UFC 96: Jackson vs. Jardine (Mar. 7th)

About the payouts.. Jardine deserves a raise. If it wasn't for the 60K bonus, he'd only have gotten 55k for the main event. He should be making 100+100K imo.
Once Carwin burns through his current contract He should be making a lot more cheddar too.
Poor Matt brown, still making 8+8.


As for the fights.

-Rampage drives me nuts. This guy fights like a bad boxer most of the time. I think he needs to diversify more and mix it up. He should have been able to finish Jardine, but he did admit there was a different kind of pressure due to the 'win and you get a title shot' news. I think it's dumb to announce such things because it causes fighters to fight to not lose rather than fighting to win.

- Well Carwin still doesn't know what it's like to fight for more than 2 and half minutes but we did learn one thing. Carwin doesn't fold under adversity. Gonzaga clocked with with a few good shots and put him in a bad position on the ground and Carwin survived both to put on a vicious shot with his massive meethooks he calls his hands. Gotta wonder how he'll handle potentially facing arguably a better wrestler and most definitely a better athlete in Brock Lesnar.

- Pete Sell vs Matt Brown shouldn't have been on the main card and Yvel Lavigne made things worse. I like Pete Sell, but he's a horrible stand up guy and he thinks he's supposed to be a stand up fighter. Matt Brown looks better and better each time out. I think he should be facing Dan Hardy next but oh well. I guess Rory Marham would be a good test too.

- Read lots of news saying Munoz was the better wrestler and how he could beat Hamill. Hamill has faced much better competition in MMA and it showed. Munoz could still be a very good LHW, he just obviously needs some more seasoning.

- yes maynard controlled this fight with his wrestling, but surprisingly he didn't lay and tap his way to a victory. He had the crisper boxing and it showed. Miller couldn't get the takedown, but his striking was also less disciplined and it cost him. Maybe Miller will start to watch game tape of his oppenents now. Question now is, does Maynard deserve a title shot sooner rather than later? He's still undefeated in the UFC.

- Wow always liked McCrory, but gotta respect how he outstriked a kickboxer.

- ugh you never know what you're getting out of Kendal Grove and he's a cocky a-hole on top of it. I can't stand that guy.

- I had a thought that Brilz would control the fight on the ground. He's faced solid competition before and after surviving the barbarian's onslaught he did just that. Boetsch has got to work on the cardio big time.

- Vera looked great, but against such inferior competition he damn well better.

- Had to gauge these TUF guys fighting for the first time since the show. Dan Cramer surprised and now Nelson does as well against a very experienced fighter. The ref needs to rewatch this fight and see how he stopped it WAY too early too.

This was a solid not great show IMO, harmed buy 2 fights affected by bad reffing. Shane Carwin, Hammill, Matt Brown and McCrory all looked really good IMO. Rampage was good but not aggessive enough.