- Joined
- May 23, 2010
- Messages
- 11,924
- Reaction score
- 40
Cro Cop lost very much with demise of Pride.It was a bit depressing in a way that Pride ended when it did as I think if it had carried on for another 12-18 months it would arguably have reached the end of the generation that pushed though in the early 00's. Fedor reamcthing Crocop, maybe fighting Barnett plus the potential for Shogun taking over from Wanderlei at the top at 205lbs.
Rampage was one of the most unique fighters we have ever seen.
He had four years of high school wrestling during which time he also exchanged his knowledge of the sport for Karate and striking techniques with another future MMA fighter.
After being expelled from community college wrestling, Jackson turned his eyes to prizefighting. Rampage was very raw and green in his first few fights in King of the Cage yet still showed flashes of amazing potential.
Once he hit PRIDE Slampage became a thing.
I remember Quadros screaming "Oh! Ishikawa getting rocked! Ishikawa getting rocked!"
He was also ragdolled quite effortlessly.
I thought he broke Satake's back with these slams. Satake actually could not continue after a horrendous landing.
Poor old past his prime Igor had no chance of stopping the slams. He too lost by injury due to a slam.
Sorry @DaPunkMinowaMan but these counters to the Kimura were quite effective
And when Page got somebody down you better have the ambulance waiting outside and the stretcher already at ringside. He is one of the most underrated Ground and Pound artists in the history of the game.
Poor Punk ate this knee as flush as you can get.
I like how Mikhail protects that side of his head from the knees with his forearms but Rampage adjusts by altering the angle with the infamous Skyscraper Knees.
Quinton is one of the funniest dudes in MMA but I think the most angry I have ever seen him was when the referee gave both him and Randleman a yellow card for stalling/inactivity. Rampage loved his money more than anything and he was extremely mad about that percentage being cut from his paycheck. He sure took it out on poor Kev.
I know Rampage had a lot of wrestling and MMA training by this point but you could tell the man was an experienced and skilled street fighter. That was literally his style. (He called it "whoop dat ass style" but it was basically a mix of wrestling, boxing and street fighting.)
I will never forget that first beat down he served up for Chuck. The commentary was unforgettable in that fight with Dana White being forced to watch his boy get wrecked.
Rampage's striking was rapidly evolving around this time. He was no longer just Slampage. He was hurting everybody on the feet.
It's a little difficult to watch Chuck get violently stopped like that. He took a lot of damage and appeared fatigued. He also later said he had a torn quadricep in that fight. Regardless, Dana White was out a quarter million dollars for his arrogance. (If the bet was indeed real.) Those punches to the ribs and then the elbows to the body were extremely brutal. I really felt bad for Chuck that night. It really disappointed me because i wanted to see Liddell vs Wanderlei but Rampage absolutely earned his spot in the finals.
Rampage never looked better than he did in his first two fights in the UFC. The way he KO'ed Chuck in the Octagon like it was nothing and then the all out back and forth WAR with Dan Henderson showed me that the 2007 version of Rampage has a shot at beating anyone. His wrestling and boxing and all around game was at its climax when he edged out Hendo.
Unfortunately, the man went on a downward spiral in his personal life and he did not bring his A game to the Forrest fight.
The man had a great career in PRIDE full of ups and downs and he absolutely peaked his first year in the UFC. It is a shame he went so steeply downhill after capturing UFC gold but we can never forget how damn good he was for a while there.
Rampage was one of the most unique fighters we have ever seen.
He had four years of high school wrestling during which time he also exchanged his knowledge of the sport for Karate and striking techniques with another future MMA fighter.
After being expelled from community college wrestling, Jackson turned his eyes to prizefighting. Rampage was very raw and green in his first few fights in King of the Cage yet still showed flashes of amazing potential.
Once he hit PRIDE Slampage became a thing.
I remember Quadros screaming "Oh! Ishikawa getting rocked! Ishikawa getting rocked!"
He was also ragdolled quite effortlessly.
I thought he broke Satake's back with these slams. Satake actually could not continue after a horrendous landing.
Poor old past his prime Igor had no chance of stopping the slams. He too lost by injury due to a slam.
Sorry @DaPunkMinowaMan but these counters to the Kimura were quite effective
And when Page got somebody down you better have the ambulance waiting outside and the stretcher already at ringside. He is one of the most underrated Ground and Pound artists in the history of the game.
Poor Punk ate this knee as flush as you can get.
I like how Mikhail protects that side of his head from the knees with his forearms but Rampage adjusts by altering the angle with the infamous Skyscraper Knees.
Quinton is one of the funniest dudes in MMA but I think the most angry I have ever seen him was when the referee gave both him and Randleman a yellow card for stalling/inactivity. Rampage loved his money more than anything and he was extremely mad about that percentage being cut from his paycheck. He sure took it out on poor Kev.
I know Rampage had a lot of wrestling and MMA training by this point but you could tell the man was an experienced and skilled street fighter. That was literally his style. (He called it "whoop dat ass style" but it was basically a mix of wrestling, boxing and street fighting.)
I will never forget that first beat down he served up for Chuck. The commentary was unforgettable in that fight with Dana White being forced to watch his boy get wrecked.
Rampage's striking was rapidly evolving around this time. He was no longer just Slampage. He was hurting everybody on the feet.
It's a little difficult to watch Chuck get violently stopped like that. He took a lot of damage and appeared fatigued. He also later said he had a torn quadricep in that fight. Regardless, Dana White was out a quarter million dollars for his arrogance. (If the bet was indeed real.) Those punches to the ribs and then the elbows to the body were extremely brutal. I really felt bad for Chuck that night. It really disappointed me because i wanted to see Liddell vs Wanderlei but Rampage absolutely earned his spot in the finals.
Rampage never looked better than he did in his first two fights in the UFC. The way he KO'ed Chuck in the Octagon like it was nothing and then the all out back and forth WAR with Dan Henderson showed me that the 2007 version of Rampage has a shot at beating anyone. His wrestling and boxing and all around game was at its climax when he edged out Hendo.
Unfortunately, the man went on a downward spiral in his personal life and he did not bring his A game to the Forrest fight.
The man had a great career in PRIDE full of ups and downs and he absolutely peaked his first year in the UFC. It is a shame he went so steeply downhill after capturing UFC gold but we can never forget how damn good he was for a while there.