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.
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about 1 month ago
This will certainly be a great fight. Congrats on your first article. Hopefully for Rampage you will be able to write an article on him actually overcoming his kyrponite. Hope you stick around B/R and keep writing and commenting.
about 1 month ago
thanks man, i hope so. yea i will be sticking around
about 1 month ago
Rampage should defeat Wanderlei in the cage. Both fighters are showing signs of being shopworn...Wanderlei more so. Travel and pressure and unknown variables have been weighing heavily on Rampage. It showed in the griffin fight. What's worse is, many people thought he won that fight. That kind of stress can result in a breakdown; the kind of breakdown that Rampage suffered.
A nervous or 'mental' breakdown is an involuntary defense mechanism in which the brain, namely the central nervous system implodes. An implosion is meant to derail a person from impulsively harming themselves or others. Of course, it doesn't always work, hence the "going postal" syndrome.
A breakdown which does not result in harm, generally alleviates the overwhelming feeling of pressure/anger/remorse by purging the excess stimuli from the brain.
What does this all mean? It means good news for Rampage. If is legal battles are under control, I just don't see him having much trouble with Wanderlei. The "Ax Murderer", on the other hand, simply had too many fights. Even Wanderlei doesn't know how many Valle Tudo battles he's fought in Brazil. All this BEFORE he began his MMA career in the UFC, then in Pride, and now back in the UFC. After a five-year run of consecutive middleweight victories (and he fought about once a month), he's 5-and-5 in his last ten. And other than his blitz of Jardine, he never looked comfy in the cage. Jackson transitioned from the friendly Japanese ring to the hostile octagon very smoothly.
I see Rampage's hand held up inside of the first round.
about 1 month ago
same joseph, im just not seeing wanderlei beating jackson. im just gettin images of rampage completly destroying wand
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