Rampage

UFC light-heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and #1 contender Quinton Jackson are letting some cats out of some bags this morning. First we have the above image taken from the homepage of Machida's official site, which announces that Machida and Jackson will be fighting each other in September — we're guessing at UFC 103, since that show is currently without a main event, though the Couture/Nogueira card is also earlier that month.

But here's the weird part: TUF 10 is slated to premiere in September — and weren't Machida and Rampage supposed to be coaching against each other? Well, Rampage will definitely be a coach on the show (visual proof after the jump), but new reports indicate that the Dragon will be sitting this season out.

(UFC 98 post-event press conference footage, courtesy of CageWriter.)

Confirming what many of us had already assumed, Dana White announced at Saturday night's press conference that new UFC light-heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida will make his first title defense against former champ Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Though the match isn't tied to a specific event yet, White also announced (perhaps not coincidentally) that the UFC would be holding a show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on October 24th.

So, quick MMA rumor math: Machida will be fighting Rampage later this year + Rampage will be one of the coaches on TUF 10 = We might be seeing the Dragon lead a team of heavyweights on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter.

After a furious ten-day session in which 453 captions were submitted, it's time to bring this thing home. Below are the 11 best entries in our Never Surrender caption contest. Read them all below, then vote for your favorite in the poll on the right. The five captions with the most votes win their authors a DVD copy of Never Surrender, and the five runners-up win CagePotato "Hall of Fame" t-shirts. The last-place caption earns the bitter frustration of coming so close to success but falling just short. Voting ends tomorrow at 4 p.m. ET, and the winners will be announced shortly after. Thanks to everyone who entered, and good luck!

Steve: Hey guys, after the movie, let's go to my bedroom, take our shoes off, lie down on my bed, take about 20 to 30 minutes, and...

Rodney: This was taken just before BJ returned to his trailer and failed to come back out for the second half of the movie.

Til: Ok you can have him this weekend, but remember — lots of food and no Red Bull.

(Dana White tries to convince Quinton Jackson to fight Rashad Evans at UFC 98, following Rampage's decision win over Keith Jardine last Saturday. Video courtesy of WatchKalibRun via TheGarv.)

SportsIllustrated has confirmed that former UFC light-heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson has turned down the opportunity to challenge Rashad Evans for the 205-pound title at UFC 98 (May 23rd, Las Vegas), due to the short turnaround and his lingering injuries. Taking his place will be Lyoto Machida, the undefeated — and virtually untouchable — Brazilian contender who most recently knocked out Thiago Silva at UFC 94 in January. Evans vs. Machida is the official main-event replacement for Mir vs. Lesnar, which was scrapped from the card thanks to Mir's bum knee.

"Sugar" and "The Dragon" are very similar on paper. Both are undefeated in 14 professional fights — Evans is 13-0-1, while Machida is 14-0. Both have gone the distance in the majority of their UFC appearances, but are coming off of dramatic stoppage victories. And they have three opponents in common: Tito Ortiz (who Machida beat by unanimous decision last May and Evans drew with in 2007), Stephan Bonnar (who Machida won a cut-stoppage TKO over in 2003 and Evans beat via majority decision in 2006) and Sam Hoger (who Machida defeated by unanimous decision in 2007 and Evans took a split decision over in 2006).

Evans/Machida may not turn out to be Fight of the Year — we're expecting more of a cautious and technical match than a thrilling one — but it's also not the easiest fight to predict, which makes it compelling. Will Evans and the Team Jackson camp be able to come up with a gameplan that solves the confounding riddle of Lyoto Machida? Will Machida still look invincible against a true top-of-the-food chain light-heavyweight? 

(He's gettin' that belt back — eventually.)

Even though he wasn't one of the six fighters who received medical suspensions after UFC 96, Quinton Jackson reportedly injured his hand during his decision win against Keith Jardine, making a May title fight against light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans even less likely. Adds Sportsnet.ca:

Rampage's hand injury adds to a lingering jaw injury that he sustained while training for his UFC 92 fight against Wanderlei Silva. It's hard to imagine he'd be anywhere close to 100% by May 23rd. But that doesn't seem to bother Rashad Evans, who is already mentally preparing for the UFC's other top light-heavyweight contender, Lyoto Machida. As Sugar told Sherdog: