« Keith Jardine views his fight with Matt Hamill as a starting-over process | Home | Joseph Benavidez on fighting Urijah Faber: “The only place you guys are going to see us fight is in the gym” »
Rashad Evans: Michael Bisping lied to Rampage Jackson
By Zach Arnold | June 18, 2010
“So why is it if I get finished it’s the greatest fight ever but when I win it’s a boring fight?”
That was originally going to be the headline quote, but there are many quotes in this four minute interview with Rashad Evans. To the victor goes the spoils and Rashad Evans is having the time of his life right now. His accusation that Michael Bisping lied to Rampage Jackson will probably be the big takeaway from this interview, but I think the overall tone and the chip on his shoulder about how the fans view him is more interesting.
So, I transcribed the interview, naturally.
Rashad’s message to the fans at the end of the video about how to be a true MMA fan…
“I respect him definitely as a fighter. You know, he definitely has fight in him. He didn’t quit like I thought he was quit, you know. I thought he was going to be looking for a way out but he didn’t. In positions that I had I was like I know he’s going to quit but he didn’t quit and I’m definitely impressed with that. You know he definitely a fighter, he’s a legend in this sport and for me to say that I don’t respect him and respect that, that I would be a lie because that I do. But at the same time on the personal side, why every single time he loses he has to make excuses? Just say you know what, I lost, and that’s the end of it. You don’t have to say, it’s because of this, it’s because of that, it was a boring fight. Would it have been a boring fight if when I went down and he came on top he would have finished the fight, everybody would have said no, that’s the greatest fight ever. So why is it if I get finished it’s the greatest fighter ever but when I win it’s a boring fight? I mean, c’mon. It’s not like the last two minutes of the fight I just laid on top of him and didn’t let him move. When I was on top of him I was punching him in his face. I was punching him in his face the whole time and then we got up, the fight was over.”
“You know it’s kind of upsetting because wrestling is a part of Mixed Martial Arts, you know, and a lot of people said, oh, all he did was just wrestle. If anybody watch that fight they would see that’s not all I did. Every single time I was in a wrestling position, I was striking and whenever the positioning got stale, Herb Dean broke it up, you know. I took him down three times and I was ground ‘n pounding every single time. When I had him against the cage, I was kneeing him in his thigh, punching him in his thigh, and if you ask him if you read the article that he did at Fighter’s Only, he said I was hurting his knee that was already messed up already. He said, how did he know? Did he talk to the doc? No, I just could tell every time he hit he [expletive] whined like a little girl, that’s why.”
“I told him what I was going to do. Everybody knows what I was going to do. If you watched the Countdown show, it showed what I was going to do. The Primetime show showed what I was going to do, you know. I’m going to wrestle, I’m a wrestler, I said what I’m going to do. I’m going to wrestle. I said I’m not really going to have a game plan, I just know what I’m good at and I know what he’s not good at and I’m going to try to maximize what I’m good at while minimizing what he’s good at, that’s just what it comes down to, it’s not rocket science here, you know. He knows I was going to wrestle and he know I want to wrestle you know I’m going to try to take him down but the problem with him is that he underestimated. I knew at the press conference when he said Michael Bisping said that I was weak, I knew he was in trouble because the moment he’s locked up against the cage and he tried to get me off the cage and tried to put me to the cage, I brought him back to the cage and made him stay there until Herb Dean broke it up. The look in his face was priceless because he knew at that moment Michael Bisping LIED TO HIM.”
“I mean, what [does] an exciting fight mean? It means that we just go and stand toe-to-toe and act like we don’t have any training at all? I’m not going to do that and I would never do that. I’m not going to stand there and go toe-to-toe like I have on you know 30 ounce gloves on, that’s just stupid because I know better. I know when I’m wearing four ounce gloves and there’s like a cast underneath, I know that it doesn’t take much to get caught with a big shot. I’m trying to win, you know, I’m going to sit there and go to toe-to-toe. If that’s the only chance a guy has of beating me, I’m not going to give him that only chance. When I go into a fight, my goal is to try to eliminate as much as he can do to me while maximizing everything that I can do to him. So if I go in there and go into his game plan and therefore defeat myself, why even compete if I’m going to defeat myself?”
“I’m just trying to fight whenever the UFC says to fight. It’s whatever if I got to fight for an interim or wait to fight Shogun, I’ll do either or, it doesn’t really matter to me.”
“I want to say if you guys are fans, be fans of the sport. Don’t be a fan of just certain aspects of the fight, of the sport. It’s not boxing. It’s MMA, that means you can use wrestling, jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai, karate, boxing, or whatever you feel is your discipline. That’s the sport that you’re claiming that your fans of. Be a fan of the sport. Don’t just say that you’re supposed to go toe-to-toe and that means you’re a man. No, that means you got a short career, [expletive].”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 26 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fans never appreciate a loudmouth braggart who fights boring. For an example see the reactions to Floyd Mayweather Jr. Though Money May is way more talented and enjoyable to watch than Rashad.
There in different sports.
