Rampage/Wanderlai
What do you guys think of this fight coming up? I'm pretty excited about it even though I don't know if I see any betting value either way.
Rampage benefits from a great personality and gimmick with his howling stuff. When they are this popular they tend to be overvalued.
Wanderlai on the other hand beat up some undersized guys when he was possibly on the steroids in PRIDE.
Should be a good fight where they stay on their feet, but neither has looked real great here lately. Both of them are past their prime and should be a pretty good fight to watch, but a toss up.
These days you have to like Evans, Griffin, Machida and Thiago to take down either one.
If I'm forced to pick I would say that:
1. Rampage has worked on his overall skills and is better than he was back four or five years ago. He is a better wrestler and striker these days.
2. Despite Silva's domination of Keith Jardine, I would say it's pretty obvious that he has peaked in terms of overall ability.
3. Even with Silva being a bit heavier these days, it seems to be like he's undersized for light heavyweight, while Rampage is massive for 205 lbs.
The way Silva beat Jardine was by going right after him. He knew that Jardine didn't have the power to knock him out. Rampage on the other hand has that power and can do so. This fight will look a lot like the Liddell/Silva did in the opening round. Rampage will need to be precise and technical with his strikes, and you will probably see Silva land a bomb or two, but Jackson has a solid chin that will take the blows. Silva has some wild striking that has a small chance of landing to bring Rampage down.
If Silva is persistent with it, he will get beat up on the inside with dirty boxing and Rampage will be able to put him on his back like he did Dan Hendersen.
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