Dana White has always been friendly with Rampage Jackson, but their relationship became much closer when Dana stood by Rampage at his darkest hour. Following his meltdown and subsequent police chase, Dana could have easily washed his hands of the situation and terminated Jackson. If he did that, who knows where Jackson would be now. Instead, he stood by Jackson, found him a new camp and manager, and brought him right back with the fight he wanted most, a rematch with Wanderlei Silva. He didn’t need to do this, the UFC would be just fine without Rampage. This is why Rampage was so willing to take a fight in March on short notice, and looks poised to do it again in May. He would do anything for Dana now.
It’s one thing to fight three times in four months, but it’s completely different to fight Wanderlei Silva, Keith Jardine, and Rashad Evans in four months. Jackson looked a little sluggish and admitted that he felt overtrained for this last fight; there is no reason to put him in the same position against Rashad Evans. If and when those two ever fight, fans deserve to see both at 100% of their capabilities.
Rampage is probably going to agree to this fight, so it’s up to Dana to be responsible and say no. Training this much in such a short period of time is risking injury, I believe that even if they schedule this fight, the odds are good Rampage will end up overtraining and hurting himself in practice.
From the business angle, they will lose 4-6 million dollars in the short run on this decision, but it can be made up on the back end. Rampage will probably be in position to fight the winner of an Evans v. Machida match by September, giving everyone plenty of time to get healthy. Under this model you could probably do three light heavyweight title fights this year instead of two, the losses can be mitigated. My personal belief is that Rampage would best Evans, but Evans has a better shot than Rampage at beating Machida. There is appeal in a battle of undefeated fighters for the title, and with a grudge match slated for the co-main event this card will still do pretty well on pay per view.
I don’t think it’s any kind of moral outrage if Rampage takes the fight. He’d make a lot of money, and with Quinton it’s always possible that he lands that big punch that changes the game. I just think it would be unfortunate to have to see a 100% Rashad Evans fight a 75% Quinton Jackson. Bring on the title shot for Lyoto Machida.
[UPDATE] by Nick Thomas – According to Sportsnet.ca: Jackson suffered an injury to his hand in his win over Keith Jardine.
Evans Expects Machida at UFC 98:
“I don’t know. I’ve just got that feeling,” said Evans. “Just listening to Rampage when we were in the ring talking he was kind of like, ‘Yeah man you’re lucky I wasn’t 100 percent’ and he started making excuses and I was thinking like it sounds like an excuse-fest is about to happen, so I know he ain’t going to take no fight with me. He’s making excuses now.”