I’m guessing half of you are on the fence regarding who’s going to win between Jon “Bones” Jones and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson this Saturday at UFC 135. In one corner you have Jones, the future of MMA and the youngest fighter in UFC history to have ever held the light heavyweight title. He’s an all around fighter whose unorthodox striking, dangerous ground and pound, wrestling and finishing abilities have skyrocketed him into well deserved stardom. In the other corner you have Rampage, a powerful brawler who packs massive dynamite in his hands and can KO you with slams. Rampage is a true MMA veteran who has 14 career first round stoppages.
It’s a new school vs old school fantasy matchup that has everything it needs to be awarded the fight of the year. What makes this match up even more exciting in that the winner will have to defend the belt against Rashad “Suga” Evans in their next fight.
Will Rampage rob Jones limelight or will “Bones” defend his title for the very first time? Let’s breakdown the analysis by first looking at the MMA betting odds over at the BetDSI Sportsbook:
QUINTON JACKSON PK+375
JON JONES PK-525
Jones is the bigger favorite than I expected coming into this match and I do not think the odds are going to shift much before Saturday night. Jon is coming off a huge win over a Mauricio Rua who years back defeated Rampage Jackson. In that fight Jones received very minimum damage against one of the best fighters in that division.
Rampage is coming off a unanimous decision win over Matt Hamill, someone Jones would have finished if he didn’t deliver the illegal downward elbows that got him DQ’d in their fight in 09. Before Matt Hamill Rampage fought Lyoto Machida (win), Rashad Evans (loss) and Keith Jardine (win). All those fights went the distance. In fact, 7/10 of Rampages last fights went the distance and only 2/10 were wins via first round KO over older fighters (Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva). Looks like the years are catching up to Rampage, he’s not able to finish fights fast like he used to.
Final analysis and predictions: Rampage is the more experienced and more powerful fighter, noted. But Jones reach, unorthodox striking and his ground skills give him the advantage. Jones has already gone up against and won against fighters bigger and stronger than him. Rampage seems to be slowing down while Jones is hitting the nitro. I see Jones winning this fight within 3 rounds by getting KO’d for the 2nd time via knees getting KO’d by elbows on the ground or getting submitted.
Follow me on Twitter: @GregRiotMMA
