Rampage Melts the Iceman

UFC 71 was an exciting card with more than a couple of upsets. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson kept his undefeated streak against Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell intact by scoring a first round TKO. Rampage was the aggressor throughout the round with both men willing to trade blows. Rampage landed a shot on the button and Chuck went down with Rampage right on him raining blows. The fight was stopped and rightly so. Rampage is the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. I was also looking forward to the fight between Karo Parisyan and Josh Burkman. I figured that Karo would win and he did fairly easily. Karo is a tough guy who irritates the crowd with his cockiness. I'd love to see him in a rematch against Diego Sanchez or perhaps even a title shot. The biggest surprise of the night was in the Houston Alexander / Keith Jardine fight. I figured Jardine would win fairly easily and that looked to be the case... for about 30 seconds. Jardine moved in and immediately rocked Alexander. The fight looked to be over quickly and it was, right after Alexander came back with a punch that stunned Jardine! Alexander then swarmed Jardine throwing punches from all angles and a knee to boot. Jardine was down and out.

So the string of upsets continues. It started with Hughes losing his title to St. Pierre, Franklin losing to Sylvia, Sylvia [the heavyweight] losing to Couture, St. Pierre losing to Serra and tonight Liddell losing to Jackson. Jackson's next fight is against Dan Henderson. My guess is that Jackson will hope to be the underdog!