“Rampage” and Evans to Coach Heavyweights on TUF 10, Fight For Title Shot
UFC President Dana White announced on Thursday that former light heavyweight champions Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans will serve as coaches on the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter, which debuts on September 16th on Spike TV following UFC Fight Night 19.
The Ultimate Fighter 10 will feature 16 heavyweights, a weight class not featured on the show since its second season in 2005. Unlike recent seasons, just one weight class will be featured on the show and the fighters won’t have to win a preliminary bout to earn their place in the Ultimate Fighter house.
Both coaches have prior experience with the reality series, with Jackson serving as a coach opposite Forrest Griffin on season seven, while Evans won the heavyweight tournament on the second season.
Taping for the series begins in early-June and lasts until mid-July, with the tournament finalists meeting at the December 5th live finale in Las Vegas.
Despite being offered an immediate opportunity to reclaim his title in a bout against light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida, “Rampage” has instead opted to fight Evans, likely at the UFC’s year-end show in late-December, with the winner then squaring off with Machida for the belt.
[Pictured: Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans]
Tags: Lyoto Machida, Quinton Jackson, Rashad Evans
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Understanding that he wants to fight Rashad, why would he turn down an immediate title fight? I’m pretty sure he should be well rested and not over trained unless he just wants a vacation or he is scared.
Ill go with the latter.
I think a fighter who turns down a title fight should have to prove definitivly that they are #1 before they ever get a title shot again. Why is he in the UFC (ultimate fighting CHAMPIONSHIP) if he doesnt want to be the CHAMPION?
This isnt the schoolyard where you can just go beat up on the 3rd graders if the 4th graders have your number.
Rampage just went on my crap list for this. Im turning in my fan club card right now.
And…and…and
I have never liked Rashad (although he has shown major improvement since the days when he couldnt finish a fight)…
I HOPE RASHAD WINS. There, I said it. I dont feel good about it, but I said it. Maybe I just wish Jackson loses the worst!
So we are not gonna see any fight of Machida till 2010? What nonsense!!!
I don’t think it is rampage’s call not to fight Machida now but Dana just set it up that way. But one thing is Rampage vs Evans will be more interesting than rampage vs machida. But I am frustrated that we have to wait till Dec to see that fight!!!
What happens “IF” Rashad beats Rampage then how would Rampage still be deserving of a title shot?
He wouldn’t be. Dumb on his part to choose to fight Rashad over Machida, especially if he loses.
I do hope that Machida defends against someone between now and then, that’s entirely too long to go without a defense, but who do you have him fight? Forrest if he beats Anderson maybe, that’s all I can think of to have him fight… maybe a rematch with Rich Franklin if he beats Wanderlei, but I don’t think one win over Wanderlei is enough to get Franklin a title shot.
You’re right. And if Forrest loses, we have another, ‘No I wont fight my friend’ situation as Anderson Silva and Machida have a bit of a love in. Though that could be fight of the year if it happened! But I can’t think of anyone who could go against Big Mach in the mean time??
Maybe he is scared, but more than likely, it is to show he is definitely the Number 1 ranked contender and also Dana may have given them a little nudge to make it happen as he knows it will sell by the bucket load because of what happened with the ‘black on black’ scene! Everyone wants to see it, even if not for the title….
I think this makes alot more sense for TUF because of the rivalry as well as Machida’s english skills. I dont like having to wait so long for a LHW title fight but at least we get to see SOME MORE BLACK ON BLACK CRIME!
So why does Rashad get another chance at the title — Are there no other Fighters in this weight class….that dont make sense
There is two reasons for this decision in coaches if you ask me.
1) Machida does not speak English well at all. Secondly he is more of a mysterious character. Quiet, soft spoken and flies under the radar. He is not a personality that would thrive on the reality show. Also, he’s now the champ. There is no need to have him on the show.
2) I honestly think Rampage wants NOTHING to do with Machida at this point. He’s not in the same class and could use all the time to train for a potential championship fight with Lyoto down the road.
Where I think they went WRONG! Puting Forrest up against Silva. Forrest is the perfect person to get a title shot at Lyoto right now. The most deserving in my eyes anyways. So now the question remains, who gets the title shot now??? Won’t be Forrest or Rampage or Evans. Who’s next in line?
this is where chuck fans are dissapointed in the shogun fight lol. oh well, but still i agree with you on the silva forrest fight, maybe winner of that?
Yeah the fight between Page and Shad should be violent for sure especially after their little “show” in the ring after the Jardine fight. I actually want page to win it kinda pi$$ed me off when Sugar went in the ring and tried to steal the light so to speak from Rampage’s win. I know it was pry for HPYE for the fight though. Machida should fight before next year no doubt, but Justin is right no one really deserves the chance at the belt.
wtf??? is it time?? is it time for “some black on black crime”??
