UFC 114: Rampage Jackson Vs. Rashad Evans (Not UFC 113 In Canada)

It hasn't been officially announced yet, but with Lyoto Machida vs. Shogun Rua already booked as the main event for UFC 113, the addition of the much-anticipated fight between Quintion Jackson and Rashad Evans would simply be too much awesome for one event to handle.

Instead, you can expect the Jackson vs. Evans fight to end up headlining UFC 114.

With most of the high-profile fighters currently scheduled to fight in the busy first quarter of the year, UFC 114 needed a PPV worthy main event, and that had to be Jackson vs. Evans.

Since I'm hoping to be in Montreal for UFC 113, I was holding out additional hope that the UFC would put this fight in as the main event to create one of the best and most anticipated cards in UFC history, despite knowing that the UFC probably was running out of main-event options for UFC 114.

I've been fairly surprised over the past few weeks that no ballsy reporter has decided to make the announcement earlier, since most MMA writers are pretty trigger-happy fellows when it comes to speculation concerning fight announcements.

It seemed pretty obvious to me that Jackson vs. Evans was simply too big of a match to wind up as a co-main event in May. Perhaps there are too many Canadian MMA writers who have been puffing up the idea of a Jackson vs. Evans co-main event in Montreal, hoping that their positive thinking would translate into reality awesomeness.

Sorry, fellow Canadians, we're not that awesome.

The final end to my own hopes came with word that UFC 113 will feature a bout between Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley. That fight will almost certainly be the co-main event, and will almost certainly be the fight to decide the next welterweight title shot.

On the other hand, fans who already planned on being in Vegas for UFC 114 should be pleased.

There weren't many other main-event options for the UFC, so the UFC would probably have had to piece together some random pairing of high-profile light-heavyweights with a match like Forrest Griffin vs. Rich Franklin, or Randy Couture vs. Forrest Griffin.

Neither of those matches would have been bad, but neither would have brought the same build-up and excitement as the Jackson vs. Evans grudge match.

Oh well. I can't complain too badly that I won't get to see Jackson vs. Evans in Montreal. I've been caught up in the Machida vs. Shogun controversy ever since UFC 104, so if I'm there to see that rematch in Montreal, that will be more than enough awesome for me.

I just hope that Jonathan Goulet vs. Marcus Davis doesn't wind up on the main card, because I'm not enough of a Canadian to accept lower quality fights just because they feature my compatriots.

The UFC usually only forces Europeans to accept that kind of thing.

But then again, at least Europe isn't being force-fed the main-event geriatrics of UFC 109.

For more of my articles, follow me on Twitter.