the heavyweight division. I am highly hyped. Am I overrated? I don’t think so. But I’ve been over-hyped by that seven-second knockout."
We're about to find out if the Duffee-hype is justified. Russow will be an incredibly tough opponent, and a noticeable step up in competition. But if Duffee juggernauts his way through him, will anybody be that surprised?
("I dare you to open your mouth, Rashad. Just give me one reason to tell you yo breff stank." Photo courtesy of the 
