UFC 130 Results: Rampage vs. Hamill––Does Rampage Deserve a Title Shot?

I’ll go ahead and break tradition here by answering this question outright. No, Rampage does not deserve a title shot and I have no interest in seeing him fight for it.

Last night’s UFC 130 main event matchup between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Matt “The Hammer” Hamill was about two yawns away from putting me to sleep.

Rampage didn’t fail epically, but he seemed far too content with just stuffing Hamill’s takedowns, which we all saw coming from a mile away, and throwing a few combos when Hamill came close enough.

What does one do if they are afraid of getting close enough to their opponent to shoot on them? Put your head down and charge them like a bull, apparently.

Hamill was shaking nervously at the weigh-ins and seemed far too intimidated by the former PRIDE and UFC champion.

Then again, Rampage is definitely intimidating, but if that was supposed to be the best Rampage that we’ve ever seen, I’m afraid it’s just not good enough.

In Rampage’s defense, this fight was all his for the taking and he had Hamill rocked on more than one occasion, yet he still could or chose not to finish him.

Was it out of respect that he chose not to finish or did the fact that Rampage entered the fight with a fractured hand keep him from performing up to his potential?

Either way, there’s no excuse for not finishing this fight. Rampage said himself before the fight that he was in the best shape of his life and he has no excuses for not finishing.

Maybe he was trying to convince himself that his injury would not be an issue.

To Rampage’s credit, he stuffed all 16 of Hamill’s attempted takedowns. Of course, you’d have to be blind not to have seen them coming.

Rampage stalked Hamill around the cage as is typical in 99 percent of his fights and engaged when he was able to close enough distance, while being cautious not to let Hamill get a hold of his legs.

While Rampage did indeed come out with the victory, he did not live up to his potential, in my opinion.

The knockout was there on multiple occasions and Rampage chose not to let his hands loose as often as he needed to KO Hamill.

In the last few seconds of the third and final round, Rampage hit Hamill with a knee to the solar plexus that Hamill was able to grin and bear until the final sound of the bell, after which Hamill immediately dropped to his knees in agony.

Although Hamill looked visibly rocked from the knee, Rampage refused to capitalize and allowed the fight to end in a unanimous decision.

As bad as Hamill looked last night, he is one of the toughest fighters in the UFC if not all of MMA and although he had a good gameplan going into the bout, he just could not impose his will on the confident Rampage who took all three rounds for a 30-27 scorecard from the judges.

So, what did we learn from last night’s main event?

I learned that a fighter should not take a fight while injured and if they are constantly injured in training, change whatever you do in training that keeps you injured more often than not.

I also learned that a fighter shouldn’t call out another fighter if they aren’t ready to make it a great fight.

In the end, this fight ended up being a stalemate for the progression of either opponent.

The fact that Rampage won does not automatically guarantee him a title shot and especially after not finishing Hamill when he had the chance.

Hamill looked the worst we’ve ever seen him and his performance definitely does not move him any closer to a rematch with the current light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones.

So, it’s safe to say that people were right in assuming that this fight would not live up to any expectations as they either didn’t expected much or expected too much.

UFC President Dana White told MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani, “I think people did have expectations for Rampage tonight and expected him to go out there and knock Hamill out, and I think a Rampage that has been active and was in shape could do that,” White said.

“I don’t care what you thought of the fight. Who out there doesn’t think Rampage is one of the best in the world at 205 lbs?”

Ariel responded by asking the inevitable, “Does that mean he’s next [for a title shot]?”

“I don’t know,” White said. “We’ll have to see what’s wrong with him. He’s complaining about his hands [being broken].”

White confirmed that if Rampage doesn’t fight for the title next, Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida will.