Rashad Evans is Ready to Crack Rampage
“My mom’s on Rampage’s side. She’s cheering for Rampage. She’s always saying, ‘Ruuh-shawd, be nice to Rampage! He’s so funny!’ I’m like, ‘Ma, who cares if he’s funny?’ It didn’t bother me at first. It was kind of funny until I saw the last two episodes and then I got mad. I found myself getting hot and livid again because I was just thinking, ‘Man. I want to fight this dude so bad.’ I think that when we get a chance to fight, we’re still going to be upset and ready to get it on. That animosity is still going to be there, because we just don’t like each other. I could see him walk into a room and I start getting ready to throw down. The hair raises on the back of my neck because I know he’s going to say something. I just want to crack him.”
Yesterday Quinton “Rampage” Jackson announced that he would be coming back to the UFC to finish up his contract before moving onto movies. It seems obvious that one of his remaining fights will be against Rashad Evans who Rampage was supposed to fight before he left to film the A-Team remake.
Although the fight wont be taking place until sometime in 2010 Evans is wasting no time in promoting it. I myself can’t wait to see these two great light heavyweights throw-down sometime in the near future.
UFC 98 Fighters Salaries: Evans and Hughes Earn the Big Money
Image: MMA Fanhouse
UFC 98 took place this past weekend and despite the fact that many thought the card would be boring there were some surprisingly good fights. In the under-card the highest earner was Brock Larson who took home $21K to show and $21K for his win. That wasn’t all for Larson though, he also managed the extra $60K for ‘Submission of the Night’ with his first round arm triangle choke win.
Here is the full list of undercard earnings:
Brock Larson — $42,000
Mike Pyle — $15,000
Larson defeated Pyle via arm triangle choke in R1
Tim Hague — $10,000
Pat Barry — $7,000
Hague defeated Barry via guillotine choke in R1
Kyle Bradley — $8,000
Phillipe Nover — $10,000
Bradley defeated Nover via TKO (strikes) in R1
Krzysztof Soszynski — $16,000
Andre Gusmao — $5,000
Soszynski defeated Gusmao via TKO (strikes) in R1
Yoshiyuki Yoshida — $16,000
Brandon Wolff — $3,000
Yoshida defeated Wolff via guillotine choke in R1
George Roop — $16,000
Dave Kaplan — $8,000
Roop defeated Kaplan via split decision
Once the PPV portion got underway fans were in for quite a treat. We first got to see Frankie Edgar dismantle Sean Sherk and throw himself up into the top of the division. Shortly after that we got to see two great knockouts. One at the hands of Drew McFedries. McFedries defeated Xavier Foupas-Pokam via TKO due to referee stoppage just 37 seconds into the fight. Even though it was fast it just wasn’t as good as Lyoto Machida’s destruction of Rashad Evans. Never before have I seen such a quality drop of a fighter after being KO’d than the drop from Rashad Evans at UFC 98.
Here are the main event salaries for UFC 98:
Lyoto Machida — $140,000
Rashad Evans — $200,000
Machida defeated Evans via KO in round two
Matt Hughes — $200,000
Matt Serra — $75,000
Hughes defeated Serra via unanimous decision
Drew McFedries — $34,000
Xavier Foupas-Pokam — $6,000
McFedries defeated Foupas-Pokam via TKO (strikes) in round one
Chael Sonnen — $50,000
Dan Miller — $15,000
Sonnen defeated Miller via unanimous decision
Frank Edgar — $40,000
Sean Sherk — $40,000
Edgar defeated Sherk via unanimous decision
The earnings do not include taxes that must be paid, other bonuses the fighter might of earned or the fees that fighters pay out to their coaches. Also no sponsorship is taken into factor with these numbers. In the case of the fight winner who is BOLDED half of their winnings were for showing the other half for winning.
How Long Can Machida Last as Champion?
At UFC 98 Lyoto Machida became the fourth Light Heavyweight Champion within a year. It is one of the toughest divisions in the UFC with some great talent who are all just waiting to break into the lime-light.
Machida defeated Rashad Evans to take the title. It wasn’t just a lousy 5-round decision. Machida gave it his all in the second round to defeat the then undefeated Evans via KO. It was such a great KO on Machidas part as well which will certainly find it’s way onto the top 10 KO’s of 2009.
Will Machida be the first LHW champion since Quinton Jackson to successfully defend the belt? I would say that if Machida was to fight the way he did a few events back he would never be beat. Thing is though he has adapted to a more aggressive style as we saw on Saturday night. Even though it is not over the top aggressive like some other fighting styles, Machida is still giving his opponents more chances to hit him.
