Quinton Jackson

On September 8th, 2007 in London, England two of the best 205lb mixed martial artists in the world will meet and unify the Pride and UFC light heavyweight title belts. Dan "Hollywood" Henderson and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson are at the top of their respective games, but who has the better game?

Quinton Jackson was relatively unknown to UFC fans before he joined the organization. Jackson's first test was against the always tough Marvin Eastman. While Marvin put up a good fight, Quinton eventually out struck and out muscled Eastman KO'ing him in the second round. With that victory, the UFC gave Quinton Jackson a shot at Chuck Liddell, the then UFC light heavyweight champion and considered by many to be the best 205lb fighter in the world.

Jackson would end up easily winning the fight with Liddell landing a solid KO punch while Liddell was in a bad position and ending the fight with strikes on the ground, setting up the match with the Pride champion, Dan Henderson. Jackson's main strength is his strength; strength and aggressiveness. Quinton Jackson has a good chin, heavy hands and is a good wrestler with a strong high school and junior college wrestling background. Quinton is known for slamming opponents and overwhelming them with his strength.

Dan Henderson has been fighting for a very long time, he started his wrestling career at 5 years old and at 37 years old that means he's been fighting in some form for 32 years. Dan was a decorated wrestler in high school and went on to fight in Greco Roman wrestling for the US Olympic team in 1992 and 1996. It's safe to say that Dan Henderson is one of the best wrestlers in MMA. That said, it's not often that Dan Henderson wins a fight by out wrestling his opponent. Usually Dan ends fights with his big right hand (his left is pretty good too). Dan Henderson hits like a truck and has one of the best chins in MMA. His chin has been tested and has survived the likes of Wanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort, Murilo Rua and others. Not only has his chin survived, but he has defeated those opponents.

Both fighters have victories over opponents who have defeated the other. For example, Quinton Jackson defeated Ricardo Arona, but Dan Henderson lost to Arona. Dan Henderson defeated Wanderlei Silva, but Silva defeated Quinton Jackson. Trying to predict the outcome of this fight is enough to make your head spin. One thing worth noting is that Dan Henderson is 8 years older than Quinton Jackson. Time catches up with everyone, everyone except Randy Couture that is.

So, who's going to win? The younger wrestler or the better wrestler? The aggressive striker or the experienced striker? Fortunately for the fans of the sport, fights are not decided on paper, but are decided in the cage. On paper, Dan Henderson should take this fight. His wrestling balances or overcomes Quinton's strength and wrestling ability, their striking is on par with each other and Dan Henderson's experience out weighs that of Jackson. However, this is a fight and anything can happen in the ring (or cage). Also, it's worth noting that Quinton Jackson likes his new lifestyle and won't give it up easily to anyone.

Ever since Dana White first announced that Dan Henderson vs Quinton Rampage Jackson would fight I could swear that I heard him say that all 205 belts were on the line. However since then I've read everything from all belts to no belts to only the UFC belt would be on the line.

This weekend it was finally confirmed (by Dana White) that indeed all belts (Dan Hendersons Pride 205 lb belt) and Quinton Jackson's UFC 205 lb belt would be on the line for Septembers fight.

Whew! I'm glad that those rumor's were finally put to rest...aren't you relieved that I didn't get all caught up in posting each of the rumors as they materialized

Now we can finally just look forward to a great matchup between two outstanding light heavyweight fighters.

Bring on Rampage vs Hendo!

Dana White is already starting to talk about a Chuck Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva match. This would be perfect in my opinion. Dan Henderson recently defeated Wanderlei Silva in Pride. Similarly Quinton Jackson recently defeated Chuck Liddell in the UFC.

Now, how about this:

Quinton Jackson vs Dan Henderson
and
Chuck Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva

Then the winner of those two fight. These are arguably the four best at 205 lbs in the world, of course there are others, Shogun, Tito, Rashad, Arona, but this list is as good as any.

What a great time to be a UFC fan!

Here are the UFC 71 Results

A recap of who's fighting:

Chuck Liddell vs Quinton Jackson
Terry Martin vs Ivan Salaverry
Josh Burkman vs Karo Parisyan
Houston Alexander vs Keith Jardine
Kalib Starnes vs Chris Leben
Thiago Silva vs James Irvin
Sean Salmon vs Alan Belcher
Jeremy Stephens vs Din Thomas
Carmelo Marrero vs Wilson Gouveia

UFC 71 Results after the link... Continue reading "UFC 71 Results" »

On Monday night on Spike TV, there are two shows worth watching.

Monday, May 21st at 10pm. there is UFC 71 Countdown, featuring the first fight between Chuck Liddell and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson held in 2003.

At 11pm, there is UFC All Access for Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, hosted by Rachelle Leah.

Ususally I just put up my own predictions on UFC events, but I decided to post this MMA Girls UFC 71 Predictions video. What do you guys think? Should I keep posting these for events?

