"Rampage" Jackson - Fighting For That Moment

Chuck Liddell is retired now. So is Murilo Rua. Ninja’s brother, Shogun, has lost two of his last three. The story’s the same for Wanderlei Silva, who is finally returning in July after more than a year away.

But Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, one of the aforementioned fighters’ most prominent peers, is still trucking along, still winning big fights when he has to (most recently against Lyoto Machida last November) and still a leading man in the title hunt. You could call him the previous era’s last man standing, but don’t be surprised if he won’t.

“Am I (the last man standing),” he asks. “I don’t know how long I’ll be around. (Laughs) I’ve been fighting for a long time, I’ve been putting in a lot of work, and sometimes I don’t feel like I’m as appreciated as I should be. I don’t think I get the props that I deserve. I was the first-ever undisputed champion, the first one to unify the (UFC and PRIDE) titles (against Dan Henderson in 2007), and that’s not mentioned at all and stuff like that. That’s not the main reason why I fight, but at the end of the day it does cross my mind at times.”

It should. Known by many as “Rampage,” the funny guy with the quick quips and practical jokes, the fighter has sometimes gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to appreciating his accomplishments in competition. Since his 2005 PRIDE loss to Shogun Rua, Jackson has won nine of 11 bouts, with the only losses a razor-thin decision to Forrest Griffin in 2008 and a similarly competitive decision against Rashad Evans in 2010 that came after a layoff of more than a year. His victims over that time? Liddell, Machida, Silva, Keith Jardine, Dan Henderson, and Matt Lindland.

That’s more than enough to hang your hat on, but when you consider that he’s also done all this while being one of MMA’s most visible stars, it adds to the impressive nature of this streak of excellence.

Yet he’s still a work in progress, both in the Octagon and out. Outside, he’s learned how to deal with his celebrity, something that was never an issue when he was fighting in PRIDE and returning home to relative obscurity in the States. But once he signed with the UFC, and then appeared in the Hollywood remake of “The A-Team,” he had to get used to being “Rampage” 24/7/365.

“I’ll just be myself no matter how people view me,” he said. “But you just gotta get used to it, people being all in your business and people wanting to talk to you. Most fans are nice. You’ll just get a few people that make the situation weird every now and then, but most are nice.”

In the Octagon, Jackson has benefitted by having UFC vet Lance Gibson leading the way for his last couple camps. The no nonsense trainer knows what it’s like to be a fighter, and he knows every trick in the book when it comes to the things fighters will say to get out of practice. So while Jackson may hate him now, he’ll love him when his gas tank is full on fight night and when his hand gets raised.

“He brings a lot to the table,” said Jackson of Gibson. “He’s a great coach and he knows his stuff. He’s very mentally tough and mentally strong, and he won’t let you crack. When you want to quit, he’ll push you harder and everybody needs somebody like that, pushing you all the time.”

He’ll need that push to get him ready for the charge of Matt Hamill in the UFC 130 main event this Saturday night. Hamill has a solid chin, stellar wrestling, and everything to gain by pinning a loss on Jackson’s 31-8 pro record. Jackson, on the other hand, wasn’t overjoyed when Hamill’s name was penciled in on his dance card. He has since softened his stance on facing Hamill. What was the turning point?

“When I realized that it’s my job,” he said. “A lot of fans don’t realize that you don’t choose your opponents. A lot of fans assume that I chose to fight Hamill, and some fans can be kinda rough on you. You don’t get to choose who you want to fight. If that was the case, I would have fought Forrest (Griffin) a long time ago.”

Instead, he gets “The Hammer,” but don’t expect a dissection on the Ohio native’s fighting style from Jackson. He’ll leave that up to his coaches.

“I never think about stuff like that,” he said. “I just think about the difficulties I’m gonna have for him. I’m not that type of fighter who thinks about what my opponent’s gonna do to me.”

What is clear though is that Jackson has every intention of making Hamill his first stoppage victim since he avenged two losses to Silva with a single left hook at UFC 92 in 2008. In three fights since, he has been forced to hear the final bell, but his lack of finishes doesn’t come from a lack of trying.

