A Classic Rivalry Was Renewed Today… And it Ended in Brutal Style as Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson Knocked Out Wanderlei Silva…
Bellator announced themselves today. This was arguably their biggest and best card of all time and it couldn’t have ended better for them either. In the main event, welterweight champion Rory MacDonald had the opportunity to become the promotion’s first ever champ-champ against Gegard Mousasi.
However, it was the co-main event that had a lot of people talking. Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson was taking on fellow veteran Wanderlei Silva for the fourth time. That’s right. And you wouldn’t bet against them fighting a fifth time either.
The pair came into this one with Silva leading by two wins to one. This was an opportunity for ‘Rampage’ to get revenge and balance the stats. As you can see from the fight footage below, he definitely did that, in the most violent style possible.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BoVl2JbHz4j/?utm_source=ig_embed
Violence
When these two men enter the cage, there’s only going to be one man walking out. That’s what happened the first two times when Silva battered Jackson winning twice by TKO in their PRIDE days. It would be a case of third time lucky when they met again under the banner of the UFC.
This time Jackson would do enough to win with his superior boxing knocking Silva out cold in the first round. History repeated itself at Bellator 206 last night. Jackson seized the opportunity to reset the history books.
Two Rounds
This fight got as far as the second round, but it was dominated by ‘Rampage.’ Silva looked to have a bit more sharpness than his opponent in the early stages of the first round, but towards the end, Jackson looked calm and collected. Silva appeared to be in trouble before the break.
In the second, a frantic clash got the crowd on their feet. Both of them looked about ready to gas out – Silva is 42 and Jackson 40 – but they still kept pushing hard, breathing heavily at the same time. Finally, about 2 minutes into the second round, Jackson caught Silva with a fierce shot and then swarmed him, forcing the referee to intervene.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BoVjs2gHXK7/?hl=en&taken-by=bellatormma
Five Times?
With the warm reception towards both men last night and the action they gave us, this could really go to another tie-breaker. Both men are level with two wins and losses apiece. They’re obviously past their past, but they’ve still got excellent entertainment value.
It felt almost like we were back in the classic days of MMA just before Reebok deals, WWE-style promotion and all the rest of that rubbish. Enjoy these guys while you can, and well done Bellator.