I doubt you would be saying Mayweather’s much more enjoyable to watch if his fight with Shane didn’t happen.
Rashad used his best weapon to win the fight.
“You should not have to sacrifice winning for the sake of being entertaining. It’s your opponent’s responsibility to stop what you are doing. So if they can’t stop your wrestling and takedowns, they go home with a loss.”
That is a great quote by Chris.
Sure, a guy can say that. But then don’t whine that ‘nobody likes me’. They boo me.
Ah. I agree with that, but I would also have to agree with him that his fight with Rampage wasn’t that boring.
The Silva and Bisping fights are another story though…
Slobber knocker wirefu fights are for getting attention and getting a title shot.
Title fights are for winning IMO.
Just by having the title on the line (or the #1 contender position even), makes a fight inherently more exciting than PPV filler fights.
Although I suppose that does seem to be the opposite view to some peoples expectations.
They expect reckless abandon in a headliner.
I think the point that fighters like Rashad, Fitch, Etc miss is that it’s not so much that they use their wrestling to win fights, it’s that they cannot or will not finish their opponents on the ground. Add to the fact that when a fighter cannot take a shot (like Rashad) and they just lay-n-pray, it comes off as a real pussy move (though very tactful) to fans.
I personally don’t mind when fighter uses wrestling to dominate the match, but finish the guy for christ sakes or at least try. MMA isn’t college or olympic wrestling, fans want to see all or many of the aspects in a fight – not just one.
Plus something tells me that in a year or so Rashad will run into someone like Bones Jones or Ryan Bader who can stop his takedowns and he will get KTFO – again.
I agree with this.
I like watching wrestling as long as it’s being used offensively to improve position and with a view to getting a TKO/Submission.
Fans dislike wrestlers who just try to play the points game. The way MMA scoring is setup, a takedown and top position practically guarantees a fighter the round, regardless of what the other fighter is able to do from the bottom (and who may in fact have come closer to finishing in that round via a submission, say).
While Rashad is right in that MMA is not Boxing, and fans should respect that. It’s also not a Wrestling match with occasional ‘faggot punches’ (excuse the term) thrown in for good measure.
“Add to the fact that when a fighter cannot take a shot (like Rashad)…”
^^
Thats where you jumped the couch.
But thanks for playing.
Thanks for the clip Zach. I have no problem with the way Evans fought Rampage. Or the way Josh Koscheck fought Paul Daley. Their style of fighting may not be the most entertaining to watch,but winning fighters are relevant fighters.
You should not have to sacrifice winning for the sake of being entertaining. It’s your opponent’s responsibility to stop what you are doing. So if they can’t stop your wrestling and takedowns, they go home with a loss. Sorry Rampage.
GSP gets much of the same heat, but you know what? GSP actually GETS the takedown when he gets it to the ground he is very active with passing and doing damage most of the time. What did Evans do? Most of that fight I saw Evans drive Jackson up against the cage and not get a takedown as he appeared to be just fine exploiting the rules. Seriously, he caught Jackson once early and then rather than try to follow up he Wall & Stalled him like he couldn’t wait to just wrap up on Jackson like a human snuggie.
Jackson is very strong and knows how to wrestle.
Its probably not as easy to take him down as you’re thinking it is.
It surprises me that people are still talking about this fight in this way.
When watching the fight I was thinking “this isn’t perhaps the most exciting way for Rashad to fight, but it’s the smart way, and it’s damn effective”.
I didn’t have a single problem with that fight. It’s like what – you really expect Rashad to fight to Rampage’s strength and just trade with him?
This was not a Sylvia vs Arlovski III – it was a well fought, tactical fight with some exciting moments. I didn’t get why people were complaining the day after the fight, let alone a few weeks later. Especially when WE KNEW the fight would be like that.
Agreed.
If a fighter talks a big game and calls the other fighter a quitter (based on a single fight? against the top figher in the division?) and even goes so far as to insult his personal and racial identity, then he should back it up and really hurt his opponent, if not stop him.
Rashad did none of this. It was a boring performance. Sure, a win is a win. But boring is boring.
And that’s the only reason anybody expected anything more from this fight. If you took out the trash talk, people would know Rashad isn’t going to stand and trade with him and Jackson was too rusty to do much about it.
But the internet got sucked into the “OMG THEY HATE EACH OTHER IT’S GONNA BE SO AWESOME~!” hype like marks and this is the reaction they get.
We’ll see it again in August when they come online saying “But-but-but, Sonnen and Silva HATED each other. Why did Sonnen just take him down and lay on him?” or “Why didn’t Silva engage much?” People can be such rubes over and over again.
http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/368705/rashad-rampage.gif
This was an excellent display of Mixed Martial Arts and if you didn’t think that alone was good enough for 15 minutes of your time, then I don’t know what you are doing here.
I thought it was an exciting fight. I don’t know what people are so upset about.
Its very simple. People are upset because Rashad talked a whole bunch of shi!t like he was going to actually bring it to Rampage, and then he danced around and generally avoided engagement, except to take Rampage down and lay and pray. Quite simple.
