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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson blamed an injury in training for not making weight for his UFC 144 bout with Ryan Bader on Saturday night in Japan, and while he said the injury had healed prior to the fight, it was clearly affecting him in the cage.
Bader took advantage of a clearly not-on-his-game Rampage and pulled off a one-sided decision win, the biggest of his MMA career. Jackson was favoring his knee immediately after the fight was over, and he was slow and lethargic throughout the 15 minute bout.
Bader's speed was a key factor in the fight, and he used it to pop in and out with strikes in the first round. He also worked well in the clinch, and the pace took Jackson down a notch into the second. In the one piece of offense Jackson had in that second frame, he caught a knee from Bader, picked him up, and slammed him on his head. However, he couldn't follow-up, and Bader wound up taking him down shortly thereafter and controlling the rest of the frame.
In the third, Jackson had little energy left, and Bader rushed him again with a takedown, spending much of the final frame working in top position. The win was Bader's second straight after consecutive losses in 2011, while Jackson has now lost two straight of his own.
Penick's Analysis: Rampage was a completely different fighter tonight than he was against Jon Jones in September. He was out of shape compared to that fight, he was slow, plodding, and all of that has to due with the injury he was nursing. It looked to be a knee, and it's not making excuses for him because he decided to fight through it, but he was not himself in this fight, and it showed. Bader picks up a huge, huge win, and we'll have to see whether or not Jackson has any desire to return after this performance.
[Rampage Jackson art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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