MMA fans were buzzing last week about a potential Rampage Jackson vs. Rashad Evans rematch. Well there was one MMA fan who wasn’t excited and unfortunately for UFC fans he is the only fan that matters. Dana White squashed the fight and has no desire to see a rematch.
I love the candid opinions Dana White offers to reporters but sometimes I feel as if he is a little too honest. If the UFC ever goes back to Rampage Jackson vs. Rashad Evans 2 Dana White is going to look a bit silly pumping up a fight that he is now openly mocking in the press. White told USA Today that he has no desire to see a rematch because in his opinion, the first one sucked.
“Talking’s fun before the fight, but if you do all this talking and then you go in there and don’t fight, who wants to see that (crap) again?” White told USA TODAY. “Rampage-Rashad, the (freaking) snoozefest? I don’t want to see that (freaking) fight again.”
From a business standpoint the UFC prez may take a little heat. What the first fight didn’t deliver in the octagon, delivered in the buy rates. The months of trash talking between Rampage and Rashad paid off to the tune of over 1 million buys for the fight. The 1,050,000 buys tied UFC 114 with UFC 66 for second of all time in UFC PPV buy rates and only slightly behind the 1.6 million buys for UFC 100 which still holds the record.
The irony here is that there is a strong chance that Evans and Rampage will rematch at some point in 2011. Dana White has already said that Rampage would be in line for a UFC light heavyweight title match if he beats Hamill. If Shogun Rua beats Jon Jones, a Rampage vs. Rua or Rua vs. Rashad Evans championship match would likely be next in the cards. If one of those guys beats Rua, the other is probably getting the first title shot.
However, if Jones beats Rua, Evans has said that he would move out of the division thus taking a rematch completely off the table indefinitely.
UFC: Ultimate Fighter Season 10 Jackson vs. Evans – Heavyweights DVD set
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