on the dotted line: rampage vs bader, How did this happen?

Nobody to Bonner to Bader, finally Rampage has an opponent, Bader. BUT WHY?


On the horn:
Johnny Waugh
LEAD SR WRITER

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson

       Although Stephan Bonner called out Rampage Jackson after his UFC 139 win and Rampage texted Dana White saying he would take the fight against Bonner, the UFC has decided to give Rampage a fight in Japan against Ryan Bader...   (SIGHS).

       Earlier this week expressed he wanted to fight in Japan but it didn't seem likely which made the former champion rather unhappy.

       "It don't look like I'm fighting in Japan, which I'm not happy about at all," Jackson wrote on his Twitter account. "I think its a big mistake by the UFC."

(CONTINUED)...

Fighters worst enemies are unknowledgable Media

The reason match ups are made based on "WHATS TRENDING" is because of poor media knowledge.

On the horn:
Johnny Waugh
LEAD SR WRITER

LOMBARD (left) finishing Prangley at Bellator 58.

       This article is not intended to disrespect any particular fighter or news outlet in anyway, shape, or form.

       It is intended to help educate fans and writers alike to promote more knowledge of MMA and which fighters deserve more coverage.

       The struggles and sacrifice that go into training/competing on the highest levels as well as giving the best information to the masses from what is available are thankless and at times many must wonder why they do it.

       MMA media outlets as a whole should writes to give readers and viewers the most realistic and straight forward fight news and knowledge available without all the bull.

       Many outlets fail at times to be knowledgeable or care enough to really understand the MMA world and are doing a disservice to fight fans by not giving them a less narrow view of the sport.

       The match ups that should be made and the fighters that truly deserve to be in the public eye are not often made or publicized because media outlets don't push for fighter knowledge to the masses they simply watch the UFC sign fighters and tell the world what ZUFFA thinks about them.

       TOP TEN RANKINGS all over the Internet, including reputable sources MMAWEEKLY, MMAFIGHTING, MMAPLAYGROUND, and BLOODYELBOW's Consensus Picks, have fighters on their lists who are very talented but should not be ranked ahead of other fighters in the world based on their body of work alone.

       Since the list of fighters being touted as top ten material is long and lengthy we will focus on the middle weight division.

       One fighter that is extremely underrated and failing to get the fights that would truly showcase his world class skill to the masses is Hector "Shango" Lombard.

       He hasn't lost since 2006, has fought in 11 title fights, and has 17 of his 31 wins by KO.

       Easy. Anderson Silva Right? Wrong!!

       Its actually BELLATOR middle weight champ Hector Lombard who most recently won another fight by KO last Saturday night at Bellator 58 when he defeated Trevor Prangley just 1:06 in the second round.

       Hector Lombard is not in the top ten of three out of the four rankings sites listed above in the middleweight division and at MMAPLAYGROUND, the only site he is ranked top ten, he is ranked 10th behind Brain Stann and Michael Bisping.

       ARE YOU SERIOUS!!! Let me tell you why Hector Lombard is the perfect example of how MMA media/ranking outlets fail to properly inform the public of all the potential contenders fighting in top level organizations.

(CONTINUED)...     LOMBARD VS SILVA ANALYSIS

"Ace" Wants Tito, Should UFC book Nostalgia Fights?

Rich "Ace" Franklin wants to take on Tito Ortiz after Tito's fight with Little Nog. So, how does this appeal to you?


On the horn:
Schroe &
Johnny Waugh
SR WRITERS

UFC Light Heavyweight Rich "Ace" Franklin

       On a recent episode of INSIDE MMA, Tito Ortiz was given a fan question which stated:

"... Last week (UFC Light Heavyweight) Rich Franklin said he would like to fight you."

"After you get past little nog, is that a match up that appeals to you?"

       A question to which Ortiz responded "100%. Yes."

       To me, this is just an older fighter that wants to step into the Octogon with some one he has not had the chance to put his hands on.

       For lack of a better expression Franklin simply wants to make Tito another "Notch on his bedpost."

       UFC fans have been seeing this more and more now-a-days.

       Fights for nostalgia purposes between fighters that are passed their prime and that carry no hopes for a shot at the title are taking up space fight cards.

       I love Rich. He is a talented fighter that has done a great deal for the sport of MMA but, the fact is, of his last six fights he is batting .500. And Tito has one win in his last six fights.

       Should fighters in this situation be taking up space on fight cards?

(CONTINUED)...

The Nick Diaz Lies: Why does Dana like Diaz so much?

The Diaz Lies: As composed by Dana White

On the horn:

MattZilla

SR WRITER



Nick Diaz (left) and UFC President Dana White (right).



       Dana White is known for his honestly. He once said, "People are like, 'Oh, you don't care what your fans think?' No, I do not care what you think" in reference to the brevity of the UFC on FOX fight.

       But the information surrounding February's St-Pierre - Diaz matchup reeks of deceit towards his fans.