After his performance at UFC 98 I do believe that Machida will be able to defend the title against Rampage and maybe a few guys after that. In fact it wouldn’t be a big surprise if Machida was able to hold onto the title for a long period of time like training partner Anderson Silva.
Lyoto Machida Reigns Supreme in Light Heavyweight Showdown
Image: CombatLifestyle
In what has been one of the greatest main events in recent time Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida knocked out “Sugar” Rashad Evans in the second round to claim the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.
This fight in the minds of most people, including myself, was going to be a boring one to watch. It in fact turned out to be such a great fight.
In the first round both fighters were trying to find their rhythm, both were throwing short jabs and Machida connected with a few kicks. Rashad in the first round was dancing around in his usual fighting style. Towards the end of the first Machida connected with a kick and a short punch to knock Rashad Evans down to the mat. After throwing a few punches on the ground Sugar was able to quickly regain himself and stand up before the round came to a close.
In the second round there were a few segments where both fighters had it go their way with quick bursts of punches in bunches. The win came at the end of the round for Machida when he hit with a straight left and Rashad dropped. Machida kept throwing the punches on the ground until Rashad eventually stood back up. Unfortunately for Rashad the flurries would continue from Lyoto. A few seconds later Lyoto connected with a clean shot to the jaw of Rashad and that was it. It was all over. Lyoto Machida became the new Light Heavyweight Champion of the world.
This now marks the second Ed Soares fighter to hold a title within the UFC. Ed Soares is also the manager to UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. If Lyoto Machida can continue his success in the Octagon it may be a very long time until we see a new Light Heavyweight Champion.
I believe that the UFC will slap Rampage up against Lyoto Machida for his first title defence and that could be held on October 24th in Southern California. The SoCal event was announced by Dana White in the post fight press conference.
UFC 98 Fighters All Make Weight
Well, almost all of the fighters made weight. The only fighter who did not make weight was *Mike Pyle who was a last minute replacement and weighed in at 172lbs. Due to the lack of weight loss time and such a small amount of weight over Pyle will not be penalized by the UFC or NSAC. The full weigh-in results for UFC 98 are below:
- Rashad Evans (205) vs. Lyoto Machida (204)
- Matt Hughes (170) vs. Matt Serra (171)
- Xavier Foupa-Pokam (186) vs. Drew McFedries (185)
- Dan Miller (185) vs. Chael Sonnen (186)
- Frank Edgar (155) vs. Sean Sherk (156)
- Brock Larson (171) vs. Mike Pyle (172)*
- Pat Barry (237) vs. Tim Hague (263)
- Kyle Bradley (156) vs. Phillipe Nover (156)
- Andre Gusmao (206) vs. Krzysztof Soszynski (206)
- Brandon Wolff (170) vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida (171)
- George Roop (154) vs. David Kaplan (156)
UFC 98 is live tomorrow night. MMA-Live will bring you all of the post fight analysis after the event ncluding our own thoughts on everything that went down. Hope to see you all back here tomorrow night.
UFC 98 Pre-Fight Interviews
Rashad Evans vs. Lyoto Machida to be ‘one of bigest fights in UFC history’
“I don’t think it’s going to go to a decision; I don’t think it’s going to go to the score cards. I think this is one of those specialty fights that people should get interested in because this fight, technically, should be one of the biggest fights ever in UFC history.”
Lyoto Machida’s manager Ed Soares believes that the light heavyweight title defense next month at UFC 98 could be one of the greatest fights in UFC history. The chances of this being one of the greatest fights in UFC history are pretty slim if you ask me. Machida’s fighting style is not one to make a fight exciting. For any fight to be exciting to all fans both opponents should attack each other. Machida tends to retreat and wait for an opening.
Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans Smack Talk Video UFC 96
Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans Smack Talk Video UFC 96
UFC 96 Event Recap and My Thoughts On A Few Things
UFC 96 Event Recap
The undercard for UFC 96 did not lack in finishes. Only one bout went to the decision and that was Jason Brilz vs. Tim Boetsch. Brilz ended up winning that fight via unanimous decision.
Brandon Vera has himself back to winning ways after defeating Mike Patt via TKO in round 2.