But who are the people who are upset?, people who are Rampage fans who are emotional over him being owned and people who already dislike Rashad for beating their favorite fighter.
The rest of the people who are real fans and respect the sport and get just how great his gameplan was have no problem with him. And neither did all of the people who cheered for Rashad when he was announced as the winner when previously they had booed him.
Rashad needs to keep doing what he’s doing, already he’s gained more fans after that performance than he had. And everyone respects guys who go out there are act like true mixed martial artist like he is. All this boring talk is just done by a small minority of people who are too ignorant to realise the skill it takes to wrestle or they are simply to full of hate to appreciate a great gamplan.
You know, I do understand the reasoning behind and the mobs demand to be “entertained” by headliners and belt holders.
Its a natural from the gut expectation.
But you cant just hand that out at the door for the price of a ticket.
Thats how wrestling became wrasslin. And it had to be part of what helped boxing become so corrupt as it is today.
Imagine having to resort to inserting unqualified opponents against your marketable champs to ensure they looked exciting for the crowd.
In an actual sport if the champ and contender are at comparable levels, which hopefully they should be, and the champ goes out there prancing around and swinging for the fences to keep a drunken mob entertained, then the challenger will always play a cool technical fight instead and take the belt every time.
When everything is on the line between to comparable opponents it can often require the finest subtleties of an artform.
Lets not adjust the sport for nitwits.
If nitwits didn’t come to see a SPORT, just a guaranteed show like the circus, then let them move on.
They’ve already got wrasslin.
And let them take their money with them too.
A sport that becomes all about the money can easily become less of a sport.
I’m a Rashad Evans fan. He is a great fighter. People just love to hate or find something to complain about. Is Evans the most exciting? No. Is he great to watch? Absolutely.
SixT-4 says:
“I didn’t have a single problem with that fight. It’s like what – you really expect Rashad to fight to Rampage’s strength and just trade with him?”
Yes. People did.
But don’t get me wrong, I AGREE with you.
Many casual fans prefer the “kickboxing” aspects of the UFC & MMA. There is nothing wrong with that, I’m just so suprised these same people have no interest in kickboxing itself.
I would have liked to see him attempt a few submissions when on the ground, but he mostly had him pinned up against the cage. He DID spend time punching him in his theigh and knee area, which looked pretty painful.
Could the fight have been more exciting?
Sure, they almost always can. But I personally didn’t find it boring. He had a game plan to negate Jackson’s striking power, and that is what he did.
Kickboxing was never promoted correctly in America. K-1 did a half-assed job when they finally came to Las Vegas of promoting it and people barely noticed. And the US promotions never made an attempt to leave the martial arts community, so that’s the only fans they got.
UFC did a great job of promoting, so that’s why they’re where they are and the people who might have just watched kickboxing if given it as an alternative don’t even bother to track it down. And it’s a shame, because there’s some horrible MMA stand up that gets passed off as good kickboxing from people who don’t know any better while the guys in K-1 can’t even get arrested in America.
Yeah, with the popularity of MMA it’s weird how K-1 is ignored. But like you said, the promotion is terrible.
I’m in the UK and I tried to get DVDs of K-1 MAX events and you just can’t. The only way is to go to the Japanese version of Amazon and pay 7x the price of a normal DVD to import it.
The UFC isn’t particularly well known about in this country because the average person can’t really see it (it’s on ESPN who don’t have a huge number of subscribers). K-1, which has basically no TV and very little in the way of DVDs has absolutely no chance here.
The biggest problem is rashad talked all his trash saying how he was gonna knock out rampage and whip his ass, I’d use the previously mentioned ” lay and pray” to describe rashads tactics. All disciplines have their purpose, but don’t talk bout beating peopledown n then come out n hug yer opponent to the lame ass win! We pay lots of money to see a fight, if I wanted ta see wrestling matches I’d drive up to A.S.U!
The remarkable thing I saw in that fight was that at no time did I feel Rampage was in danger when Rashad used his wrestling to get back control, the most advantageous spot in grappling. Where are his submissions? Quite sad for a champion really.
Wrestlers control, they don’t finish, wrestlers use their control to win fights by decision, wrestlers game the UFC by laying and praying, Wrestlers are ruining the UFC because they game the UFC AND only fight for the “W” on their record,….Rashad is a wrestler, therefore he is ruining the UFC!
But it’s not the wrestlers or Rashad and his ilk who need to change, the UFC’s rules and each state’s regulations need to change:
1) 10 seconds inactivity on the cage or the ground.
2) Penalty cards for inaction.
3) Knees and kicks to to the head of a grounded opponent.
4) Get rid of the cage and use a ring which promotes more athleticism and less artificial leverage.
Soon, there will be a new crop of fighters who will have learned to nullify even the best wrestlers advantages and there are camps right now working really hard to do just that. It’s not only the fans who see that shitty game plan.
Also, Rampage looked like hell in that fight and simply lost. He was also one of those who said he would bring it and he didn’t and he knows it…
It’s MMA not UFC. I’m suprised you worked so hard to say something so stupid.