“Rampage” beats Jardine in UFC 96 main event

Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson continued on the comeback trail Saturday night with a unanimous decision victory over Keith Jardine in a spirited main event at UFC 96 in Columbus, Ohio.  With the victory, Jackson earned a shot at regaining his light heavyweight title from current champion ‘Sugar’ Rashad Evans.  The two are tentatively scheduled to meet in the main event of UFC 98 in Las Vegas.  That event was to feature the UFC heavyweight title unification bout between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir, however Mir was forced to pull out of the fight due to a knee injury.

‘Rampage’ saw his career and personal life hit the skids after his July 2008 decision loss to Forrest Griffin which cost him the light heavyweight title that he’d won from Chuck Liddell just over a year earlier.  Soon after that, Jackson was involved in a somewhat bizarre hit and run incident in Newport Beach, California where he led police on a high speed chase through Orange County before being apprehended. 

Since those setbacks, however, ‘Rampage’ has done a stellar job of turning things around.  Outside the cage, his legal problems related to the California incident were settled favorably.  With those issues behind him, he turned his attention to his future as a fighter. He began training at the Wolfslair Gym in England which he credits with his improved focus and technique.  He began his UFC comeback with a devastating knockout victory over longtime foil Wanderlei Silva at UFC 92 in December 2008.  The two had fought twice previously in the Japanese MMA promotion PRIDE, with Silva earning victories in both matchups.  After the bout, Jackson boldly declared that ‘the old ‘Rampage’ is back!’

‘Rampage’ had some difficultly figuring out Jardine’s unorthodox style in the first round of their battle Saturday night, with ‘The Dean of Mean’ scoring effectively with the same leg kicks he used to stop Chuck Liddell.  Near the end of the round, however, Jackson began to let his hands go and landed some solid power punches.

Jackson began to take over the fight in the second, as he used kicks of his own and a takedown attempt to keep Jardine off balance.  Near the end of the round, Jackson floored Jardine with a short right hand.  He immediately jumped to the canvas and attempted to press his advantage, but Jardine recovered nicely and was able to mount an offense of his own near the end of the frame.  Jardine used a punching combination and a low kick to wobble ‘Rampage’ in his best offensive sequence of the fight.

In the final round, the fighters traded takedown attempts before standing and trading bombs for the final few minutes of the bout.  Near the end of the battle, Jackson floored Jardine again with a left hook counterpunch after a missed high kick.  The horn sounded before Jackson was able to continue his assault, though the final knockdown did serve as a dénouement for his eventual unanimous decision victory.