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This coming May’s UFC pay-per-view event, UFC 98, was supposed to be headlined by a title unification fight between UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar and UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir. After sustaining a knee injury, Frank Mir had to pull out of the event and the title unification fight was moved to UFC 100 in July.
During the live broadcast of UFC 96: Jackson vs. Jardine, UFC figurehead Dana White stated the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans would defend his championship against either Quinton Jackson or Lyoto Machida, based on the main events results. In the UFC 96 main event, Quinton Jackson wound up defeating Keith Jardine by decision after three rounds of action.
Based on those aforementioned statements, one would be lead to believe that Rashad Evans would be defending his UFC Light Heavyweight Title against Quinton Jackson at UFC 98.
However, Quinton Jackson has yet to sign on for the title fight at UFC 98 and Rashad Evans has stated that he believes that Lyoto Machida will actually fight for the title at the event.
Which leads to the reason for this column, who deserves to get the title shot at UFC 98, Quinton Jackson or Lyoto Machida?
Lets take a look at the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion first, former PRIDE veteran Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Quinton Jackson made his UFC debut in early 2007 at UFC 67, when he defeated Marvin Eastman by knockout. That win propelled Quinton Jackson to the top contender to the UFC Light Heavyweight Title that was held by Chuck Liddell at the time.
Quinton Jackson got his title shot at UFC 71 against Chuck Liddell, whom Quinton Jackson defeated by knockout to become the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Quinton Jackson would defend the title once by defeating Dan Henderson at UFC 75, but would then lose the title to Forrest Griffin at UFC 86. After losing the title, Quinton Jackson would rebound and defeat PRIDE foe Wanderlei Silva at UFC 92.
Quinton Jackson would follow up the victory over Wanderlei Silva by defeating Keith Jardine by decision at UFC 96. That victory by Quinton Jackson and the subsequent post fight face off with Rashad Evans put the focus on a potential fight between Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans at UFC 98. However, there was another top contender not seen in the face off who is in line for a title opportunity as well.
Lyoto Machida made his way into the UFC at UFC 67, the same event Quinton Jackson made his UFC debut at, by defeating Sam Hoger by decision. Lyoto Machida followed that victory up by defeating David Heath by decision at UFC 70, which was the tenth straight victory of his career. The winning streak continued at UFC 76, when Lyoto Machida defeated Kazuhiro Nakamura by decision.
After three straight victories in the UFC, Lyoto Machida would take a step up in competition by facing former PRIDE star Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou at UFC 79. In that fight, Lyoto Machida wound up shocking the world by defeating Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou by submission. The shocks would continue at UFC 84, when Lyoto Machida defeated Tito Ortiz by decision, which was Tito Ortiz’s final UFC encounter.
Lyoto Machida then established himself as a top contender to the UFC Light Heavyweight Title when he defeated Thiago Silva by knockout at UFC 94. Lyoto Machida has then been playing the waiting game to see if he would get the first crack at UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans or if he would have to take a seat behind Quinton Jackson.
So, when UFC 98 rolls around, who will be challenging UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans for the gold, Quinton Jackson or Lyoto Machida?
You can contact David Tees at bigtees360@yahoo.com
