UFC Primetime Thread: "Get Ready For Some Black On Black Crime!"

[Turd Ferguson]

Tomorrow night, the UFC will be airing the third installment of the Primetime series that they run to promote a given major fight. The previous two installments for Georges St. Pierre's fights against BJ Penn and Dan Hardy were quite successful, interesting, and helped the cards score a strong buyrate. This time, we're going to get something on a different spectrum as Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans take us behind the scenes and show how they're getting ready for their big fight coming up on May 29. There should be plenty of trash talking from both sides, and it should be a lot of fun to watch. This is a fight that's over a year in the making.

The show will air each Wednesday after The Ultimate Fighter at 11 p.m. and run for a half hour. Here's the UFC's press release.

New York, NY, April 19, 2010 – In anticipation of their long awaited light heavyweight clash at UFC 114: RAMPAGE VS EVANS, former UFC light heavyweight champions Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and “Suga” Rashad Evans will go under the microscope on UFC Primetime®, a weekly, three part series premiering Wednesday, May 12 (11:00-11:30pm ET/PT on Spike TV. The second episode will debut on Wednesday, May 19 at 11:00pm ET/PT and the finale will run Wednesday, May 26 at 11:00pm ET/PT.

UFC Primetime, produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®), is a look into the lives of two of the most popular fighters in the UFC, Jackson and Evans, as the two settle a grudge borne during Season 10 of “The Ultimate Fighter,®” with the winner taking #1 contender status in the stacked UFC light heavyweight division.

As the two train for their meeting in late May, Spike TV will present three special weekly installments that will take viewers inside the Wolfslair Academy in Widnes, England, as Jackson prepares for his first fight since completing filming on the forthcoming “A Team” movie with teammates Michael Bisping and Cheick Kongo and back to the United States to see how Evans and his teammates at Greg Jackson’s camp in Albuquerque, NM, such as UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and rising star Jon Jones, are gameplanning for Quinton Jackson’s “rampage”.

UFC Primetime promises to deliver unparalleled access into the lives of two of mixed martial arts’ biggest stars, as they head into what could be the Fight of the Year in 2010 at UFC 114.

The bad blood between these two has been stewing ever since Rampage defeated Rashad's close friend, Keith Jardine at UFC 96. At that time, Rashad thought he'd be defending the title against Rampage, but Rampage had a jaw injury from the fight, and they absolutely needed a title fight which caused Lyoto Machida to step in and defeat Rashad at UFC 98. Rampage was offered Machida, but instead said he wanted to coach TUF and get a piece of Rashad.

Here's the argument between Rampage and Rashad from UFC 96 that started the controversy.

[YOUTUBE]r_yQZumCwnQ[/YOUTUBE]

In the meantime, they've taken their war to Twitter.

“@Rampage4real no matter what May 29th brings I promise u I won’t hate it as much as u hated Dec 12th cuz I ain’t neva’ scared!!! …4 those that don’t know @rampage4real was suppose 2 fight me Dec 12th 2009 but decided it was it not in his best interest (scared)!” -Rashad Evans

“I find it very funny that @sugarashadevans thinks me not fighting Dec 12 had anything to do with him.” -Rampage Jackson

“@rampage4real whatever the reason is (fight) we gonna c how much heart u really got! U need 2 c The Wiz cuz u got no heart (Tin Man)!!” -Rashad Evans, I wonder how long it toook for Rashad to come up with this response.

“@SugaRashadEvans We’ll see who got the heart in may cuz I promise u, u gonna run cuz u know u don’t want to stand & fight with me… Bring your pillow cause you going to sleep boy!! Dem chin stands ain’t gonna help!!“ -Rampage Jackson

“I decided that I’m gonna leave @Rampage4real aka Quitting Jackson (lol) alone cuz I don’t want @Danawhite 2 call me saying he quit again!” -Rashad Evans

“@rampage4real aka Quitting we’ll c soon enough! But I can’t wait 2 make u dance like Elvis like Forrest did when he kicked u in the leg! =)” -Rashad Evans

“@SugaRashadEvans Hahaha… You’re so gay!” -Rampage Jackson

“@rampage4real aka “Quittin” speaking of gay u ever have that baby u were carrying 4 Tiki?Cuz yo’ belly was looking like Big Country’s!!” -Rashad Evans

One week later...

