UFC 130: Quinton Jackson vs. Matt Hamill

[Rappy Veteran]

Card:

Quinton Jackson vs. Matt Hamill

Frank Mir vs. Roy Nelson

Rick Story vs. Thiago Alves

Brian Stann vs. Jorge Santiago

Miguel Torres vs. Demetrious Johnson

Kendall Grove vs. Tim Boetsch

Renan Barao vs. Cole Escovedo

Chris Cariaso vs. Michael McDonald

Gleison Tibau vs. Bart Palaszewski

Travis Browne vs. Stefan Struve

[Kriz]

Ha, knew that one was coming!

[Rappy Veteran]

UFC President Dana White confirmed at the UFC Fight For The Troops Q&A session last week that a bout between heavyweight fighters Frank Mir and Roy "Big Country" Nelson is in the works. MMAJunkie.com had recently reported that the fight was being worked toward for the upcoming UFC 130 card, to take place this May.

"We've got [Roy] 'Big Country' [Nelson] fighting Frank Mir," White informed. "That fight's going to happen... that's a fun one."

Nelson's UFC future has been unclear ever since UFC president Dana White revealed that boxing legend Roy Jones Jr.'s Square Ring Productions was suing both Zuffa, LLC and Nelson himself over claims that "Big Country" was still contractually obligated to Square Ring following his appearance on a 2009 Square Ring-promoted event titled March Badness. Apparently, Nelson's contract issues have been cleared up and he will be making a return to the cage against a former UFC heavyweight champ in Mir.

Nelson last appeared in action at UFC 117 this past August, where he was dominated by current number one heavyweight contender Junior dos Santos en route to a unanimous decision defeat. Prior to that bout, Nelson had defeated young up-and-comers Brendan Schaub and Stefan Struve in consecutive UFC fights. Winner of the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show, Nelson holds a professional record of 15-5, with his losses coming against dos Santos, Andrei Arlovski, Jeff Monson, Ben Rothwell and Josh Curran.

Frank Mir recently rebounded from a knockout loss to Shane Carwin with a very lackluster win over Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic. Mir and "Cro Cop" engaged in little to no offense throughout their three round scrap until Mir dropped Filipovic with a knee in the final round and finished the bout. Prior to those two fights, Mir had defeated Cheick Kongo by submission in a brilliant performance and succumbed to a TKO defeat at the hands of then-champion Brock Lesnar. Mir holds a record of 14-5, with eight of his wins coming by submission, three by TKO, two by decision and one by disqualification.

UFC 130 is officially unannounced, but will likely take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada this May 28th.

[x]

[D. S. Veteran]

Alright, let's make this the official UFC 130 thread.

Confirmed fights, according to BloodyElbow

Frankie Edgar (13-1-1) vs. Gray Maynard (10-0-1)

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Thiago Silva

Frank Mir (14-5) vs. Roy Nelson (15-5)

Wanderlei Silva (33-10-1) vs. Brian Stann (10-3)

Thiago Alves (18-7) vs. Rick Story (12-3)

Stefan Struve (21-4) vs. Travis Browne (10-0-1)

Looks like a great card. All the cards in 2011 have been great so far. UFC 125 was great. UFC 126 is right around the corner. And the rest of the events looks great on paper and will probably be great. No UFC 119 kind of stuff.

[D. S. Veteran]

Thiago Silva is out. Evans is in. Don't know what to think of this. Evans dominated Rampage at UFC 114 and I can see him dominating Rampage again unless he has done something radical with himself. But after the Machida fight, I don't think that's the case.

[TheElite]

Thiago Silva is out. Evans is in. Don't know what to think of this. Evans dominated Rampage at UFC 114 and I can see him dominating Rampage again unless he has done something radical with himself. But after the Machida fight, I don't think that's the case.

I think that Rampage beating Machida was radical in itself. Considering Machida knocked Evans out. Hopefully, Rampage works a little more on his takedown defense.

[D. S. Veteran]

I think that Rampage beating Machida was radical in itself. Considering Machida knocked Evans out. Hopefully, Rampage works a little more on his takedown defense.

Beat? He didn't "beat" Machida, he outpointed him in the eyes of the judges. That fight should have ended in a draw. That would've been the fair result.

[TheElite]

If you look at the record, it says Rampage (W) v Machida (L). He beat Machida.

I was a little surprised though that Machida wasn't fighting the way everybody has come to expect of him. He was probably hesitant due to the loss of the title to Shogun.

[D. S. Veteran]

If you look at the record, it says Rampage (W) v Machida (L). He beat Machida.

