Ariel Helwani confirmed that the UFC plans to return to Asia sometime in November of this year, but he failed to confirm exactly where in Asia they’ll go. It’s cool… We still appreciate that he got half the pertinent information about something we all care so deeply about, which is better than getting no details at all. If I was near Ariel Helwani right now, I’d give him half of a pat on the back for the half-amazing job he did. I might even take him out for half a cup of coffee if there’s time. I know he’s busy…
If Rampage & Shogun headlined any card in Asia, the UFC is all but guaranteed to sell out the entire host country; as this is a fight MMA fans have wanted to see re-contested for the past seven years. There are some rematches I could live without. Shogun vs. Rampage is not one of them; and with the possibility of this fight happening in Asia, it makes for an expensive plane ticket I can’t afford not to buy. Luckily, neither Rampage nor Shogun plan on retiring before their inevitable rematch. In an interview with Tatame, shogun says so himself.
What’s next? They’ve talked about Phil Davis and Rampage Jackson…
I guess it could be one of these guys. I don’t discard Ryan Bader nor Rampage, Dan Henderson, Rich Franklin… I guess there are many guys I could fight. Actually, soon I’ll know more about it and I’ll keep you posted. I’m sure I’ll train focused on my opponent and he’s going to be a hard one.
Rampage was defeated last Saturday (25th) at UFC Japan. Did you want to fight there?
Absolutely. It was in Japan where I appeared to the world. I missed it there. I like the Japanese people, I really like Japan.
So, talking about the old days…. Would you like to rematch Rampage?
Absolutely. The fight against Rampage will happen eventually. It’s inevitable and UFC knows it. He won’t retire before fighting me and neither am I (laughs).
In the modern world of computers and technology, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where you haven’t seen their original fight, so I’ll assume you have and move on about the rest of my day. However, if you haven’t and you want to… You’ll have to look deeply into this paragraph to find where I’ve concealed the link. This is not a trick, somewhere in these five sentences is a link that will teleport you across the interwebs directly onto a page where Shogun & Rampage are already fighting again. They’ll live and fight there for eternity, every time you press the play button (until the UFC discovers that someone is violating their copyright policies and has the video removed). Props to MMAWeekly for the picture.