@rampage4real gonna cry Iike this after our fight.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsJt6Jqy-eo&feature=youtube_gdata - Rashad Evans

Since @SugaRashadEvans wants to go all childish.........
@sugarashadevans mama so fat he bought her a UFC shirt & even @danawhite thought it stood for ugly fat chick!! - Rampage Jackson

@rampage4real yo' momma jokes?! C'mon son!! Come wit it if u gonna come at all! Made me waste my time responding 2 that corny mess! - Rashad Evans

@sugarashadevans A man with a glass jaw shouldn't talk so much crap. Get the bottom of your feet sponsored son.. cause you getting laid out! - Rampage Jackson

I'm not training to beat @sugarashadevans. I'm training to destroy him! - Rampage Jackson

@Rampage4real I got ko'd once bruh! U've been ko'd 3x's! I'm not a mathematician but I'm almost certain 3 is more than 1.. Get it 2getha! - Rashad Evans

@SugaRashadEvans Your math is wrong but I'm gonna fix it the on the 29th. I'm done talking.. - Rampage Jackson

@rampage4real just remember I beat Forrest u didn't! Case closed! We'll c what happens May 29th! - Rashad Evans

@SugaRashadEvans Tell Forrest to come fight for you then!! - Rampage Jackson

And finally...

@SugaRashadEvans This KO is gonna be for my fans! You can't take me down, your cardio is crap, you hit like a kid, and you got a glass jaw. - Rampage Jackson

Yeah, the buildup for this fight should be awesome. Discuss each episode here with us as we look forward to what should be a definite fight of the year candidate.

 

[Via Armbar]

I still do not understand Twitter, but damn what I got from it was hilarious. Quittin 'Rampage' Jackson...that's golden.

I'll try and catch the show. The fight honestly doesn't interest me too much but the build up does. I love me some good shit talking. Not to mention I'm extremely fond of the current black slang that seems so foreign to me. I've always liked Rampage and I think that a lot of the hate that Rashad gets is unwarranted. Either way the fight should be good, but it's just one of them being one step closer to being beaten by Shogun in my mind.

I just remembered the Stanky Leg. That's fucking awesome.

 

[INDYjon22]

UFC Primetime has done an awesome job getting hype for previous fights and this should be no different. It doesn't hurt that Rampage and Evans keep talking crap and building even more hype for the show, but Primetime should help to give the audience a better behind the scenes view of this rivalry. It will show how both men are training and preparing for this big fight and it may even give both fighters more of a sympathetic look.

Personally, I cannot wait for the fight to take place and Primetime will definitely help me get that much more excited for the fight. I am a big fan of these Primetime shows because they are put together very well and make the fighters look great. Hell, it made me actually believe for half a second that Dan Hardy could beat GSP.

 

[Ferbian]

While I again have to admit I'm not very strong and following on the MMA part, reading through this I would say that even from an outsiders look, it seems as if UFC has done a great job at promoting this fight very firmly, which should only be necessary.

I've seen some of Rampages stuff (specifically in a "tribute video") and I have to admit I'm absolutely in love with his power bombs, they look very brutal, and he seems rather talented, again from an outside view, even though I believe I've heard quite a lot of praise on his part.

I have to admit although I find it somewhat ridiculous to further a feud and hype a match through the use of Twitter, just because the thing is so widespread as a communication device, I still have to admit I find it ridiculous rather than furthering it where it gets to the most people, television, which they obviously are doing, which I think is great.

Now I don't really know much of Rashad (who I'm guessing is his opponent, my bad if it isn't....) but I believe Armbar's Pride thread had some praise for him, and therefore I'd believe it's gonna be a great match that will be very exciting, and it will be a good way for Rashad to prove himself in UFC (as I said in Armbar's thread, they need to prove themselves in both promotions if they wanna be considered greats of the business rather than greats of a promotion)

 

[Mr. Steve]

I'm watching this. Rashad/Rampage confrontations will always end up giving us good entertainment, TUF and twitter being no exception to it. You can bet that in between the training, and them on their downtime...they're going to talk shit about each other.

 

[jmt225]

Very, very excited for this.

Like Armbar, I expect the fight to overall be a disappointment for most people, but man... the build-up will be top quality entertainment. Say what you want about Rampage, but the guy can run his mouth like no other and he can be down right hilarious at times. Rashad, while not nearly as funny, is no slouch himself when it comes to the trash talk. So, yeah... that alone will be worth tuning in for.

But also, this show will let us see what kind of shape Rampage is in right now. There are a lot of questions regarding that, and this show should answer those questions for us, I think. Can't wait to see it.

 

[Dave]

As I am from the UK, I very much doubt that I will get to see this show.

However, I know that it will be the great enetertainment value that you get from both of these guys all over again. Last seasons Ultimate Fighter was one of the most entertaining seasons I have seen and these guys made it that way. Evans was fucking hilarious talking about Rampage because he just wanted him to attack him and it made for great viewing. These guys clearly hate each other and I am very much looking forward to seeing who comes out on top. I fancy that will be Evans but Rampage seems to really want to go into this fight and dominate Evans. He has the talent to take on Evans but I imagine that Evans will have his hands full.

That being said, this fight could go either way and the Primetime show will be very interesting. I don't know how those shows generally go down but I imagine that the trash talking will be a plenty and will make for compulsive viewing.