Can UFC's Rampage win without a team?
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The Ultimate Fighting Championship held a media call for UFC 123, Rampage vs. Machida, taking place Saturday.
On the call were four former UFC champions, former light heavyweight champions Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Lyoto Machida, former two-time UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes and former UFC lightweight champion BJ Penn.
Usually on media calls the featured fighters would talk about winning their previous bout. In this case, three of the four fighters are coming off huge losses and two of them lost championship bouts.
One of the fighters, Rampage Jackson, was quite candid about his loss to Rashad Evans at UFC 114. Said Jackson, “I knew I lost that fight before I even stepped in the cage. The day I lost that fight was a couple of weeks before the fight even started, so it had nothing to do with the movie [A-Team], tour or anything.”
He didn’t go into details about why he thought he had lost the fight before the event, only stating, “We’ll I’d like to keep that personal.” But, one can extrapolate from the remaining answers on the call that his relationship with his kids is really important and that my have played a role. If you recall Jackson’s training camp was spend in Widnes, United Kingdom, with Michael Bisping preparing for the Evans fight.
Many of us watched as the UFC aired UFC Primetime, it’s pre-fight behind-the-scenes show leading up to the event. On the show Jackson said, “I can’t wait to destroy you [Evans]. That’s all I think about is you and your big mouth. That’s what motivates me to train hard. I never trained this hard in my entire life.” If that statement were true, it would mean that mixed marital arts is just as mental as it is physical. If he was physically ready, it only means he was not mentally ready.
On the call Jackson was asked about moving his training camp from the U.K. to the United States. Jackson said, “I just bought a new house and I just decided to train right down the street from my house.”
That sounds a lot like Brock Lesnar's situation. One can only hope that Rampage has not surrounded himself with “yes men” and that he has brought in some tough fighters to train against.
It seems that fighters that have earned a significant amount of money (millions), tend to get away from the team concept of training.
If you look at the current champions, they all train with teams. Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez trains with American Kickboxing Academy, Lightweight Champion Mauricio Rua with Universidade da Luta (UDL), Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva with Black House, Welterweight Champion George St.-Pierre with Jackson’s Submission Fighting, Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar with Renzo Gracie Combat Team, Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo with Black House, Bantamweight Dominick Cruz with Team Lloyd Irvin.
I know Lesnar was about to be the Heavyweight Champion, but many believe the lack of a fighting team was his downfall.
Do you believe an MMA fighter can train with his/her own personal trainers and sparring partners and become a champion?
Kevin Richardson has been a fan of mixed martial arts competition ever since UFC 3, when 600-pound sumo wrestler Emmanuel Yarborough was beaten by Keith Hackney. Kevin will cover the world of MMA — in Baltimore, nationally and internationally. He plans to take readers into the locker rooms and MMA schools, where they'll hear from local fighters and trainers. If you have a news tip or suggestions for the blog, please 
Comments
I think that it is, of course, possible ... but not likely. For instance, if Velasquez left AKA he could probably still win a couple of championship fights. But as the saying goes, we've all seen Cain Velasquez now, and Rampage Jackson is no Cain Velasquez. His biggest problem over the last couple of years has been his training and game plans. He doesn't seem to have solved either of those problems with his current setup. Some direction from a good camp would do him a lot of good. Very good article. Keep up the good work.
Nice post Joe. I agree about his game plan has not been stellar. -Kevin
Posted by: Joe | November 17, 2010 1:07 PM
If you watch the promo for the fight you will see that Rampage has his same wolfslair guys over in California from England..Just moved the camp to cali, but its the same camp.
Dale, I agree that members of the Wolfslair MMA Academy have flown in to help him prepare for the fight. But, is that the same as having the entire team their helping you prepare. You would think having a Cheick Kongo, Michael Bisping or Tom Blackledge there to spar with would clearly prepare him for his fight.
But we will see on Saturday night. -Kevin
Thanks for the comment.
Posted by: Dale | November 17, 2010 2:20 PM
I don't think a fighter needs a team. What people like Lesnar need to do is make sure their coaches know what they are doing. Cain used a team, but no one can match the size of Lesnar, so Cain's coaching had to be right on point when putting together a plan to beat Lesnar. That goes for every fighter. Every fighter should have a coach for each aspect of MMA: wrestling, bjj, boxing, etc.
Posted by: mark | November 17, 2010 3:30 PM
I would love to see Rampage in the AKA camp. He definitely has the natural abilities just needs a great camp and he could relive his glory days
Posted by: Zombieboy | November 18, 2010 6:13 AM
I don't think Rampage could have won with his former team anyways. Rampage has so much talent, yet his mental game keeps him back.
The only fights Rampage wins anymore are against fighters who have a worse game plan then him (wanderlei, liddell).
Rampage does have the power against anyone to pull off the upset... but it'll probably be a unentertaining 30-27 loss.
Posted by: Phi | November 18, 2010 11:31 AM
oops forgot to answer the question... No, I don't think any fighter can win without a team. Skill can only take you so far.
Silva has Lyoto, the Nogs, pushing him.
GSP has Evans, Carwin, and so many others pushing him.
When you are going into a fight and your training partners are actually better than the fighter... you have a major advantage.
Phi,
You always speak the truth.
-Kevin
Posted by: Phi | November 18, 2010 11:33 AM