Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans to coach on "The Utlimate Fighter 10"

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heyzel

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by MMAjunkie.com Staff on May 28, 2009 at 10:00 am ET
The UFC may have just thrown us a curveball.

The upcoming 10th season of "The Ultimate Fighter" will feature former UFC light heavyweight champions Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Rashad Evans as coaches, according to Fighter's Only.

So what about current champ Lyoto Machida?

Jackson confirmed his participation with a Wednesday Twitter message. And according to the report, Evans, who lost his title to Machida at this past weekend's UFC 98 event, will take the other slot.

The UFC, of course, traditionally pits two coaches against each other who then fight at the series' conclusion. However, this upcoming season, which debuts Sept. 16 on Spike TV, will apparently be an exception.

In a post-UFC 98 press conference, UFC President Dana White confirmed Jackson, who defeated Keith Jardine in March at UFC 96, will get the first shot at Machida's title. (According to Machida's official website, the fight will take place in September in Las Vegas.)

That means one coach, Jackson, will fight just as this season of "TUF" debuts.

Prior to UFC 98, MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) spoke to Ed Soares, Machida's manager and translator, about the possibility of the Brazilian being a "TUF" coach.

"They've talked to us about it," Soares said.

Soares, though, said he hadn't even mentioned it to Machida because he wanted the fighter focused solely on the task at hand. After Machida disposed of Evans in brutal fashion with a second-round TKO, Machida said he'd be open to the idea of coaching, specifically for a team of Brazilian fighters. (The UFC and Spike TV implemented a country vs. country format for this season's Team U.S. vs. Team U.K. show.)

However, with Machida's limited English, the UFC perhaps felt two American fighters were better suited for the reality series.

In any manner, White has teased a "big announcement" at tonight's 2009 Video Game Awards on Spike TV. He used a similar platform to announce Jackson and Forrest Griffin as coaches on "The Ultimate Fighter 7."
 
BROWN GUERRERO

BROWN GUERRERO

#SFUNITE
#5
Feb 12, 2004
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I too would rather see Rampage vs Rashad first. Rampage has been talking some shit lately about Rashad saying he talks too much and he's gay for twisting his nipples(lol). I hope Rampage ktfo Rashad.

Rampage vs Rashad
Shogun vs Machida

oh boy!!
 
BROWN GUERRERO

BROWN GUERRERO

#SFUNITE
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Feb 12, 2004
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lenbiasyayo said:
agree with brown rampage rashad and shogun machida would be cool fights
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Both of them look to be happening. Dana said he was setting up the next big fight while Shogun was in his office yesterday and apparently Rampage confirmed he's fighting Rashad next. Gotta give the UFC props man they been putting up a ton of great fights.
 
MrPeete

MrPeete

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May 10, 2002
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You have to assume this was put in place once Rampage chose not to fight Rashad. Regardless of the outcome of Rashad/Machida. Machida's english just isn't there yet.

I'm still not sure who's fighting who and when, lol
 
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Impalas

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Nov 7, 2002
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I guess we all get our black on black crime even after Evans got his ass knocked out going to go down in Dec. should be a good fight and If it is Shogun Vs Machida thats going to be a great fight too.
 
BROWN GUERRERO

BROWN GUERRERO

#SFUNITE
#15
Feb 12, 2004
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straight from UFC.com so it's official. Rashad vs Rampage.


“Rampage” fired up for TUF 10 and a crack at Evans

There was no one cheering louder during the main event last Saturday night at the MGM Grand

Garden Arena in Las Vegas than former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson. In fact, Rashad Evans even told UFC President Dana White that the only thing he could hear in the arena was Jackson coaching him.

But Jackson wasn’t just trying to help out a fellow fighter; he was trying to will him to victory against Lyoto Machida because he wanted the next shot at him. It wasn’t meant to be though, as Evans got knocked out in the second round of the UFC 98 main event.

“I wasn’t happy to see him get knocked out because I wanted to be the first one to knock him out,” said Jackson during a media teleconference Thursday. “I’m kinda jealous of Machida with that, but that’s what he gets for running his mouth.”

Jackson will get his wish though. Despite being next in line for a shot at the new champ, Jackson has instead opted for a late-2009 fight with Evans, which will be preceded by a six week coaching stint with his rival on the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter.

“Dana told me I could fight whoever, and I had my mind set to fight Evans,” said ‘Rampage.’