“Every fight I fight, I want to knock people out or finish the fight,” he said. “But one thing that non-fighters don’t understand is that fights are fights; you can’t plan what happens. I’m not gonna go out there and say ‘oh, let me lay and pray;’ I go out there like I want to finish this guy. But it don’t always work out the way you want it to. It’s a fight. I’m going into this fight and I’m gonna try to knock his head off, but if it don’t come I’ll be disappointed, but it won’t make me stop.”

And if you look at his last three decisions, Jackson wasn’t exactly done any favors stylistically. Machida has a notoriously hard style to decipher, Evans’ wrestling can defuse even the most explosive striking attack if he decides to shut you down, and Jardine’s unorthodox attack can drive anyone crazy.

“I feel like the last couple people I’ve been fighting don’t want to fight, and it’s hard to fight a guy who don’t want to fight,” he said. “Jardine was a good fight and I was hoping to knock him out, but he was an awkward guy and that’s the first time I fought when I was overtrained. I just came off that Wanderlei camp, and that was the hardest camp I did in my life, so I’m just glad that I made it through the fight. But since then, it seems like I’ve been fighting guys that don’t want to fight.”

The aggressive Hamill is likely to change that pattern, making this the perfect opportunity for Jackson to let loose as well. That has meant a rigorous camp from Gibson, and daily torture for Jackson. He laughs, but only in a bemused way.

“I forget about how hard camp is. I can’t believe I do this for a living.”

He does though, and few do it better. But for all the work and all the sacrifices, there must be some reason why he still puts himself through this after all these years. So the question is asked, ‘is there still a fun part to this?’

He pauses, then responds.

“Maybe after the fight when you win and you made your coaches and your family proud, and the fans are cheering for you and stuff like that,” said Jackson. “You’re celebrating after the fight and you’ve got a few aches and pains and you feel like you’ve been in a fight, but all your friends are smiling and telling you what you did in the fight; that’s the fun part and the part that you forget about all the time. Then afterward you remember ‘oh yeah, this is why I fight.’ It’s for that moment. When you’re walking back to your locker room after the fight, the fans are yelling your name and trying to give you high fives, that’s the fun part right there.”

And it never gets old?

“That never gets old.”

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Rampage Readies for the Machida Riddle

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson isn’t saying much. Maybe he said all there is to say after an exhausting media tour to promote the A-Team movie he starred in following his decision loss to Rashad Evans in May. Or maybe we’ve just been spoiled by Rampage’s rants on anything and everything over the years.

That’s okay though. And if Jackson’s low-key approach to Saturday’s UFC 123 main event against Lyoto Machida means that he’s saving his energy, his wit, and his focus for his opponent, then we could be in for quite a treat this weekend.

One thing’s for sure though; as a 205-pounder, the 32-year old Jackson is likely in his physical prime as a fighter, a scary proposition for the peers that hoped he would walk off into the sunset after over a decade in the fight game.

Unfortunately, Jackson has not resembled a prime, top of the food chain prizefighter in his last two bouts. In the first, in March of 2009 against Keith Jardine, Jackson squeezed out a razor thin unanimous decision that earned him Fight of the Night honors but little else. The verdict looks even worse now after Jardine lost four consecutive bouts following the Jackson fight, two by knockout.

Jackson would go off to shoot The Ultimate Fighter season 10 and The A-Team after the Jardine bout, returning in May to face Evans, his TUF10 coaching counterpart. Again, it wasn’t vintage Jackson, and outside of a brief surge where he hurt Evans and had him in trouble, he was unable to call up the fighter who ruled the 205-pound weight class just a couple years earlier.

Thankfully for the Memphis, Tennessee native, the past is the past, and with one swing of his fist on Saturday, he could be back in the title picture with the prize eventually being one of two men he’d like to get a little payback from – Evans or the current 205-pound ruler, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, who beat Jackson back in PRIDE in 2005. On a recent media teleconference, Jackson said that if he has his way, he would fight “whoever has the belt. But you know, I want to beat everybody who beat me so it don’t matter.”

And having already avenged earlier defeats to Marvin Eastman and Wanderlei Silva in the Octagon, he would love to add both Rua and Evans, along with Forrest Griffin to that ‘to do’ list.