Let's review the timeline:

• Nick Diaz was signed to the UFC and given a title shot against welterweight champion Georges Saint-Pierre (GSP) at UFC 137.
• Nick was AWOL for two press conferences and George's opponent was changed to Carlos Condit, who was previously set to fight BJ Penn on that card.
• Dana White announced that Diaz will fight Penn at UFC 137, and said, "I can figure this thing out, where I can work with Nick Diaz and we can make this happen."
• St-Pierre pulled out of UFC 137 due to a knee injury. Condit waited until he's recovered to fight him.
• Diaz defeated Penn very impressively and used Joe Rogan's microphone to call out GSP, accusing him of faking his injury because he's "scared."
• Dana White announced that Nick Diaz will fight GSP in February, and that Condit will have to fight Koscheck at UFC 143.

       Okay, so it's a little more than rude to yank a title shot out from Condit's feet, but what about the part where Dana outright lies?

(CONTINUED)...

Bonner vs Rampage UFC 144, Can you say fight of the night

Bonner called out Rampage Jackson and the UFC obliged, its on


On the horn:
Johnny Waugh
LEAD SR WRITER


Stephen Bonnar (red tape) pounding away at Kyle Kingsbury (blue tape).
(Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

       Stephan Bonner utterly dominated Kyle Kingsbury at UFC 139.

       Bonner proclaimed that he and Kingsbury would be fight of the night but after the bout Bonner said he didn't want to blow the fight by getting in an unnecessary brawl when top control was clearly working for him.

       Although at the press conference Bonner admitted he didn't think he could have won fight of the night anyway.

       "There was no way I was going to top those last two fights," Bonner said.

       Bonner may not top them in the cage but outside of the octagon Bonner has found a nice match up for himself and fight fans around alike, Rampage Jackson.
  
       Bonner said he felt Jackson was a good fight for him and "always wanted to fight Rampage."

(CONTINUED)...

On the Dotted Line: UFC 144 & UFC 142

Fight Card Updates Nov 8-16


On the horn:
Johnny Waugh
LEAD SR WRITER

       There is seemingly a new fight card update everyday and so little time to talk about them all right away. So SRMMA will be bringing you our "ON THE DOTTED LINE" article every week to give you the information you need to know about what match ups are being put together daily.

            UFC 144 in Japan UPDATES

Anthony Pettis vs Joe Lauzon (155 lbs)

       As reported here at SRMMA.com Pettis challenged Lauzon after UFC 136. Lauzon accepted.

       UFC 144 will take place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan on February 26, 2012 and will be headlined by Frankie Edgar and Benson Henderson for the lightweight title.
   
       Title implications may be on the line down the road for Pettis and Lauzon so an event like this could really catapualt either man to the top of the lightweight heap.

Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Jake Sheilds  (170 lbs)

       That's right, Sexyama with be fighting in his himeland at UFC 144 which will be the first event in Japan under the ZUFFA banner.

       Akiyama has gone 1-3 in the UFC at middleweight and has decided to drop down to welterweight (170 lbs) and his first task will be former welterweight number one contender Jake Sheilds.

       Shields has two straight losses, his last coming by KO to Jake Ellenberger.

       Akiyama will no doubt be able to pull a huge draw in his homeland and will look to start his welterweight on a bright note.

(CONTINUED)...

Faber Confident about Title Shot

Urijah "found a home" at 135 lbs

On the horn:
MattZilla
SR WRITER

BRIAN BOWLES (left) and URIJAH FABER (right) exchange punches at UFC 139

       After a dominant first round, Urijah Faber was able to rock Brian Bowles with his superior striking before wrapping up a guillotine choke and finishing him in the second round.

       As is expected after such a decisive victory, Faber was full of confidence and hope as he described how ready he is for another rematch with the bantamweight champion, Dominick Cruz.

       Faber dropped Bowles to the mat after continuing a barrage that started with an incredible right uppercut.

       Faber hopped on top of a scrambling Bowles and sunk in a guillotine choke at the 1:27 mark of the second round.

       At the post-fight press conference, Faber said, "I feel like I can box with boxers and kick box with kick boxers and submit black belts and everything under the sun."

(CONTINUED)...

THE GREATEST THAT HAS EVER BEEN, Henderson vs Shogun

[Shogun] "tried to Rocky Balboa me, wore me out with his head," Henderson said.

On the horn:
Johnny Waugh
LEAD SR WRITER



Dan Henderson backstage after UFC 139

       UFC 139 was the sight of what may very well be the greatest MMA fight of all time. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Dan "Hendo" Henderson went toe to toe for five of the most exciting and outright electrifying rounds any fan of the sport has ever had a chance to witness.

       The fight card was so incredible that both of the cards final two bouts received Fight of the Night bonuses.

       Henderson and Shogun rocked each other multiple times through out the bout, completely dominating each other at different points in time.

       "That was like our Ali vs Frazier III," UFC President Dana White said.

       It truly wasn't promotional garbage, it legitimately was that epic.

       Henderson came out and hurt Shogun early and often. No one thought that this fight would go anywhere near the fifth round more or less to the judges.

       "One or two shots away from being finished," Henderson said after his decision victory by the score 48-47 on all three judges cards.

       It seemed that Henderson was more than capable of dropping Shogun early in the first three rounds only to have the legendary Brazilian storm back to hurt Henderson in the later parts of the first three rounds.

       It was almost certain that Henderson was going to finish the night in the third round when he dropped Shogun so hard that referee Josh Rosenthal was merely inches from stopping the whole thing.

(CONTINUED)...    GIFS BELOW