Thursday, November 18, 2010
'Rampage' reborn
DETROIT – Quinton “Rampage” Jackson left a Memphis-area junior college in 1999 and began fighting for his supper. He starred as a mixed martial artist in low-level leagues in America, headed to Japan for five years before, in 2006, returning to become a star in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
It’s a tough, unforgiving life. So when Hollywood called offering a staring role as “B.A. Baracus” in 2010 movie “The A-Team,” Jackson took it. Not surprisingly, it changed his life. There were months of filming, months of publicity, endless distractions.
Jackson isn’t one to make excuses, but after he looked uninspired in a loss to Rashad Evans in May – just before the movie released – the question became: Did the movie affect his day job?
“How couldn’t it?” said Dana White, president of the UFC.
Jackson returns to the Octagon for Saturday’s UFC 123, where he’ll take on light heavyweight Lyoto Machida in a battle of former champions. He looks in great shape, says he’s focused and really just wants to return to fighting the way he usually does – all out.
“I feel my last performance wasn’t exciting,” Jackson said Wednesday. “And anyone that really understands me and the way I like to fight, I like to put on a great show. That is one of the main reasons I decided (to become) a fighter. I like to entertain people and (make) exciting fights.”
This is why everyone – fan or foe – should at least appreciate Rampage Jackson. As the sport has changed and, in many ways, begun to favor multi-disciplined fighters, there is a question about whether guys such as Rampage can last. He’s a wrestler first and then a brawler. He has knockout power in both hands and is willing to take a shot to deliver one. He isn’t a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt though.
He still enters the Octagon wearing a heavy chain around his neck, howling to get the crowd going. His goal is to make sure the judges have nothing to do. He’s only 32 years old yet has a 30-8 record, 21 of them by knockout or submission.
He always wants to know what White is offering as a bonus for fight, knockout or submission of the night.
“I like a little extra cheese,” he said with a laugh.
He’s one of those rollicking showmen that helped make MMA what it is. Whatever he lacks in polish, he makes up for in action.
“I feel that boxing has become very boring,” Jackson said. “And (now) too many (MMA) fighters (are) coming up with these crazy game plans and just fighting for points. I hate to see this sport turn itself into boxing. No one is even hitting the canvass these days. (Guys are) just trying to win by points.
“I just feel like, I like to have fights.”
I like to have fights. What’s not to like about that?
And so there was a sense of sheepishness on Wednesday as he discussed his performance against Evans. The two were bitter rivals for years, exchanging endless trash talk and expressing genuine disdain. Jackson isn’t always easy to like and watching the two personalities work as coaches on “The Ultimate Fighter” made many fans favor Evans.
And then Rampage went out and fought poorly. Evans won the decision in a fight that didn’t live up to the hype. The two had nearly come to blows multiple times through the years and when they finally got inside the cage it was sort of a dud.
Just over two years ago, Rampage was the UFC light heavyweight champion and a huge star for the promotion. Then he lost a close, controversial decision to Forrest Griffin. He came back and won twice before getting decisioned by Evans. Now he’s staring at the crossroads. He knows careers can slide as fast as they can climb in this sport. A two-fight losing streak is not something he wants to consider.
He refuses to blame the movie. He won’t blame anything, really. He just promises to do better Saturday.
Still, the distractions over the last year were there. He spent months out of the country filming. Then they shot the season of TUF in Las Vegas. Then he had to prep for A-Team publicity even as he was trying to train for Evans from the Wolf’s Lair facility in England. Then it was immediately back to work.
“The same night as my fight I was on a private jet to promote the movie and I did that for three months,” Rampage said.
Whatever it all was – and it’s fair to say the dangerous Evans had plenty to do with it also – that wasn’t the Rampage Jackson fans are used to seeing.
The Orange County, Calif. resident returned home this fall and set up camp locally. He said he’d been away from his kids for almost a year. He was finally able to combine intense training with the mental ease of spending time with his family.
Machida is a difficult opponent, a guy with a style that’s tough to crack. Yet after watching Mauricio “Shogun” Rua break his defense and knock him out, Rampage has to think there is a chance for a big-punching brawler. Maybe the days of the brawler aren’t over.
