Rampage Jackson Puts Title Bout on Hold to Fight Rashad Evans

In shocking news this last week, The UFC announced that former light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson will not be fighting the newly crowned champ Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida for the title later this year.

No, instead of the title shot he earned after his victory over Keith Jardine this past March at UFC 96, Jackson will fight former champ "Sugar" Rashad Evans after the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter in which both men will serve as coaches on this upcoming Fall on Spike TV.

As as fan, I respect Jackson for agreeing to axe his title shot so he could fight Evans, who lost his title to Machida at UFC 98. Jackson's sacrificing a shot at the belt to instead fight Evans in a non-title bout shows a sense of humility that is not seen out of many professional athletes nowadays.

The bad blood started right after Jackson defeated Jardine via decision at UFC 96 in March, when after the fight, during the post fight interview, Rashad stepped into the octagon and exchanged words with the victorious Jackson that evening.

The two men were scheduled to face off at UFC 98, but a jaw injury suffered in his fight against Jardine required surgery and forced Jackson to withdrawl from the card at UFC 98, where he was replaced by the undefeated Lyoto Machida.

As everyone knows, as unanticipated as it was, Machida dominated Evans in their battle at UFC 98 to strip Evans of his belt. The scenario, which was expected by both the UFC and its fans, was that Rashad would probably knock out Machida very early in that fight to set up a Jackson/Rashad showdown later this year, but that did not happen, which is why Rampage will fight Evans in a non-title fight.

Yes, one can argue that the title shot over the winner of the Machida/Evans fight was rightfully his. But, lets face it, rivalries are a money maker in MMA. And, what's a better way to build on a rivalry than to have both men coach the next season of the Ultimate Fighter, and then fight after the season concludes?

I do personally feel though, that as an incentive, if Jackson defeats Evans at their contest later this year, UFC President Dana White and UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, should in all fairness, guarantee Jackson a shot at the title for his following contest.

The date and event in which the fight will take place is yet to be announced, but seeing that TUF 10's season premiere is scheduled for September of this year, the fight is more than likely to take place in December at UFC Ultimate Ultimate 2009.

Now to Lyoto Machida. The UFC has scheduled his first title defense to take place at UFC 104 on October 24, 2009 at The Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The challenger is none other than Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

Rua, who is coming off of a massive first round TKO victory over former champion Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell, is looking to really show the UFC and the fans that his time has come to be on top of the mountain of the 205 lb. division.

This will only be the former PRIDE veterans fourth fight in the UFC. Rua, who holds a professional mma record of 18 wins and 3 losses is 2-1 in the UFC, with his only loss in the UFC coming at the hands of Forrest Griffin, will be looking to make his fourth fight in the UFC a night where he walks out of the cage with the title.

This should be an amazing fight between Machida, who has not just a title to lose if he is unsuccessful, but also a perfect 15-0 professional record, and, Rua, a man who has virtually nothing to lose in the long scheme of things.

It is very difficult to make a prediction on this fight. The only thing i can say is this fight is guaranteed to be a battle, fought by two warriors at the top of their game at this stage of their career, and I expect to see both of these men to leave everything they have in that cage.