At this point I'm pretty confident that the UFC 71 fight card is finalized. Here are my final UFC 71 Predictions...final, until I change my mind that is!

Chuck Liddell vs Quinton Jackson
I predict an exciting fight, with lots of heavy punches thrown and a couple of takedowns before it is over. In the end, I believe that Quinton Jackson will be too strong for Chuck Liddell.

Prediction : Quinton Jackson

Terrry Martin vs Ivan Salaverry
While Terry Martin holds victories over Jorge Rivera and Jason Guida, I think that Ivan Salaverry has faced the tougher competition.

Prediction : Ivan Salaverry

Josh Burkman vs Karo Parisyan
Two excellent fighters in an all out war.

Prediction : Karo Parisyan

Alexander Houston vs Keith Jardine
Keith Jardine will eventually get a title shot, Alexander Houston is just another opponent in his way.

Prediction : Keith Jardine

Kalib Starnes vs Chris Leben
If Kalib can keep from getting hurt then he has a good chance of finishing this fight on the ground. Then again, Leben has heavy hands and will be tough.

Prediction : No Prediction.

Thiago Silva vs James Irvin
Every time I watch Irvin fight I think he's losing, right up until he knocks his opponent out.

Prediction : James Irvin

Sean Salmon vs Alan Belcher
Salmon was supposed to fight Eric Schafer, but Schafer is out with a broken rib. Sean is an excellent wrestler and will control the action against Belcher.

Prediction : Sean Salmon

Jeremy Stephens vs Din Thomas
I think Din is too strong at 155.

Prediction : Din Thomas

There you go, my UFC 71 Predictions are in. I of course reserve the right to change my mind as the fights draw closer.

On May 26, 2007 Quinton "Rampage" Jackson will attempt to do what few others have done, defeat Chuck Liddell in a Mixed Martial Arts match. Luckily for Rampage, he is one of those chosen few. Quinton Jackson, along with Jeremy Horn and Randy Couture are Chuck Liddell's only losses on an otherwise unblemished MMA record. Quinton Jackson defeated Chuck Liddell in a Pride tournament match in 2003, can he do it again?

Certainly if you look at the won/loss record of these two figthers, they are evenly matched. Quinton, like Liddell has only lost to the best of the best. Even Chuck Liddell's own trainer admits that Quinton Jackson doesn't have any glaring weaknesses. Then again, either does Chuck. Let's try to break down the keys to victory for each fighter.

Quinton Rampage Jackson keys to victory

1) Don't back up after getting hit. Fighters who turtle, back up or just cover up when fighting Chuck Liddell do not fair very well. Tito Ortiz has been caught in both of his fights against Liddell doing exactly that. The problem with covering up to weather the storm against Chuck is that the storm comes from all angles, all big power shots and it doesn't stop until you are TKO'd.

2) Take Chuck down, but not until you have him hurt or tired. The best way to defeat Chuck Liddell is on the ground, whether it is submitting him (like Jeremy Horn), or ground and pounding him like Quinton Jackson or Randy Couture did. The problem is that Chuck has the best take down defense in the sport. Hurt him first or catch him when he's winded, he will go down. Once he's down, take advantage, Chuck gets up off the ground extremely well sometimes using the cage as leverage. Once Chuck is down, keep him there and don't stop throwing punches.

3) Try to avoid getting hit, but if you do, fire back. Chuck throws long looping power shots, a good puncher should (in theory) be able to counter between them and tag Chuck. The problem is that Chuck takes a punch very very well, recovers quickly if hurt and when he hits you he hits you hard.

4) Use your knees in the clinch. If Quinton Rampage Jackson manages to clinch with Chuck, he should attempt to soften him up with knees. Jackson uses his knees well and a good knee could bring Chuck to the ground.

Chuck Liddell keys to victory

1) Chuck needs to keep this standing, if it does go to the ground he needs to be on top. Quinton is just too strong a guy and Chuck doesn't work as well as some from his back.

2) Avoid the clinch. Chuck lands a good shot when breaking from the clinch and this is what he should do, if Quinton grabs on, Chuck should push away and throw the uppercut. The problem is that Quinton also does this very well, just ask Marvin Eastman.

3) Finish early. In other words, if Chuck gets Quinton hurt he should pounce. He doesn't want this to go into round 4 or 5 with someone like Jackson. A late slam could be the difference between victory and defeat in this fight.

4) Use leg kicks. Chuck Liddell has great kicks, but usually finishes people with punches. Don't attempt the high kicks and risk the take down, but use lots of leg kicks to make sure that Jackson doesn't have that pop later in the fight.

On paper, this is an excellent fight. Two exciting fighters who love to go at it. Chuck Liddell believes that he can finish Quinton Jackson early, he thinks it will be completely different than the first fight. Quinton Jackson says it's just another day at the office. We'll see who's right on May 26th.