

(Images courtesy of twitter.com/Rampage4real and twitter.com/SugaRashadEvans.)
The long-rumored UFC 114 headlining matchup between Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Rashad Evans is a go, according to updates posted last night on the fighters’ Twitter pages. It will be the first fight in over 14 months for Rampage, who went AWOL following his decision victory over Keith Jardine last March in order to film The A-Team. (UFC 114 goes down just two weeks before the film’s release date. That’s called "synergy," brah.) Evans most recently won a decision over Thiago Silva in January
We’re confident that Jackson and Evans can re-build the heat of this matchup back up to TUF 10 levels. But Rampage fans may have reason to worry. According to a recent mailbag column by Yahoo!’s Kevin Iole: "[Jackson] isn’t close to being in shape now, though his Muay Thai coach, Dave Jackson, insists he’s already working hard. But I saw him in Australia and he looked plenty plump to me. I was also surprised to see him smoking a cigarette."
Well, if it can happen to Gerard Butler, it can happen to anyone. Let’s hope Rampage spends these next three months wisely. UFC 114′s tentative lineup is after the jump…
MAIN CARD
Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans
Forrest Griffin vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Diego Sanchez vs. John Hathaway
Amir Sadollah vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Aaron Simpson vs. Chris Leben
PRELIMINARY CARD
Efrain Escudero vs. Dan Lauzon
Melvin Guillard vs. Thiago Tavares
Cyrille Diabate vs. Luiz Cane
Todd Duffee vs. Mike Russow
Ryan Jensen vs. Jesse Forbes


Why is Dan Lauzon getting fights in the UFC? Shouldn’t he be fighting for free somewhere and faking nut shots to win decisions over more talented opponents? Efrain will destroy him, unless he’s as over-confident as he was last time. Dude acted like he didn’t think he could lose.