I was a little surprised though that Machida wasn't fighting the way everybody has come to expect of him. He was probably hesitant due to the loss of the title to Shogun.

The record is one thing, the fight is another. Rampage won but didn't beat Machida. You look at that fight and it's not like Rampage dominated Machida in all rounds or generated offense in all 3 as well. Not even close. Evans, however, did beat Silva and Rampage for all 3 rounds.

The fight is still up in the air.

Multiple sources confirmed with MMAjunkie.com that preliminary discussions with Rashad Evans to replace Silva are underway.

Of significant potential interest, the Nevada State Athletic Commission has yet to release the drug screens from the night of Silva's most recent fight, a UFC 125 win over Brandon Vera that took place Jan. 1 in Las Vegas.

Nevada State Athletic Commision executive director Keith Kizer confirmed with MMAjunkie.com that the commission is still investigating at least one sample from the event. While Kizer could not confirm whether or not one of those samples belonged to Silva, the NSAC executive did confirm that Silva was among the UFC 125 fighters who submitted a pre-fight screen.

[D. S. Veteran]

Now some sources are saying that Rashad is going to wait Bones vs Shogun out and then see what he does and that Rampage will fight Matt Hammil because Thiago Silva failed a drug test. This thing is turning out to be quite a mess. :huh:

[D. S. Veteran]

It seems that Jorge Santiago, Sengoku MW champion, will debut in the UFC against Brian Stann replacing an injured Wanderlei Silva. I hope this fight breaks the current trend of champions moving into the UFC and losing on their debut.

[TheElite]

I hope this fight breaks the current trend of champions moving into the UFC and losing on their debut.

Jake Shields already broke that.

[D. S. Veteran]

Jake Shields already broke that.

He won but you have to admit he was looking gassed as all hell in the 3rd round and was not able to finish off Martin Kampmann. But after him we have Antonio McKee, Willamy Freire, Norifumi Yamamoto, etc.

[Rappy Veteran]

[Rappy Veteran]

[D. S. Veteran]

And this is how an average PPV turns to a crappy one. Edgar is out and so is Edgar. This is now UFC 130: Rampage vs. Hamill :x

Card:

Quinton Jackson vs. Matt Hamill

Frank Mir vs. Roy Nelson

Rick Story vs. Thiago Alves

Brian Stann vs. Jorge Santiago

Miguel Torres vs. Demetrious Johnson

Kendall Grove vs. Tim Boetsch

Renan Barao vs. Cole Escovedo

Chris Cariaso vs. Michael McDonald

Gleison Tibau vs. Bart Palaszewski

Travis Browne vs. Stefan Struve

The undercard has some nice fights but I sure as hell wouldn't pay for the PPV portion. UFC please prove me wrong.

[D. S. Veteran]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrJFMV6VsEQ

New version of the promo. Surprised they didn't go with "The only man to beat Jon Jones!" This fight is irrelevant to the LHW division it's ridiculous.

[Rappy Veteran]

Dana and Barnett!

Dana literally lives a rock and roll lifestyle!

[D. S. Veteran]

You know when sometimes events looks like crap on paper but in the end they pay off big? This wasn't it. If you paid money for this, I'm sorry.

Quinton Jackson vs. Matt Hamill - What another a crapfest. I thought Hamill was deaf but it seems he's actually retarded and vying for a place in the Special Olympics. On the wrestling team of course. Joe Rogan was almost fellating Rampage saying how he was stuffing the takedowns. No, he wasn't. He was just picking Hamill up so he wouldn't fall face first on the ground (he ended up doing that in the 2nd round). Rampage on the other hand seems to also have taken too many hits to the head. If you want a title shot and you're facing a guy that can pose no threat to you either by striking or wrestling, blow him out of the water. Hamill was primed to be KO'ed several times and Jackson just backed off to defend another sloppy takedown and keep showing he has (some) cardio. Maybe he's afraid to fight Jones. I would too if I couldn't even put Matt "Trying to get into the Special Olympics" Hamill away.

Frank Mir vs. Roy Nelson - This looked like the fight from TUF 10 between McSweeney and Wes Shivers. Only worse because it was the co-main event of a UFC PPV. Nelson lost the cardio gods favor and looked gassed right in the first round. Mir was also gassed but that's the nature of a HW fight. At least he had gas for 2 rounds, enough to win the fight. Mir was better at everything but that was because Nelson looked really bad. The JDS fight might have traumatized him. He's still pretty tough but there was no way he was winning that fight outside of Mir getting DQ. Mir got him down with some ease, dictated the pace and won the striking exchanges. Roy was doing his best Leonard Garcia impression, swinging wild for the fences and hitting air. Total crapfest of a fight.

