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By: Jason Amadi, MMATorch Columnist
Q: Edward Palmer writes - "When the hell is Jose Aldo's WEC contract over I want to see him beating ass in the UFC! And do you really think Rampage Jackson's way of fighting stands up well against The Dragon?
The call for Jose Aldo to move up to the UFC after every impressive performance is becoming a bit tiresome. Aldo is the WEC Featherweight Champion and is a key figure in the organization. While Aldo is nowhere near the mainstream figure that Urijah Faber is, he is the talk of the MMA world and the most exciting fighter to watch in the WEC. For the featherweight division to become as established and deep as the heavier classes, you can’t cherry pick the best fighters from the division and move them up a class. More importantly, for Zuffa to realize its goal of having the WEC becoming as established as the UFC, they can’t cherry pick the best fighters from that organization just to place them on an already loaded roster.
As for how Quinton Jackson’s style matches up with Lyoto Machida, it depends on what tools Jackson decides to bring to the cage with him that night. Interestingly enough, I just finished watching the “Rampage: Greatest Hits” DVD and you really notice immediately that he was a much more diverse fighter in Pride than he has shown in the UFC. In Pride, Jackson’s striking was dangerous, but his ground and pound was just fierce. Jackson stopped a number of quality fighters by switching from his crisp striking to his heavy handed ground assault. Unfortunately, since coming to the UFC, Rampage has developed “Chuck Liddell Syndrome” and has been content to simply exchange on the feet despite having one of the most lethal ground and pound games in the sport.
Machida’s two worst performances were both a win and a loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, a fighter the complete opposite of Jackson. Shogun was able to confuse Machida with kicks to set up his punches, punches to set up his kicks, and striking to set up his grappling attempts. Jackson needs to force Machida into an exchange, either on the feet or on the ground and use his power to put him away. If Jackson walks down Machida and tries to headhunt as he’s done for the last three years, he’ll lose a one sided decision.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
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