Evans and Marquardt Handicap UFC 109, Discuss Upcoming Fights

Rashad Evans (14-1-1) and teammate Nate Marquardt (29-8-2) make predictions for UFC 109: Relentless and discuss other topics with Sportsnet's "Showdown" Joe Ferraro inside Montreal's Tristar Gym.

Rashad Evans At Post-Fight Press Conference

Fresh off his unanimous decision victory over Thiago Silva, Rashad Evans discussed all things UFC 108, including his back-to-basics strategy, having his clocked cleaned by Thiago Silva in the third, and fighting "Rampage Jackson in the spring.

UFC 108 Main Event Primer

Dispite the fact that both Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin and Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort had to be cancelled before Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva got the nod as UFC 108's main event, there is still a good deal of intrigue involved in this match.

Thiago Silva (14-1), a Brazilian member of American Top Team, still hasn't fully lived-down his buzzer-beating KO loss to Lyoto Machida at UFC 94: Penn vs. St-Pierre II last January. It was the highest profile fight of Silva's career, which is why, particularly from a marketing stand-point, it is unfortunate that it was also his only loss. Yet, Thiago Silva has since shown fans that he will not be broken by a mere setback. He returned with a convincing TKO of perennial contender Kieth Jardine at UFC 102: Couture vs. Nogueira. That result was not a great surprise because, even going in to that fight, nearly %77 of Thiago's wins had come by (T)KO. A win over Rashad at UFC 108: Evans vs. Silva would mark Thiago's second straight win over a legit contender and the rare feat of consecutive wins over member's of the vaunted Team Jackson MMA out of Albequerqe, New Mexico.

Rashad Evans (13-1-1) is coming directly off his devastating loss to Lyoto Machida at May's UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida. However, due to the fact that Rashad once held the LHW belt, has fought in so many high profile fights, and had his match with "Rampage" Jackson so expertly hyped during The Ultimate Fighter 10, he may actually have slightly less to prove now coming off a loss than Thiago Silva does coming off a win. Regardless of the outcome at UFC 108, Evans knows he has the big-money fight with Jackson banked for down the road, so his primary motivation here is not staying relevant, but scoring some revenge for his good friend Kieth Jardine. Here are some thoughts from the former champ:



Thiago Silva's greatest potential mistake would be underestimating the Rashad Evans' hand speed. While Thiago probably possesses a significant advantage in power and likely has the superior striking technique, getting involved in a reckless brawl with Evans could be his undoing. Forrest Griffin and Lyoto Machida have both already shown that a slow-and-steady approach to fighting Evans can win rounds, while getting into slug-fests with his lightening fists was proven foolish by (again) Forrest Griffin and Chuck Liddell. If Silva stays ruthlessly patient and looks for openings, he should find them fairly easily.

For Rashad Evans, he needs to not fall too deeply in love with his stand-up. Sure, he can give his admittedly-improved striking a shot at first, but if it does not pay immediate dividends, Evans should return to his roots in this one and look to use his wrestling background to put Silva on the mat. At times, Silva has been marketed as a Jiu Jitsu specialist, but he has only two submissions in his MMA career-- one of which was due to strikes and the other was a heel hook outside the UFC in 2006. None of that should lead one to believe that Silva can submit an experienced grappler like Evans from inside guard. Top position can very much be Evan's best friend in this fight if he's willing to fight hard to secure it.

The main event at UFC 108: Evans vs. Silva deserves to be well-received by UFC fans for several reasons, not least because both fighters have legitimate ways to win each sports only one career loss. In a slight twist on fight-sports' time-honoured, catchy, promotional rhyme: somebody's one is done.

Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva To Be Co-Main Event at UFC 108

Is Rampage Really Done?

It's somewhat old news at this point, but I thought I'd weigh in on the retirement of Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (30-7).

What Went Down:

Jackson was scheduled to fight Rashad Evans (13-1-1) this December at UFC 107. It was to be the culmination of their time spent as opposing coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 10: Heavyweights.

Just prior to last week's UFC 103, Rampage announced that he would be unable to fight in December because he'd accepted the role of B.A. Baracus in the new, big-budget A-Team movie.

The sudden loss of a drawing fight for UFC 107 left the UFC scrambling. As a result, B.J. Penn (14-5-1) vs. Diego Sanchez (21-2) was pushed back from UFC 105 to fill the spot at UFC 107. A new fight, Randy Couture (16-10) vs. Brandon Vera (11-3), had to be signed to fill the main event slot at UFC 105.

Anyone familiar with Dana White's modus operandi should know that the UFC president had plenty to say about Jackson's decision. Including, but not limited to:

Rampage is a guy that we’ve obviously taken under our wing over the last few years, we really like him and we’ve really done a lot of good things for him. And for him to do this to me and to pull out and do this goofy A-Team movie man, I’m not happy about it all…They’re not paying him jack. He’s giving up literally millions of dollars to play Mr. T. …Rampage is somebody I consider a friend, he put me in a bad position and I’m not happy about it. He hurt himself, he hurt us. Sometimes, seriously, you have to save these guys from themselves. What he’s doing makes no sense whatsoever.

A few days after Dana made those comments, Jackson dropped the bombshell heard 'round the MMA world:

I'm not like Randy Couture. My body has been getting so many different injuries that I wont be able to fight until my forties & neither do I want to fight that long. So I feel like my second career could be in jeopardy.. so I'm done fighting... I'm gonna miss all my loyal fans but hopefully they'll follow me to my new career & I will gain more loyal fans along the way. & all you hater fans out there can kiss my big black hairy ass! & anybody that don't like what I just said can come try to kick my ass!

That all sounds pretty final, but mere days later Jackson posted this on his official site:

I feel like this whole situation could have been avoided if UFC would have respected me more & rescheduled the fight about a month or more in my hometown, which I know fights can be rescheduled because of the Matt Hughes & Matt Serra was postponed due to injuries. Instead, Dana went on the internet & started talking bad about my decision... I feel like I'm being disrespected. Everything is not about how much money you make. You could be the richest man in the world but if nobody respects you then it don't mean shit.

Bottom Line:

In the end, the two sides don't seem very far apart. Personally, I think a deal can be reached that will result in "Rampage" returning to the octagon in early 2010.

For one thing, Jackson stands to rake in a huge payday from a fight with Rashad. He can say what he wants about money not buying respect, but, at the same time, almost everyone's got a price. Besides that, I believe Quinton genuinely dislikes Rashad, which means he'll be reluctant to forgo the opportunity to, legally and repeatedly, punch Evans in the head.

More on this story as it develops.