Rick Story vs. Thiago Alves - Alves shows yet again that he can't do anything against a good wrestler. Story dictated the location and pace of the fight and surprisingly withstood Alves punching power. If Alves can't KO you, you've won. The fans kept on booing but this was far from a boring fight. Some of striking exchanges were pretty impressive.

Brian Stann vs. Jorge Santiago - And yet another champion from a Japanese promotion gets snuffed by UFC mid-level talent (ironically mid-level talent that was LHW champion in the WEC). Brian Stann has been going strong since moving to MW but is still milles away from having what it takes to challenge Silva. Like Boetsch he can provide some good mid-card fights. Maybe the two should fight next. Jorge Santiago looked quite disapointing.

Miguel Torres vs. Demetrious Johnson - Sorry Torres, it doesn't matter how good you are on attacking from the bottom or sweeping. If you can't do significant damage and the other fighter just keeps controlling you from above, he's winning. This isn't a BJJ points match. Demetrious Johnson is pretty massive at 135.

Kendall Grove vs. Tim Boetsch - Boetsch looked good at MW. He was just a fat guy at LHW but at MW he's a stocky powerhouse. Now that Nate Marquardt dropped to WW, the division was in need of a compact wrestler. Can he challenge Silva? No, of course not. But he can provide some entertaining mid-card fights. Kendall Grove fought well but he's on thin ice now that's 1-2 in his last 3 fights. His next fight is a must win.

Renan Barao vs. Cole Escovedo - Didn't watch.

Chris Cariaso vs. Michael McDonald - Didn't watch.

Gleison Tibau vs. Rafaello Oliveira - Oliveira came in on short notice and was steamrolled by Tibau. No surprises here guys. Tibau is a hugely strong LW. The 2nd round was quite a beatdown. He could probably get the TKO, the choke was just to rub it in.

Travis Browne vs. Stefan Struve - Best fight on the card. Keeping true to Struve's litmus-test nature, Browne had no trouble dispatching him and keeps on going in the HW division. Struve was putting up a fight as usual but he was no match for that superman punch. BAM! He was out before he even hit the ground and then Browne put two more hammerfists in for good measure. What a KO. Struve will live to fight another day. Browne probably has Cro-Cop in his future...

[D. S. Veteran]

Extra hilarious notes: Mir got his jaw and some ribs broken despite winning an easy decision. He just loves getting hurt. And Dana White saying that Rampage gets the next title shot if his hand heals up. What what?

[iamawesomewicked]

To be fair. Rampage went in to the fight with a fractured hand.

[Yorak]

Awww, Rampage has a fractured hand? Come on people, do we really even know how bad it is? After all, it is a fracture and not a complete break. Last May I fractured my left shoulder. I guess it was the cartilage around the joint that snapped in one place. It could not be seen by a normal x-ray, but an MRI. I asked my orthopedist if it was minor enough to continue weight training. He said it was not major but certainly not minor, to reduce strain for three months. So as the gym was my only way to relieve stress, I ignored his advice. Actually, I went that very day with my MRI scans in the backseat of my car, lol. Yeah certain exercises hurt like hell, but over time the hurt was less and less. My point is that I am a 5 foot nothing, 100 pound nothing wimp and I dealt with a fractured bone in the most head-on way. So a fractured hand is really not making Rampage as tough as you might think. In my case it was quite stupid I will admit, lol.

Personally, I think he is a tool. His whole ghetto retard entrance is enough to make me dislike him. I like how on the PPV they did not mention his destruction by Rashad Evans. He got destroyed in that match! His wrestling skills are weak. If you can manage to get him down and mount him, he has no great defense. Sure Evans did not knock him out, but he did take some full shots that connected 100% and got back up. By the way, if Rampage just wants to act/fight based on whoever pays more, I say the UFC should let him go act. He is a sub-par actor and his career will not last long.

Oh hey, did anyone else notice how Joe Rogan kept calling Roy "Big Country" Nelson a fatass all PPV? Saying he could easily make 205lbs. if he lost his belly, that he was large, etc. I thought it was absolutely hilarious. And damn, Frank Mir had good takedowns but you could tell also had no gas left in the tank. He needs to work on his cardio, for realz.

Last note is that Bryan Stann was unbelievable, this fella is going to continue to grow and destroy people.