Evans vs. Jackson is OFF
 

tbh, he did just have a fight.

Yeah, I thought it was kinda weird that they did that. It was a war too. I would put Carwin against Lesnar considering Carwin took very little damage in his fight.

They're not going to chance their money match with Lesnar and Mir for Carwin though. I'm not saying he would beat Brock, but there is always a chance that someone with that type of power could play the spoilers. I'd just bump Anderson Silva/Thiago to this card and say fuck it really...

I gather you mean Georges/Thiago? or do you mean Anderson Silva/Thales Leithes?

My fault, yeah meant Georges/Thiago.

In that case, yeah that would definetly work...Though imo they should bring back Tito Ortiz for the event :shifty: ...I don't care who he faces.

Aw man that sucks. Was looking forward to seeing those 2 go at it, especially after the trash talk session this past ppv.

It's not off because it was never officially on.

Rampage got offered the fight and immediately accepted it. Then they told him AFTER the show that they wanted him to fight in May and he hasn't accepted yet (check Dana's youtube blog for proof and generally greatness).

From Rampage's side of things, he would have had 3 fights in 5 months, not been home in weeks for his family since he trains in England and he wants to help Michael Bisping train for his fight against Dan Henderson in July. Lyoto Machida has already accepted the Evans fight if Rampage decides he'll have his title shot later.

C'mon Machida V Evans at 98 :D

Good job at switching the timeline of the quotes there. :)

UFC announced Rampage vs. Evans on their show. Nobody watching knew they didn't even ask Rampage to fight when they announced it.

Well Rampage is hurt, MACHIDA is in!

UFC 98- MACHIDA EVANS! Should be a very interesting fight.

Evans is gonna die...

Evans is gonna retain his belt. get with the program.

Machida > Evans

I don't like to count 'Shad out, but Machida is on a completely different plane of talent.

if that is your opinion, that's fine. i also think that Machida is an amazing talent, but Rashad is my favorite fighter in MMA and has been since he clawed his way through TUF season 2. and EVERY FUCKING TIME he has a fight, it's always "Rashad is gonna die; Rashad is gonna get murdered, Rashad will get crushed!" to be honest, i'm fuckin' sick of it.

Undefeated, 18-0-1, UFC Light-Heavyweight Champ = give the guy some fucking credit.

if you think Lyoto Machida is the best fighter in the world (a tough point to argue against) and will likely become the next UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion, I got no problem with that. the guy has a double intimidation factor of his unorthadox, elusive style and the list of names of the people he's beaten. and, he's well rounded. so, if you think that the fight favors him, that's cool.

but if you think that "Rashad is gonna die!!!" because he's a fuckin bum who doesnt deserve to be where he's at, then you are fucking delusional.

this is not a flame on you personally, Vastardikai, but is is a flame on everybody who refuses to give credit to Rashad Evans.

I can tell you who will win that fight: the fans, that's who.

by knockout?

Now is probably a good time to point that I felt Rashad could/should have beaten Tito Ortiz. He was too tentative. I also felt that Rashad was gonna beat Forrest.

Machida is not Ortiz (he beat him.) He's not Forrest. He's on a different plane of talent. Shad is a tough son of a bitch and he has a lot of heart. Hopefully the Jackson camp will give him a sound strategy. The thing is, Evans probably won't be able to handle Machida. It'll be a hell of a fight, and I hope it's competitive. I just see Machida winning with ease.

Yeah but aside from a dodgy referee call, Tito Ortiz beat Rashad Evans. Ortiz was clearly beaten by Machida minus a 20 second spell.

This is all true, but we all know MMAth doesn't always apply. I mean Chuck pwnd Tito twice, and look what Rashad did to him. Rashad clearly had a bad night against Tito.

We'll have to see what happens.

He didn't have the right mindset against Tito then. They fight again, 'Shad will win easily.

But Machida will paint a masterpiece using 'Shad's face.

Tito was out classing rashad in their fight but he clearly grabbed onto the fence more than once and deserved getting the fight called a draw.

As far as them fighting again, Rashad would win, but I think that has to do more tito's age and the fact that he hasnt been fighting at all.

Heres the thing about Rashad... Hes a great fighter, and has earned everything he has, and he is one of the best fighters at utilizing a brilliant gameplan, but he is in no way the best and I think Machida will really expose him.

Now back to Tito, maybe rashad would have taken him down more if he had not grabbed the fence, maybe not, but Tito had out classed rashad in that match until the third.

Against Bisbing, Rashad should have been able to finish him by overpowering him, but instead decided to lay on him and ride him out for 15 minutes, which is a good gameplan to get the win since he was bigger and stronger than bisbing. Plus it wasnt even enough to garner a unanimous decision.

Against Chuck, he used a weakness that had already been exposed by Rampage hich was to stay away from chuck and make him come to you. Since chuck doesnt put his hands up when he attacks, the gameplan was perfect.

Against forrest, Rashad was losing that fight for about 112 of the 13 minutes it lasted. He had no answers for forrests striking and couldnt get in close enough to do anything to him. He had to risk exposing himself to catch a kick and fall on top where he clearly had the advantage. If forrest doesnt fall down, that fight could have been very different.

Now rashad is a smart fighter, but he still has a lot to prove and beating machida would do it.