May 29th at the MGM Garden in Las Vegas Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (30-7) is facing “Suga” Rashad Evans (19-1-1) with the winner getting a shot at the newly crowned champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (19-4). The two have been gunning for each for awhile, according to Rampage the feud stems back to 2004 when Rashad faced Hector Ramirez. Rampage says that Evans disrespected his protege by showboating after Ramirez suffered torn ligaments in his right ankle early in the first round, which pissed off Rampage. Their next run in was at UFC 96 when Rampage defeated Evans training partner Keith Jardine by unanimous decision. Following the fight, Evans entered the cage and the talking began as they stood nose to nose throwing verbal jabs towards one another.
Tag Archives: UFC 114
Rampage versus Evans grudge match
The UFC Fan Expo Returns
The weekend of UFC 100 last year proved to be a milestone for the UFC and MMA. Not only was UFC 100 the biggest event in UFC history, but the debut of the UFC Fan Expo was a huge success leading up to the historic night. Due to the success last year, the Mandalay Bay Convention Center will hold the second annual UFC Fan Expo again this year on Friday May 29th and Saturday May 30th, leading up to UFC 114 Saturday night when TUF 10 coaches “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans finally face off. What do you have planned for that weekend?
Brilz steps up; Jones climbing the steps.
The Co-main event between Forrest Griffin and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 114 was scrapped yesterday due to shoulder injury to Griffin. Jason Brilz on three weeks notices will be stepping in to face lil Nog but the fight will likely be moved down off the co-main event status. Another light Heavyweight fight announced was up and comming star Jon Jones versus the veteren Vladimir Matyushenko at the UFC on Versus 2. This left many fans wondering why Joe Silva would not match the two explosive strikers together (little Nogueira and Bones Jones) and the two wrestling based fighters (Brilz and Matushenko). I am actually fond of the matchups, and believe it’s the UFC thinking with their head and building up new fighters on a tear before letting them take a swim with the top sharks of the division.
MMA Valor – Random Thoughts
The last several days news has been dropping like crazy. When this happens we like to review many of these topics in one single post.
- Martin Kampmann has been forced to withdraw from his UFC 111 match with Ben Saunders due to a nasty facial cut above his right eye. Click the link but be warned its pretty nasty http://bit.ly/d8G6IA. Jake Ellenberger has stepped in for Kampmann and will face Ben Saunders at UFC 111.
- Chael Sonnen is running for Oregon state Representative, following in Matt Linland’s footsteps. ~ The guy is talking about a title shot with Anderson Silva yet he also wants to be in politics. To beat Silva he will need to focus 100% on MMA and not 60/40 between MMA & politics.
Griffin vs. Nogueira at UFC 113
Following wins by light heavyweight’s Forrest Griffin and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 106 a match between the two seem so logical. Griffin always likes the high risk/high reward type fights like when he fought Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Anderson Silva. Nogueira will want the quickest path to the top and Griffin’s name value and past champion status is a great opportunity along that path. Sometimes the logical thing does happen in MMA as these two are set to fight May 8th at UFC 113 according to MMAJunkie & MMAweekly.
