Guest Posted May 28, 2009 Report Share Posted May 28, 2009 NY, May 28, 2009 – Former UFC light heavyweight champions “Suga” Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will serve as coaches for Season 10 of “The Ultimate Fighter” premiering Wednesday, September 16 at 10:00pm, it was announced today by Dana White, UFC President. This season will showcase 16 heavyweights, the first time this weight class has been featured on “The Ultimate Fighter” since Evans himself was a cast member on Season 2. In May 2005, Evans stepped into the UFC training facility as an unknown novice in the heavyweight division for Season 2 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” Four years later, the former UFC light heavyweight champion and winner of Season 2 returns to Las Vegas to serve as coach for a new crop of aspiring heavyweights. This season marks the second time the charismatic Jackson has served as a coach for “The Ultimate Fighter” as he opposed Forrest Griffin for Season 7 last April. “The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights” will feature the two fan favorites coaching the best up and coming mixed martial artists in the heavyweight division. Two finalists will square off in a live finale on December 5 in Las Vegas with the winner being declared “The Ultimate Fighter®” and netting a six figure contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship®, the premier mixed martial arts organization in the world. Production on “The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights” begins in Las Vegas in early June and will last six weeks. The series will once again be hosted by UFC President Dana White. “The tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter is going to be the most highly anticipated one in years, and with two of the greatest pound for pound fighters in the world today, both of which have personalities as large as their skill-sets, it promises to deliver,” said White. A native of Niagara Falls, NY, “Suga” Rashad Evans was an all state wrestler in high school before moving on to Michigan State University, where he competed in the 174 lbs weight class. Shortly after graduating, Evans burst onto the mixed martial arts scene by capturing the heavyweight title on Season 2 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” He has since dropped down to the light heavyweight division, and, under the tutelage of Greg Jackson, compiled a stellar record in the UFC against some of the top competition in the world, including wins against Stephan Bonnar and Michael Bisping, and a vicious knockout of Chuck Liddell. The win against Liddell cemented Evans’ place as an elite light heavyweight, and earned him a title shot against another champion of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Season 1’s Forrest Griffin at UFC 92. Evans made the most of his opportunity, using his brutal ground and pound skills en route to becoming light heavyweight champion by defeating Forrest Griffin via TKO in the 3rd round. He lost his coveted title at UFC 98 on May 23 via a 2nd round KO at the hands of Lyoto Machida, but is eager to get back in the mix to reclaim his belt. A native of Memphis, TN who trains in Liverpool, England with the Wolfslair Academy, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson is one of the most complete fighters in the UFC®. An All-State wrestler in high school, Jackson made his UFC® debut in February of 2007 and made quick work of Marvin Eastman. The victory earned him a title shot against Chuck Liddell, and a little over three minutes into the first round of their bout at UFC 71, Jackson won the UFC® light heavyweight title with a stunning combination of strikes that caused the fight to be stopped. Jackson put his newly acquired title on the line against PRIDE champion Dan Henderson at UFC 75 on Spike TV, and won a grueling five round decision to unify the titles and become the undisputed light heavyweight champion of the world. He relinquished his belt to Forrest Griffin at UFC 86, but has since defeated longtime nemesis Wanderlei Silva via KO at UFC 92 and Keith Jardine at UFC 96 to put him in line for another title shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 28, 2009 Report Share Posted May 28, 2009 that should be entertaining as all hell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sathias Posted May 28, 2009 Report Share Posted May 28, 2009 I was hoping they did this, even if Machida won. The question is whether Machida will have another title shot between now and when these two fight, then the winner is ready to fight again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 28, 2009 Report Share Posted May 28, 2009 I Don't see why Rampage agreed to this.... I mean he already had a title shot, all he had to do was take it, now he is out of action for a while, and could risk losing his title shot if he gets beat by Rashad. We seen what happened last time Rampage took a lengthy time off. Don't get me wrong I'm excited and it should be entertaining I'm just wondering why? ALSO.... Does this mean somone else will fight Lyoto? Maybe Shogun? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jatsin Posted May 29, 2009 Report Share Posted May 29, 2009 I was kinda expecting Machida for TUF.In a way it kinda hurts Machida for his first challenger(I'll continue my rant with my reply to the quote below Does this mean someone else will fight Lyoto? Maybe Shogun? Yeah, I think it'd have to be Shogun but Shogun is kinda a little unworthy himself but there's not really anyone better at the moment.You have Rampage, and the champ just losing his belt but Rashad hasn't earned himself back up to a rematch and Rampage took the fight with Rashad instead while doing TUF.Forrest Griffin is fighting Anderson Silva at UFC 101 I believe so that counts him out.The only other real contenders are Shogun coming off a 2 win streak, beating a 45 year old Mark Coleman barely before it went to the judges and looked gassed himself and beating an over the hill Chuck Liddell having Liddell's last match before retirement.Jardine on the other hand is coming off a loss to Rampage and is set to face Thiago Silva I believe. So really only Shogun makes sense despite being somewhat unimpressive.You could however go outside the contender slots and go with Luiz Cane or Rich Franklin but I don't think Luiz has quite a big enough name to main event yet, and for Rich I just don't think he's had enough Light Heavyweight matches since returning to the weightclass and it would also be assuming he defeats Wanderlei Silva. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jls.monster Posted May 29, 2009 Report Share Posted May 29, 2009 Rampage wants to prove that forrest fight was a fluke, and dominating rashad would OBVIOUSLY do that. What they are doing is this: Rampage vs Rashard (Dana hopefully wants Rampage to win, this is also a grudge match for rashad bc jardine is his teammate) Shogun will get the title shot before rampage, because rumor is Rashad is always back to training, and they are hoping shogun wins this because what does that equal. Shogun vs Rampage II......OMG how that would sell yea? Looks like a solid prediction to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sathias Posted May 29, 2009 Report Share Posted May 29, 2009 I Don't see why Rampage agreed to this.... I mean he already had a title shot, all he had to do was take it, now he is out of action for a while, and could risk losing his title shot if he gets beat by Rashad. We seen what happened last time Rampage took a lengthy time off. Don't get me wrong I'm excited and it should be entertaining I'm just wondering why? From what I've been reading, Rampage asked for Rashad. So either he really wants to fight Rashad, or he doesn't feel ready for Machida. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PBR Posted May 29, 2009 Report Share Posted May 29, 2009 page cannot and will not catch machida -- way too fast for page -- page will be falling forward from exhaustion trying to chase down machida and will lose --- thats the reason he asked for rashad Schim Posted Yesterday, 06:00 PM I Don't see why Rampage agreed to this.... I mean he already had a title shot, all he had to do was take it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PBR Posted May 29, 2009 Report Share Posted May 29, 2009 reason no machida on tuf is machida cannot speak english very good at all -- would make for bad show having to subtitle the show -- nog speaks way better than machida -- or thats my feeling on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sathias Posted May 29, 2009 Report Share Posted May 29, 2009 reason no machida on tuf is machida cannot speak english very good at all -- would make for bad show having to subtitle the show -- nog speaks way better than machida -- or thats my feeling on it I think you are right, but he's learning pretty fast... his English now is way better than when he first joined the UFC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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