UFC 114: Rampage Jackson Vs. Rashad Evans Will Be Poetry In Motion

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight champion, and budding Hollywood movie-star Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, is ready to return to action on May 29 to finally face down the long-standing feud with arch nemesis, Rashad Evans.

Jackson has recently been starring in a movie remake of the popular, early-1980s action show, “The A-Team,” and nonetheless remains one of my all-time favorite UFC cagefighters.

Jackson started making a name for himself in other MMA fighting promotions, such as King Of The Cage, and the now defunct Pride Fighting Championships. And Jackson, unlike many others, has somehow managed to transition his early ring success into a lucrative career with the top promotion, UFC.

Jackson started out as a wrestler, but moreover he is the true definition of a fighter with God-given natural abilities.

A hand-to-hand, street-fighting-style slugger, Jackson will not hesitate to paint an opponent onto the canvas if he attempts to grapple with him.

Jaskson, a.k.a Rampage, brings his signature blend of sarcastic smack talk, humor, wit, and theatrics to an otherwise dangerous, violent, and bloody sport.

And although his best days may unfortunately be behind him, I think he will go down in UFC history as one of the most, if not the most, entertaining, and best recognized figures in MMA.

The best of luck goes out to Jackson in his upcoming grudge match against Evans; a fighter who I feel will likely run-and-gun during the opening-rounds, but will eventually be caught along the cage, and knocked out by the more powerful slugger Jackson.

However, if Evans can manage “to stay on his bicycle” for the entire three rounds, he could possibly pull off a unanimous judges decision, much like the newly crowned UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar recently accomplished against former worlds “pound-for-pound” cagefighter, BJ Penn.

Jackson also has one of the most entertaining ring walks, or prefight entrances, ever seen.

It is pure poetry in motion, a spectacle not to be missed, and I feel that only a true poet could correctly describe its flamboyance.

I’m an extremely poor excuse for a poet, but I will leave you with a poem that I attempted to compose in honor of Rampage Jackson, and what it may feel like to walk in his shoes during one of his entrances.

Passing solid concrete walls, the lights they dim, the curtain falls.

A spotlight searches, the crowd goes numb, the distant sounds of guitar and drum.

All eyes are on him, as he shows his face, with cold steel chain, and steady pace.

The women scream, they call his name, the men they shout and show disdain.

Stopping and with head held high, he howls in anger at the sky.

Shuffling feet, heart pounding proud, while men in suits push back the crowd.

The cage is distant but threateningly near;

Music roars, adrenaline, fear.

Faces approach him with confident smiles, yet a knife twists through him, his stomach riles.

Voices of trainers, admire him, and know him, carefully calm him, undress and embrace him.

Alone now, it’s time, it’s the end of the song;

All that remains, is the Octagon.

—Stoker