Can Rampage Finally Overcome His "Kryptonite"

On December 27th, two titans will clash to write the final chapter of their epic trilogy.

The first time these two men met was at Pride Final Conflict in 2003. Both men had fought earlier that night with Silva defeating Hidehiko Yoshida in a hard earned Unanimous Decision—Rampage on the other hand pummeled and stopped Chuck Liddell.

Forty five minutes later Rampage and Silva collided.

The stare down itself was historic and so was the stoppage. Silva stopped Rampage with one of the most debilitating and savage KO's of all time. An astonishing seventeen unanswered knees collided with Rampage's skull as he was left a battered and abused fighter; although he did somehow manage to give Silva a smile in the midst of the onslaught.

A little less than a year later the pair met again, in what many consider one of the best mma fights of all time.

This time the reborn christian Rampage gave Silva one of the hardest battles he has ever endured. Both men went toe to toe and at the end of the first ten-minute round Rampage had done the unthinkable and actually dropped the seemingly indestructible champion. Luckily for Silva the bell rung, and he came out with a ferocious intensity in the second round. With Rampage seemingly gassing, carnage was ahead.

Silva managed to hit Rampage with a massive right hand that would have KO'ed most fighters but instead the brave Jackson backed up. Unfortunately for him, the man who is called the 'Axe Murderer' for a reason, swarmed  him and a few knees and a broken nose later Rampage was hanging unconcious outside the ropes.

Both of these encounters were over four years ago. Since then numerous allegations have been made from Jackson such as steroid use from silva to match fixing. But one thing is for sure both men took very different courses.

Silva defended his belt a few more times, but in his last two fights in Pride was brutally KO'ed himself by Cro Cop and Henderson. He then returned to the UFC on December 29th 2007 to finally meet the also former champion in Chuck Liddell. Although Silva would lose a thrilling three round war it seemed perhapsthe old Silva may be coming back, this may have been confirmed when he obliterated Keith Jardine at UFC 84.

Jackson on the other hand went on a tear when he left Pride. First, he earned a hard earned decision over Matt Lindland. Then the UFC purchased the WFA and with it earned Jackson's contract.

So on February 3rd 2007 Jackson made his UFC debut against the first man to ever beat him Marvin Eastman. Jackson would extract revenge with an exclamation mark as he knocked out Eastman withuppercuts and hooks from the clinch.

Had Rampage finally mastered the art of the clinch which has been so costly for  him against Silva?

With this win, Rampage got his shot at the title against the seemingly unstoppable Chuck Liddell, the man Rampage had battered in Pride four years earlier. Rampage entered the fight with a terrifying focus and ferocity. 113 seconds later Rampage had knocked Liddell in and out of consciousness.

A few months later Rampage collided with the man who had KO'ed Silva to earn the belt Jackson could never win. Jackson in a five-round battle managed to defeat Henderson and become the first ever Unified World Champion.

However, after a role as coach on TUF7, and a year long layoff, Rampage would lose his title to Forrest Griffin in a very debatable decision. One thing was for sure though, Rampage did not look his usual destructive self.

Now on December 27th both men have a lot to prove. Is Silva really back and can the significantly improved Rampage finally defeat the man who seems to have his number?

One thing is for sure in this encounter: fireworks are going to light up the octagon.