One name he doesn’t want to add is Machida, yet stylistically, he may provide the most problems for the aggressive Jackson. Simply put, Rampage is at his best when he’s being Rampage, pressuring his foes and making a physical fight out of it. Yes, he’s had success with his counterpunching during his time in the UFC, but if you’re going to counter, you don’t do it with one of the best – if not the best – in the world in Machida. It’s just like Machida trying to trade left hooks with Rampage; it wouldn’t end up too well for ‘The Dragon.’

So how does Jackson turn up the volume on the old Rampage and get in Machida’s face without eating some precision, fight ending strikes first? He may just have to get it in his mind that in the Octagon, there is Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and there is everybody else, and that as unique as Machida’s style is, his is just as unique and dangerous, and that on Saturday night, he’s going to make Machida worry about him and not vice versa.

“I'm going to fight my fight and not worry about anything Machida does,” said Jackson, who appears to have already gotten the memo.

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The Blueprint - Rampage vs. Machida

The winner of Jackson-Machida will not only remain firmly entrenched among the division’s Preferiti, he may, indeed, stand first among them.   Former champions Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Lyoto Machida clash on Saturday night in the main event of UFC 123.

Jackson is not shy about the fact that he is not overly excited about the matchup.  He views Machida as a defense-first fighter that hunts and pecks his way to victory, and Jackson prefers to face someone who will stand and slug with him.  Thus, he looks at the fight as a necessary evil if he wants to return to the top of the 205-pound mountain and reap the rewards that come along with occupying that post.  

Machida seems more intrigued by the fight.  He wants to continue testing himself against the very best fighters in the world (and he openly acknowledges Jackson as being one of the very best) as he continues his quest to personify bushido.  The journey toward becoming the perfect martial artist is more important to Machida than gold belts or money.  That is why he is so excited about spending up to 15 minutes locked in a cage with destroyer like Jackson, where the slightest mistake can lead to a brutal knockout loss.  

What I know for certain is that both men are coming off of disappointing losses, and neither can afford to suffer a second consecutive defeat without taking a major step backward in the UFC’s most competitive division.  Guys like Rich Franklin, Forrest Griffin, Ryan Bader, Jon Jones, and Rashad Evans are the 205-pound elite, standing right behind reigning champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.  None of those guys are riding a two-fight losing streak.  Just saying.

The winner of Jackson-Machida will not only remain firmly entrenched among the division’s Preferiti, he may, indeed, stand first among them.  

If Jackson wants to win this fight, he needs to take Machida out of his comfort zone by pushing the pace right from Jump Street.  He must force Machida to plant his feet and fight.  If that happens, he certainly has the ability to drop the Machida in sudden, emphatic fashion.

That may seem a bit counterintuitive because Machida is an expert counterstriker.   He needs an opponent to attack in order to create openings for him to land fight-ending blows.  Otherwise, he will dart in and out in pot-shotting fashion, content to score a unanimous decision win without taking any real risks.  

Breaking that down a bit, Machida has a very awkward style.  He basically stands with his shoulders perpendicular to his opponent, which is a traditional Karate stance, with his weight well behind his center point and his upper body noticeably leaning toward his back foot.  That is all designed to make him difficult to hit.  It has nothing to do with putting him in the proper position to launch an assault.  In fact, it makes it more difficult for him to attack, and but for his absurd quickness, it is a stance that would likely render him completely ineffective as an offensive fighter.   

Machida isn’t trying to be effective offensively.  Not in the traditional sense, at least.  He instead uses his stance to feint in exaggerated form from a safe distance.  He uses quick jab steps and sudden exaggerated shoulder movements in very herky-jerky movements to set the distance and pace of the fight.  He wants an opponent to react to those movements by covering up or starting a counter.

 If he gets no reaction, Machida will throw the occasional lead high kick on the end of one of those jab steps or he may sprint in briefly with piston-like punches, never more than two or three at a time.  Neither is overly dangerous—neither is meant to be, either.  

The progression of feints and the occasional strikes are designed to accomplish two goals:  set up his bread and butter attack, which is leading with a kick to the body followed immediately by a short straight left, and force his opponent into tentative one-strike attacks that he can counter.  Machida caught Evans with that kick-punch combination late in the first round and dropped him.  It wasn’t the force of the blow that led to the knockdown, rather the fact that Evans’ attention was wholly focused on defending the kick to the body.  