“When Rampage is on 100 percent, his timing is there and he’s in great shape, (then) he’s very aggressive,” White said. “He moves forward, he hits hard, he has great takedowns. Which Rampage shows up? If that’s the Rampage (that) shows up … it should be a fun fight.”
If nothing else, it should be a fight. And that, at the very least, is what “Rampage” Jackson wants to bring back
Roy’s knee is the one that scares Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers have been playing without center Greg Oden(notes) for three years now, pushing past 50 victories and reaching relevance again. They stopped counting on him. The regime responsible for drafting Oden over Kevin Durant(notes) has been pushed out, and a fresh front office bears no burden for a broken No. 1 pick.
Another microfracture surgery for Oden, as the team announced Wednesday, is just another step closer to the Blazers letting him leave this summer.
As much as the training staff likes Oden, it will have to take into account the mental toll that four years of flailing has taken on him. The issues which have surrounded him – his drinking, his deep emotional lows – play into the uncertainty around his future as much as the two microfracture surgeries on his knees.
The Blazers could survive without Oden, but their true star – Brandon Roy(notes) – has the knees which truly frighten the franchise.
The guard will miss the next two games with soreness in his left knee – a knee that has grown worse and worse. There’s damage and deterioration, and two league sources with direct knowledge of the medical prognosis on Roy say his days as an NBA All-Star, a franchise player, are probably over.
“There’s no real hope of it improving,” one league source with direct knowledge of the medical prognosis told Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday. “It’s just about trying to manage it now. He’s not going to be the franchise superstar that [Portland] thought he would be. This isn’t something they consider ‘fixable.’ ”
The Blazers have gathered multiple medical opinions on Roy, but there’s been no clear consensus, no course of action. The scenarios are still wide open. The team could try another surgery. They could limit his minutes, his games, his back-to-back appearances. All of those things are being discussed and likely will be implemented sooner than later. They keep taking Roy to more doctors, but there remains one thing that no one can offer for the beleaguered left knee: a solution.
Another source privy to the discussions between Blazers management, Roy and the doctors, simply says: “It’s bad and it’s not getting better.”
Before the season, general manager Rich Cho and his staff were so concerned about Roy’s knee that they conducted internal discussions to weigh the possibility of including him in trade proposals, sources said. Only, they never did. The most serious talks the Blazers had were with the New Orleans Hornets about Chris Paul(notes), sources said, and Cho never raised the possibility of including Roy in a trade. Cho understood that he couldn’t walk into a new job and immediately trade one of the most popular players in franchise history.
Privately, Roy is deeply troubled over the perception that he had to ask for his minutes to be reduced, that he isn’t willing to play through the pain. He’s been playing with two troubling knees for years now and understands that he’s lost his explosiveness, his quickness, and that he must search for solutions to save his career. For too long, he pushed too hard with the knee. He cares deeply, and everyone surrounding him is truly worried about his future with the Blazers.
When the Blazers started talks on Roy’s contract extension in the summer of 2009, franchise owner Paul Allen pushed for multiple contingencies to protect the organization. Nevertheless, then-GM Kevin Pritchard couldn’t handle the criticism in the Portland public and media, and eventually caved with an $82 million extension with only limited non-guaranteed money in the contract’s final year. The Blazers should’ve challenged Roy to try restricted free agency, but they didn’t have the stomach to fight that PR battle.
The beginning of the end for Pritchard came during Roy talks, sources say. Ownership felt he had undermined them with Roy and his reps, and that Pritchard didn’t back up their tough initial starting point in the talks. Before Roy’s extension was done, Pritchard was largely taken out of the discussions, and Blazers president Larry Miller started to gain control of basketball operations. Pritchard never recovered within the organization.
So much has started to unravel for a franchise with so much promise three years ago. Oden may never play another game for the Blazers. Roy may never be the same. And one of the NBA’s most respected coaches, Nate McMillan, could leave as a free agent this summer. Slowly, surely, the Blazers try to hold tight to something that’s slipping away.
Ultimately, Portland can live without the franchise player they never had in Greg Oden. Brandon Roy is something else, something special. He is the franchise player, the All-Star guard, and every day the fears that he’ll never be the same again grow worse and worse.
Oden’s plight breaks everyone’s heart, but Roy’s? This one could break the Blazers
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