According to White, the result of Saturday’s bout didn’t sway Jackson’s desire to fight Evans in the least.

“He told me, ‘This is personal,” recalled the UFC boss. “‘The title’s gonna be there. Whether Machida fights again and keeps the title or loses it, I’m going after the title, but I want to kick Rashad’s ass.’”

“When somebody says that to me,” said White. “I’m in. I want to give guys fights that they’re fired up for, motivated for, and excited for. Rampage is really motivated and fired up to fight Rashad Evans for getting in his face. He’s upset about it, and I know that Rashad would like to fight Rampage too.”

The feud between the two 205-pound standouts began at UFC 96, when Evans and Jackson went nose to nose in the Octagon after Rampage’s win over Keith Jardine. A jaw injury prevented Jackson from challenging for Evans’ title at UFC 98, but he’ll be ready to go later this year. In fact, the Memphis native is happy for the extended break.

“To be honest, I wanted to sharpen up some of my skills,” said Jackson, who has won two in a row since losing the light heavyweight title to Forrest Griffin in July of 2008. “I want to get my wrestling and ground game back up to par, and this gives me the time to heal up. I trained really hard for the Wanderlei (Silva) fight and then went right back into training for Jardine. This gives me time to kick it with my kids and sharpen up my skills. This is my job, this is my life, and I want to put the best foot forward and I want to be the best champion that ever lived.”

He also promises a return of his trademark slams.

“I haven’t been slamming people in a while,” he said. “I want to get back to slamming people and I want to be more unpredictable. That’s what’s got me this far, I was unpredictable back in the day. When I work on something and I find a love for something, I stick to it. So I was trying to box people and knock everybody out. Now I’m working on everything – I’m not just sticking to one thing. I want to be the Ultimate Fighter, the guy who can do everything – like GSP, baby.”

But first there’s the business of coaching on TUF, which will
Click here to find out more!
feature all heavyweights for its tenth season. Both Evans and Jackson are familiar with the series, Evans as the heavyweight winner of season two, and Jackson as the coach of season seven. And though no one from Jackson’s team won the seventh season, his fighters CB Dollaway, Matt Riddle, and Dan Cramer are still on the UFC roster, and he still remains close with other members of the squad, so considering that (and his coaching nemesis), the decision to return was a fairly easy one.

“Everybody knows that I don’t like coaching because I am a sore loser when it comes to stuff like that,” he said. “I said I’d never coach again, but I have a good relationship with my first team, and this time I want to go out there and I want to win, and when I found out who I’d be coaching against, I couldn’t turn it down. Rashad left a bad taste in my mouth. He got up in my face with his bad-ass breath and I’m from Memphis – we don’t like that.”

Sounds like an interesting season to say the least, and White says there are more surprises coming.

“I think season 10’s gonna be the highest rated season in Ultimate Fighter history,” he said.

The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights premieres on Spike TV at 10pm on Wednesday, September 16th.
 
B-Buzz

B-Buzz

lenbiasyayo
#16
Oct 21, 2002
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bhibago
last.fm
#16
dana white's supposed to make some big announcement at an awards show next week so I'm guessing that'll be shogun vs. machida.
I'd rather see Shogun have another fight to see where he's at but if Rampage wants to do TUF there really aren't any other options.

Still sets up a lot of fights. If Shogun and Forrest both win or lose the rematch is there.
 
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PsyDaL

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Apr 25, 2002
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mISS lISA said:
lol he said evans breath stank hahaha rampage is a fool
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Everybody breaf stank according to Rampage, every interview hed mentioned that about Wanderlei before both of those fights in Pride....

I wanna see Rampage dance with Evans on the same card as Machida vs Shogun that'll be a sick ass ufc....
 
Neshani

Neshani

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May 27, 2009
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This looks like it makes a lot of sense. They need to let Machida work on his highlight reel and get the casual fans acquainted.

The drama between Evans and Rampage (regardless of if it's real or fake) has everyone looking forward to the next season of TUF, and their fight. Plus both fighters are funny as hell in interviews. I'm definitely interested in watching a season of Team Evans vs. Team Jackson, but I'd probably skip over a season of Team Machida vs. Team Evans.
 
Arson

Arson

Long live the KING!!!!
#20
May 7, 2002
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seems like rampage is scared to fight machida, i mean who in the fuck would PASS on a title shot?
 
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