The best way to avoid eating that left hand is to be prepared to step in, though outside of Machida’s right foot, with a right hand down the middle as soon as Machida lifts his back leg to throw a kick off of his jab step.  By stepping in with a right hand, Jackson will close the distance, effectively neutralizing the body kick or high kick, if Machida is mixing it up.  Evans did that once late in the first round and it led to a tie-up, something Rampage would welcome with open arms because he would be thinking uppercuts, dirty boxing and big slams.

That is all fine and good.  But if I’m in Jackson’s corner, I would implore him not to sit back and wait for Machida to set the pace of the fight.  He doesn’t want to try and counter a guy with Machida’s speed.  He didn’t have much success trying to counter Evans.  Machida is even faster.  He would be better off forcing the action by moving forward with his hands up, focusing on cutting off the cage and throwing punches in bunches whenever he is within striking range.  

Expert counterstrikers, however, need a sense of order and calm in order to execute.  If overwhelmed with an all-out assault that was not telegraphed, Machida will react to chaos with panic.  Machida has shown that he will retreat in the face of an aggressive attack because he is a defense-first fighter.  He did that in both fights with Shogun.  When the Brazilian attacked aggressively, Machida pulled straight back before circling.  By contrast, when opponents tentatively attack, he will stand his ground and counter.   That is what he wants to do—stand and counter.

Jackson must, therefore, press the action with aggressive, forceful attacks to drag Machida kicking and screaming out of his comfort zone and into a brawl.  If this fight turns into a slugfest, Jackson wins by knockout.  Period.  He needs to be Rampage on Saturday night, not Quinton Jackson.  You get what I’m saying.

Machida, by contrast, must do what he does in every fight—dictate the pace, dominate his opponent’s mind with feints and then explode when the opening presents itself.

Machida might be the most underrated puncher in the sport.  His knockout wins over Thiago Silva and Evans demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that he has real pop in those hands.  But again, he is not a slugger.  His power comes from perfect technique and timing mixed with ludicrous speed.  He must limit chaos by controlling the environment in order to execute perfectly.  

He does that as outlined above.  There is no need to go through the progression again because that will be his Plan A, Plan B and Plan C.

So, who is going to win?  This is my favorite part of breaking down fights because, to be honest, I get it wrong so often.  Nonetheless, I actually think this one is fairly easy to predict.  If the fight ends inside the distance, I like Rampage all day every day.  I’m talking bet the farm confidence.  If it lasts the distance, Machida’s odds of winning are even greater.

How is that for sitting on the fence?  

If pressed, I tend to lean toward Rampage Jackson.  It is a contrarian pick, however.  Speed typically beats power.  Precision typically beats naked aggression.  And Jackson’s fights against ultra-fast opponents have been less than inspiring.  So, the smart pick is probably Machida.  Nonetheless, I have a feeling about this one.  Not sure why.  I just have a feeling.  

QUICK FACTS

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
•    32 years old
•    6’1, 205 lbs
•    73-inch reach
•    30-8 overall (12-5 PRIDE; 5-2 UFC)
•    3-2 in last 5 fights
•    8-2 in last 10 fights
•    6-5 against 8 current or former UFC/PRIDE champions
•    Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
•    406-day reign as champion; 1 successful title defense
•    60% of UFC wins by KO (3 out of 5)
•    40% of UFC wins by decision (2 out of 5)
•    Both UFC losses by unanimous decision
•    Has only been submitted once in 38 professional fights, nearly 10 years ago
•    Stopped 3 times by strikes as a professional
•    First man to unify UFC and PRIDE titles (unified UFC and PRIDE 205-lb titles on September 8, 2007)
•    Fight of the Night twice (UD3 over Keith Jardine on March 7, 2009, and UD5 loss to Forrest Griffin on July 4, 2008)
•    Knockout of the Night twice (KO1 over Wanderlei Silva on December 27, 2008, and KO1 over Chuck Liddell on May 26, 2007)
•    Current layoff is 175 days (UD3 loss to Rashad Evans on May 29, 2010)
•    Undefeated in the UFC when fighting with less than 7 months off (5-0)
•    Longest layoff of his career is 448 days (UD3 over Keith Jardine on March 7, 2009, until UD3 loss to Rashad Evans on May 29, 2010)

