Filed under: UFC
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson was a heavy favorite to beat Matt Hamill at UFC 130, and with good reason: As Jackson showed for 15 minutes in the Octagon with Hamill on Saturday night, he was simply the much better fighter, easily winning a unanimous decision.The fight wasn't particularly entertaining, and the fans in Las Vegas booed at the end. Jackson said afterward that he had a fractured hand and wasn't able to fight the way he wanted to.
"Matt Hamill is tough, man. I tried to knock him out," Jackson said. "I apologize I wasn't able to put on the kind of fight I wanted to."
In the early going Hamill tried to use kicks to his advantage, cognizant of the way Jackson's stance leaves his lead leg exposed. But Jackson was able to check most of Hamill's kicks, and punish him with punches when he would come to the inside. Hamill, who was an excellent college wrestler, tried to get close enough to take Jackson down, but he never succeeded and usually ate a couple of hard punches from Jackson when he tried. By the end of the first round, blood was dribbling out of Hamill's mouth, and Jackson clearly was ahead in the fight.
In the second round the fans began to boo as the fight became predictable: Hamill would try to go low for a takedown, and Jackson would make him pay again with a knee and more punches. The fight started to get dull not because there wasn't action, but because the action was so repetitive, with Jackson showing that he was the vastly superior fighter and Hamill doing nothing about it.
That was on display to an even greater extent in the third round, as Jackson dominated, Hamill did nothing, and the crowd booed. Jackson controlled the fight and certainly deserved to win the decision, but it wasn't the great performance the UFC was surely looking for from Jackson, who may fight Jon Jones for the light heavyweight title next. This was an OK performance, but not what fans expect from a champion.
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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/05/28/rampage-jackson-easily-beats-matt-hamill-at-ufc-130/
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