UFC 144: Rampage Jackson vs. Ryan Bader Early Breakdown

The UFC returns to Japan at UFC 144 and so does a popular fighter from the Pride days, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.

Rampage's return to Japan has him squaring off against another fan favorite, Ultimate Fighter winner, Ryan Bader.

Both men have impressive wrestling backgrounds and possess KO power in their hands.

It's a classic matchup of the old vs. the new. Can Bader defeat a legend in order to begin a career renaissance? Or does Rampage have another highlight victory left in him?

Striking

Although both men have proven they can KO anyone with their hands, it remains to be seen as to who will evolve their game first.

Bader has said he's learned from his mistakes and is working on fine tuning his striking game but that remains to be seen given the nature of his fights.

Rampage has an impressive clinch-striking game but would rather try to out-box his opponent instead of using his superior strength in the clinch.

Who will choose to mix things up and use more than just their punches? My vote is neither but Rampage is clearly the better boxer than Bader.

Advantage: Jackson

Wrestling

Both men have impressive wrestling backgrounds but only one fighter has actually chosen to use it recently.

Bader has used his wrestling before to win him fights (Little Nog) but as we've seen, his takedowns are rather rudimentary and technically flawed.

Contrary to the picture, Bader doesn't change levels and instead attempts to tackle his opponent like he's protecting a goaline.

Those kind of takedowns will be easily stuffed by Rampage who has better hip movement and is likely to be much stronger than Bader.

We know Jackson won't look for a takedown but his defensive wrestling is light years ahead of Bader's faulty offensive takedowns.

Advantage: Jackson

Submissions

This is one area of the fight that fans aren't likely to see in their bout.

Bader has won by submission before and has shown to have at least a basic understanding of submissions but Jackson is notoriously hard to submit.

Only two men have tapped Rampage out, Kazushi Sakuraba and Jon Jones. Bader is nowhere near as talented as those fighters.

Advantage: Jackson

Experience

Rampage clearly has an experience edge in this fight.

He's been in bigger fights for a longer time and was probably getting into fights when Bader was in diapers.

Bader is coming off two high profile losses against Jon Jones and Tito Ortiz. There's no reason for me to believe Bader will be able to handle the pressure of fighting Jackson and fighting him in front of a pro-Rampage crowd in Japan.

Advantage: Jackson

Prediction

Jackson has all the advantages a fighter could need in this fight.

The big variable will be if Jackson trains seriously like he did for his bout against Jon Jones. Rampage showed impressive head movement and looked the best he has looked in quite some time.

I believe Jackson will train hard given the fact he's fighting in front of fans that watched him achieve great success. A healthy, in-shape, Rampage means Bader doesn't have much hope to defeat the much better fighter.

Prediction: Rampage via TKO (Round 2)