Dude even though i’m excited to watch this fight, Even though it will be kool to watch rampage kick rashads ass, this isn’t a smart move for jackson. Rashad could have a matt serra night and that will be the end of rampage’s title shot. Plus, rampage is the only dude that could beat machida, besides imo, shogun. Damn dude, i wantes to see rampage vs machida. Guess i’ll settle with another ko of “sugar”
Also it’s obvious that rampage is still pissed off about the fact that “sugar” jumped in the cage and got ghetto with him after he whooped his boy jardines ass. I think rampage just wants to kick his ass. Can’t say that i blame him.
Wow i waited forever to see rashad get his ass kicked. Now i get to see it 2 times in a row
I agree with you Markus. Forrest/Machida would have been a fun fight.
This sucks man! I wanted to see Rampage knockout the pi$$ out of Machida’s mouth
Anyway, yeah i wanted Machida vs Rampage, it makes more sense. Rampage is taking a step down. And even if Evans were to win, he doesn’t deserve a rematch so wuick when he didn’t even defend the title once. Rampage is going to make it 2 kknockouts in a row for Evans, and Machida, you got lucky boy.
Now that Rampage is not fighting Machida, it’s hard to say who would get first crack at his title. I would think if Griffin beats A. Ailva, then problably, but also if Franklin beats Wanderlei, he should fight Shogun and that winner should get Machida, that’s all i can think of at the moment, unless they give SHogun a title shot now, he does have 2 wins in a row, but we’ll see who gets to try and knock the pi$$ out of Machida’s mouth first. I hope Rampage beats the hell out of Evans and then goes on to ko Machida like he was going to in the first place.
Rampage by one punch ko in the first
I was thinking Shogun but didn’t see how beating aging Coleman and Liddell deserved a title shot, so I didn’t mention it. It looks like you were right though.
sure, just like brock lesnar deserved his title shot or forrest after one significant win!!!!!
I gotta tell you MK4
The idea of Franklin vs Shogun is a good idea!!!
The force is strong with you Ja-Ja Binks!!!
Mashida being a coach would 1) not make for good TV, and 2) would expose his unique approach to the world, ultimately revealing a game plan to beat him.
I like Mashida and am thrilled to see the emergence of a new successful style, but it’d be a bad idea for him to expose himself (lol – not meant the way that sounds)
I agree about it being a bad idea for Machida to expose himself, both ways that can be taken.
Quinton and Hughes were the worst coaches (outside of the unwatchable season 9 – what crap) on TUF, so this is rather odd.
1. Evans doesn’t deserve a shot at #1 Contender Rampage Jackson
2. Machida vs. Rampage made more sense and should have take place
3. Rampage should not be a coach at all,but should be training and preparing for a possible title after he beats Evans.
4. Good move for Machida to not “expose” himself on being a TUF coach, OR if he’s really so good, why not expose whatever it is your hiding….hhhhmmmmmm.
5. Machida should defend his title sooner rather than later
Machida will defend the belt in September this fight happens in december so he is defending it earlier.
Machida probably doesn’t want to coach since Shotokan(his BJJ is secondary) takes years of work to adapt to MMA so he’s better as a supplemental coach than a head coach.
Rampage will be training full time and not coaching if he defeats Rashad since the show would end before this fight.
Rampage chose Evans…
Who thinks is Rampage loses this fight, he’ll go driving around all crazy, for like 4 hours? maybe he’ll do that on the show. That could make for good TV.
lol
IMO
1. Rampage isn’t scared i bet you Dana and the UFC wants EVANS VS RAMPAGE because of the hype and the amount of money it would make!!!
2. Rampage has that loyalty to the UFC and Dana for bailing him out so he will do whatever they ask EX. Fight K. Jardine instead of wait for a title shot.
3. Rampage honestly is a guy who fights for money instead of a title, because he has like 4 kids and needs every dime~!!!!
4. Machida barely speaks english and does not want to coach not because he holds the secret to a forbidden style but because he just dont wont to and will take his focus off properly training as he like to do!! The only secret is who pi$$ he is drinking!! Is it his dad’s or brother’s or his own??? Big secret there!
Finally someone who sees through the smoke and mirrors to the truth! Evans vs Jackson is the fight that Dana has been trying to hype all along. If Jackson would have been good to fight last weekend, then he would have. The only reason that Machida got a fight is because Rampage could not physically recover and get into camp from the Jardine fight soon enough. Am i the only one that noticed how upset Dana looked when he has wrapping that strap around The Dragon? It all makes sense people! Remember Jackson saying that he would never take such a long layoff again after losing to Griffin? Machida wasnt supposed to beat Evans because Jackson vs Evans is going to be the fight where he gets paid!
sounds like you’re adding your own smoke and mirrors there too…
The fight between Evans-Jackson was supposed to take place at UFC 100 but Mir got hurt and that moved the fight up so Machida was given the shot. Don’t read too much into that.