Lyoto Machida
•    32 years old
•    6’1, 205 lbs
•    74-inch reach
•    16-1 professional record (8-1 UFC)
•    4-1 in last 5 fights
•    9-1 in last 10 fights
•    2-1 in championship fights
•    5-1 against current or former UFC  champions and PRIDE Grand Prix winners
•    Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
•    350-day reign as champion; 1 successful title defense
•    62.5% of UFC wins by decision (5 out of 8)
•    25% of UFC wins by KO (2 out of 8)
•    12.5% of UFC wins by submission (1 out of 8)
•    Only professional loss by KO1
•    Tied with Jon Fitch and Royce Gracie for 2nd all time with 8 consecutive wins in the UFC (Anderson Silva holds the record with 11)
•    Knockout of the Night in back-to-back fights (KO1 over Thiago Silva on January 31, 2009; and KO2 over Rashad Evans on May 23, 2009)
•    Current layoff is 196 days (KO1 by Mauricio Rua on May 8, 2010)
•    Previous layoff was 196 days and suffered his first career loss (UD5 over Marcio Rua on October 24, 2009, until KO1 by Marcio Rua on May 8, 2010)
•    Longest UFC layoff is 252 days (UD3 over Tito Ortiz on May 24, 2008, until KO1 over Thiago Silva on January 31, 2009)

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Quinton Brings Back Rampage, Decisions Machida

AUBURN HILLS, MI, November 20 – Quinton Jackson brought out the PRIDE theme song, his old aggression, some wild haymakers, and nearly a trademark slam to the UFC 123 main event at The Palace of Auburn Hills Saturday night, and while it wasn’t vintage “Rampage”, his willingness to push the pace throughout the first two rounds and to hold off a late charge from Lyoto Machida allowed him to earn a three round split decision in the battle of former UFC light heavyweight champions.

Scores were 29-28 twice, and 28-29 for Jackson.

“I think that’s the only thing that got me the decision,” said Jackson, when asked if his aggression earned him the victory. “Machida whupped my ass tonight.”

Jackson came out of his corner aggressively, trying to corner Machida. ‘The Dragon’ wasn’t buying it, and he used his movement and some well-placed kicks to the inside of Jackson’s legs to slow him down. With two minutes gone, Jackson made his first rush of Machida, but was turned away by the speedy Brazilian. Seconds later he did it again, and this time Machida clinched, with Jackson pushing him against the fence. After the two broke, Jackson kept coming, missing with a haymaker but again getting Machida to the fence, where he stomped at his feet. After a warning from referee Herb Dean for a lack of action, the two broke, Jackson again swinging for the fences but coming up short.

There was no change to the strategy for Jackson in round two, but this time he was able to pin Machida to the Octagon fence a lot quicker. An inadvertent low knee from Jackson broke up the action momentarily, and this time both fighters circled each other at a perilously close range, the crowd waiting for something to erupt. Instead, the fighters locked up again, but with a little over three minutes left, Jackson was able to score the first takedown of the fight. After a few moments, the two stood, and then broke apart.  Jackson unleashed a haymaker, but Machida smothered it and locked his opponent up. After breaking, Machida fired off a high kick and a knee, but then ate an uppercut for his trouble, prompting him to begin moving around the Octagon again to regain control of the situation. At the four minute mark, there was another stalemate against the fence, with little action to distinguish the final 60 seconds of the round.

Machida’s defense left Jackson in the cold after a few looping haymakers to open the round, and the fans began booing. But with under four minutes left, Machida opened up his own arsenal, rocking Jackson with a series of shots. Jackson cleared his head quickly and fired back with both hands. Machida responded with a takedown, but Jackson’s defense was solid as he didn’t allow Machida to improve his position. With under two minutes left, Machida sought out an arm and when that failed, he was able to get into the mount position. From there, he tried to lock up Jackson’s arm, but when “Rampage” went to slam his way out of trouble, Machida released the hold and stood up, ultimately taking his foe down again and working for a submission before the bell intervened.

With the win, Jackson improves to 31-8; Machida falls to 16-2.

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