Rampage OUT....Machida IN....

[TheTruth]

UFC President Dana White confirmed Wednesday that Lyoto Machida, not Quinton Jackson, will challenge champion Rashad Evans for the light heavyweight le at UFC 98 on May 23.

In an interview with Yahoo Sports, White said Jackson needs jaw surgery and would not be ready for UFC 98.

The Jackson-Evans matchup, which was hyped Saturday following Jackson’s win over Keith Jardine at UFC 96, was intended to replace the Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir main event that was postponed after Mir’s knee surgery.

Evans told Sherdog.com on Monday that he had a “feeling” that Jackson would not be able to fight. In Machida, he faces an opponent who, like himself, is undefeated.

“The kid’s been phenomenal,” Evans said of Machida. “He’s been better than phenomenal. He’s been looking better every fight. But that’s the fight business. That’s the fun part about a fight is the fact that you go in there with an opponent that sometimes seems insurmountable. But then you figure it out and that makes the victory that much sweeter. With that said, there may be some kinks in his armor that I have yet to see that I can exploit when I look at the tapes more closely. Nobody’s unbeatable. Machida’s been looking slicker than I don’t know what, but everybody has a weakness even if you do look slick as oil. Everyone has a weakness.”

[LEONARD]

Machida takes it...

[djohn14]

Please Rashad!

[dallaskd]

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showpost...postcount=3216

[TheTruth]

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showpost...postcount=3216

I don't see why you guys post big news like this in the news and notes thread. New threads make it seem like the forum is busier. And it also gets it into google. You guys really should create new threads for the bigger news events. Unless you don't want the forum to grow.

[dbreiden83080]

I don't see why you guys post big news like this in the news and notes thread. New threads make it seem like the forum is busier. And it also gets it into google. You guys really should create new threads for the bigger news events. Unless you don't want the forum to grow.

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showpost...postcount=3216

Gotta agree with the Truth on that one. We used that old thread all the time, when we didn't have a forum. Big stuff like this should always get it's own thread..

[Evan]

Yeah that thread may have run its course now that we have our own forum. This entire forum is an expansion of the thread that Leonard started.

[dbreiden83080]

Have to favor Machida in that fight, because he is so hard to figure out. I really want to see Page and Rashad, badly. So i'll be pulling for Rashad, since Page will get the first shot at Machida when he gets healthy. Likely that would be his first defense, and Evans and Page may not happen for a long time. Rashad beats Machida and he and Page will go at it, when Page is healthy.. Come on Rashad, win so we get a lot more of this..

[polandprzem]

Page was talking for machida

[desflood]

Machida takes it...

Evans/Rampage is an exciting fight, but quite possibly a draw. To me, Machida is the clear winner this time, even if it goes to decision. Well, maybe especially then...

[LEONARD]

I'm definitely fine with more new threads...let the other die...