One thing that should be pointed out is that according to Joe Rogan himself “Aaron Riley got robbed.” Apparently the local referee was too quick in stopping the bout. Here is Rogan’s Tweet
Onto the main card… First fight of the night Gray Maynard vs. Jim Miller. A fairly good fight apart from the odd few moments where there would be no action and the crowd would boo. Maynard was controlling the last few moments of the fight on the ground and with a minute left began to unload a few punches. With around 30 seconds left the fight went back to standing. The bout went to a decision where. All 3 judges scored the bout 30-27. This bout put an end to the 8 fight win streak Miller had achieved over the past couple of years. Overall it was a good fight from both fighters.
Matt Hamill knocked Mark Munoz clean out. What a kick. I didn’t think Hamill had it in him still. Good show though by him in front of his home-town crowd. I don’t think it can be topped for KO of the night bonus.
After the Hamill fight Mir made an appearance to talk about his surgery and the reasons for moving the fight. For those that don’t know, the fight has been moved to UFC 100. Rashad Evans then came on to tell fans his first title defense will be at UFC 98.
Matt Brown scored the win over Pete Sell (T)KO 1:32 in the first round. During the post fight interview Brown showed great respect for Sell.
Carwin remains undefeated after knocking Gonzaga out. Gonzaga looked to have the fight in the bag in the opening seconds with a right hand that staggered Carwin. Things would change though. Carwin regained himself got back to the feet and knocked Gonzaga out. It was a quick fight with a quick turnaround. Carwin is now 11-0 in MMA and will be moving on to some of the big named heavyweight fighters in the UFC now.
Best sign ever prior to the intros’, “Dean of Mean will be creamed.” I thought for sure that Buffer’s voice was going to go out during the introduction of Rampage. Jardine did the Greg Jackson nipple tweak and the fight got underway. I like how Jardine fights but every now and again he looks like an old man fending off a Chihuahua. Midway through the second round Rampage knocked Jardine down. The fight didn’t stop though, Jardine survived the onslaught. At the end of the second round the fight turned into a brawl as Jardine gained some distance throwing multiple combos. Jardine became extremely hurt towards the end of the fight but continued to throw. Rampage knocked Jardine down 5 seconds from the end but it wasn’t enough to finish him off. Rampage took the bout via unanimous decision.
After the fight there was a stare down/smack talk session between Rampage and Rashad. Only a couple of months to go before that fight now, can’t wait.
I thought this event was amazing considering I didn’t really want to pay for a lackluster card. It was in the end well worth the money. I wish every event was like UFC 96. Someone please grant my wish!!!
UFC 92 Event Recap, Rashad Evans vs. Forrest Griffin
Thanks for the image CombatLifestyle.com
Rashad Evans vs. Forrest Griffin got the fight of the night bonus from the UFC for it’s amazing action. The bout ended in the third round resulting in a new champion for one of the most saturated divisions in MMA.
Rashad Evans came out to the ring his usual self, no nipple tweak this time around though. He looked extremely confident and his striking within the ring showed it. Forrest also looked pretty confident in his abilities to retain the belt, that wasn’t the way it went down though.
The first round could of gone either way on the judges score cards, both fighters did good with their striking and Octagon movement. The second round I would have to say went to Forrest Griffin due to the amazing start he got off to, and he proved not to be phased by Rashad’s crotch grab.
Then came the third round Rashad took control and controlled Forrest on the ground. He was in Griffin’s guard, stood up and then unleashed a world of pain on Griffin. It wasn’t that long until the bout had to be stopped and a new UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion was crowned.
My Thoughts: It was an awesome fight and really did deserve fight of the night from the UFC. Both fighters got an extra $60,000 for it. Before the fight I really wasn’t sure who I thought would win. Rashad has some amazing punching power and great wrestling skills and then there’s Forrest the fighter that has come so far since his Ultimate Fighter 1 win over Steven Bonnar.
My Rating: I would give the fight a 5/5 it was everything I expected to see. Rashad for winning the title also gets himself a 5/5 and I would give Griffin a 4/5 for his opening two round efforts.
Meaning on the Division: Well there is a new champion in Rashad Evans. The UFC will be looking for a challenger and right now, (pending on his legal issues) Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is looking like the man. That could also cause some people to question why he wouldn’t have to go through Forrest Griffin first. I think that would be the best option, a rematch between Rampage and Griffin could draw some good numbers.
Here’s a title fight for you, Lyoto Machida vs. Rashad Evans. Two guys that have never lost a fight, a classic one ‘0′ must go fight. Many people say Machida is a boring fighter, really he is just cautious and looking for the opportunities.