Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson v. Lyoto Machida Expected In The Fall
The match-up Dana White teased fans with a couple months ago now seems to be in the works. Former light heavyweight champions Lyoto Machida and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson are expected to meet at an as of yet unannounced event in the fall, possibly in November.
The fight was confirmed to MMAWeekly.com as being in the works by sources close to the bout, and Jackson himself posted on his Twitter account that he was issued a bout agreement for a fight and was about to sign it late Tuesday evening.
almost ready 2 sign the bout agreement! i would tell yall who im gonna get down with,but i cant spell his name....hahaha
This is an extremely solid match-up as both men are former champions at 205 pounds and both are coming off of losses. A win for either man vaults them back to relevance while a loss moves them way back in line in a division with no shortage of talented contenders.
Jackson has the pure power edge but Machida is a much better striker and also very hard to take down. If this turns into a striking battle it will be a very long night for Rampage as he chases and gets picked apart. If he can get inside he can probably cause some problems from the clinch but Machida has good skills at getting out of wrestling clinch positions.
One of the biggest problems Machida had in the first fight with current champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was a susceptibility to leg kicks, but those are a tool that Jackson does not use very well so probably will be a non-factor.
SB Nation will have more on this story as it develops over the next few days.
