Devilprince
25-05-2010, 16:40
This week marks the one-year anniversary since UFC president Dana White announced that former champs Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Rashad Evans would serve as opposing coaches on "The Ultimate Fighter 10."
The coaches were expected to fight in a season-ending bout in December, but Jackson pulled out of the fight and even announced a short-lived retirement from the organization.
Jackson (30-7 MMA, 5-1 UFC) is back with the UFC, and Evans (14-1-1 MMA, 9-1-1 UFC) now fights in him in Saturday's UFC 114 main event. And UFC president Dana White thinks the long-awaited bout will be worth the wait.
Saturday's pay-per-view event takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will settle one of the sport's most explosive feuds. The trash talk began even before the reality show but reached a peak level on "TUF" in 2009. Even a pre-event conference call with reporters this past week turned into an epic trash-talking fiasco filled with expletive-ridden threats, personal insults and bold predictions from both competitors.
Evans specifically has criticized Jackson for pulling out of their scheduled December matchup at UFC 107 – which took place in Jackson's hometown of Memphis, Tenn.
Given the extra time to let the feud boil, White thinks the delay may have been a blessing in disguise.
"You know it all did work out OK," White said. "And actually I just did an interview the other day talking about – listen; I'm in the fight business. This is what we do, and especially coming off that season of 'The Ultimate Fighter' – the way these two hated each other and the way the stuff went – it was a huge blow (losing) the fight (with it) being in Memphis and everything else.
"But then everything worked out."
Additionally, while some competitors have tried to manufacture feuds to build interest in their fights, White said there's no way to fake the disdain that Evans and Jackson have for each other.
Their legitimate beef – couple with the fact that each competitor is a top-10 heavyweight and fighting for a guaranteed title shot – is what makes the fight so entertaining, he said.
"You know the reality is that these two really don't like each other," he said. "There's a lot of bad blood between these two, and they really want to fight each other.
"I think you know when you get two of the best in the world fighting each other, it's fun anyway. But when they don't like each other this much it makes it a lot more fun."
For the latest news on UFC 114 (http://mmajunkie.com/event/679/ufc-114.mma), stay tuned to the UFC Rumors (http://mmajunkie.com/Events.aspx?rumors) section of MMAjunkie.com.
http://mmajunkie.com/news/19276/dana-white-ufc-114s-evans-vs-jackson-grudge-match-worth-the-wait.mma
The coaches were expected to fight in a season-ending bout in December, but Jackson pulled out of the fight and even announced a short-lived retirement from the organization.
Jackson (30-7 MMA, 5-1 UFC) is back with the UFC, and Evans (14-1-1 MMA, 9-1-1 UFC) now fights in him in Saturday's UFC 114 main event. And UFC president Dana White thinks the long-awaited bout will be worth the wait.
Saturday's pay-per-view event takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will settle one of the sport's most explosive feuds. The trash talk began even before the reality show but reached a peak level on "TUF" in 2009. Even a pre-event conference call with reporters this past week turned into an epic trash-talking fiasco filled with expletive-ridden threats, personal insults and bold predictions from both competitors.
Evans specifically has criticized Jackson for pulling out of their scheduled December matchup at UFC 107 – which took place in Jackson's hometown of Memphis, Tenn.
Given the extra time to let the feud boil, White thinks the delay may have been a blessing in disguise.
"You know it all did work out OK," White said. "And actually I just did an interview the other day talking about – listen; I'm in the fight business. This is what we do, and especially coming off that season of 'The Ultimate Fighter' – the way these two hated each other and the way the stuff went – it was a huge blow (losing) the fight (with it) being in Memphis and everything else.
"But then everything worked out."
Additionally, while some competitors have tried to manufacture feuds to build interest in their fights, White said there's no way to fake the disdain that Evans and Jackson have for each other.
Their legitimate beef – couple with the fact that each competitor is a top-10 heavyweight and fighting for a guaranteed title shot – is what makes the fight so entertaining, he said.
"You know the reality is that these two really don't like each other," he said. "There's a lot of bad blood between these two, and they really want to fight each other.
"I think you know when you get two of the best in the world fighting each other, it's fun anyway. But when they don't like each other this much it makes it a lot more fun."
For the latest news on UFC 114 (http://mmajunkie.com/event/679/ufc-114.mma), stay tuned to the UFC Rumors (http://mmajunkie.com/Events.aspx?rumors) section of MMAjunkie.com.
http://mmajunkie.com/news/19276/dana-white-ufc-114s-evans-vs-jackson-grudge-match-worth-the-wait.mma