Jackson vs. Evans will still get both guys paid since they’re under a set contract with the UFC for their next few fights. Dana will still make a lot of money off that fight too. Again don’t read too much into that.
Jackson did say he didn’t want another long layoff again but was offered the September fight first and decided to take the December fight instead so obviously it doesn’t matter too much to him.
Machida isn’t as marketable as evans or jackson bc he’s less of a showman but I assure if he keeps putting people to sleep Dana will be just as happy.
no **** because the same dana who TOLD chuck he was going to retire would really give rampage thwe option of fighting ‘whoever he wanted’yeah right!!!
There has to be more to this story than has been put out there so far. Jackson never struck me as the type of man, or fighter, that would duck out on a fight in general and title opportunity in particular. Maybe it’s a money/contract issue, or maybe Jackson feels he can up his promotional value and/or boost his confidence by making another mainstream appearance on TUF and then fight again for the title. Also, my BJJ coach weighed in on this when we first read it and thought that maybe after seeing how Machida has made most if not all of his opponents look stupid with his unique fighting skill-set, Jackson felt he needed more training and refit time before mixing it up with the new LHW champ.
Finally, does anyone know for sure if Jackson has any lingering legal issues stemming from his infamous “rampage” awhile back? If so, he might want to resolve those so he can challange for the title without that sort of stuff hanging over his head. Just a thought.
I think all the court stuff is settled, but I do think he had some community service hours, and public speaking engagements to do as “punishment” so maybe having time to handle that stuff played in, but I doubt it. Maybe that’s why he said he couldn’t fight last weekend though, was to give him time to handle that stuff.
I really don’t understand all the dumping on Rashad Evans–it just seems a little silly. And I don’t exactly cotton to the disrespect for Lyoto Machida, either. Has anyone defeated Machida? Besides Machida just recently, who has bested Evans? We’ve already seen what Forrest can do against Evans, I remind you an undersized Light Heavyweight. Does anyone really expect him to do anything against Machida? Of course we would be presumptive to think that Forrest could beat Anderson Silva. Very presumptive.
Rashad vs. Machida compared to Forrest vs. Machida as far as outcomes is in part a bit of a “styles make fights” situation. Rashad mounted next to no offense in that fight and got picked apart, and throws little to no leg kicks. Forrest has some of the strongest leg kicks in the UFC (maybe Pat Barry’s and/or Chieck Kongo’s are stronger) and uses them a lot. With the way that Machida stands with his lead leg way out, it could be a big target for Forrest. You can get a bit of an idea how people will do based on how they did against a mutual opponent, but at the same time, different styles of fighting match up differently against one another, and could cause outcomes to be the opposite of what the mutual opponent fights would indicate.
watch some shogun fights and you will see he has the most likely style to beat machida
Carlrtr,
I disagree, I think Shogun’s punches are too wide and looping, and I think that Machida’s crisp striking will pick Shogun apart.
First, stop using the coaches as future opponents. It’s been done too many times already. Second, everyone ius already counting Rashad out of this fight, if Rampage goes longer han 2 rounds with him, I’ll be impressed. Rashad is a much better all around fighter than Rampage, he won’t want to go to the ground against him, and Rashad has better use of his leg kicks.
Shogun has no place in the title picture, yet. But then again, who else is here? Jardine hasn’t been consistent enough to eaqrn a title shot, Machida already beat Thiago, and Forrest is about to fight Anderson Silva (Spoiler Alert: Silva TKO in rd2) They’ve really put a hault on the big action at 205 for the moment.
gonna be a suprise but Forrest Griffin will win over anderson silva
Virus, I agree with you. As far as Justin’s assertion, concerning machida’s leg out front, that makes sense only if you fail to factor in the quickness of Machida. Besides, until Forrest can do what no other fighter in the UFC has done–actually beat Anderson Silva–any talk of Forrest v. Machida is remarkably premature.
I agree that talk of Forrest vs. Machida is premature since Silva isn’t exactly going to be a walk in the park. If Forrest does get past Silva (which I think is possible, should be a good fight) then I think he also stands a decent chance against Machida. Then to have him face Machida on the same card as Rampage vs. Evans would make a lot of sense. It would be a stacked card and if Forrest and Rampage were to come out on top it sets up Forrest vs. Rampage 2. Obviously all of that does depend on the outcomes at 101 and 104, though.
why does Rashad get to fight Rampage after that loss for a title shot? Should be Forrest Griffin. Rampage should be fighting for the title instead of Rua.
I’m ready to see Kimbo get coached by Wolfslair/Rampage on this new heavyweight season. It should do wonders for his career. Bas is good but I think his Danish ass is a little out of touch with today’s MMA talent pool.