May 26 UFC 130 - Jackson vs. Hamill, Mir vs Nelson Preview

The main event features a man who can’t hear versus a man who won’t listen. Matt Hamill has had the fact that he has overcome his physical disability well publicised, but receiving far less attention is his DQ victory amongst his streak of 5 straight over now current LHW champion Jon “Bones” Jones...probably because he was destroyed from start to finish in that match. Since then he won a majority decision against a fighter in Keith Jardine who can no longer hack it in the UFC, and Tito Ortiz who, well, can no longer hack it in the UFC. If Quinton Jackson doesn’t beat Matt Hamill, he would be fully justified in going through the streets of Las Vegas on yet another “Rampage”. While Jackson may be coming off a (controversial) win over Lyoto Machida, he has continued to fight in the same power punching, no leg kick throwing, power bomb forgetting, KO hoping way where he prays he doesn’t end up laying on his back.

 

Prediction: Hamill is a gateway fighter. The question that will be answered Saturday night is whether or not Hamill will be holding the door for Rampage on his way out of the UFC or not. I say not, but I also doubt Rampage will do anything that will get him consideration as a headliner for another UFC PPV card.

 

Also on the card is former UFC HW Champion Frank Mir and the anti-athlete Roy Nelson, and these two may be somewhat friends, but they couldn’t be more different. Frank Mir may have started off as a BJJ expert, but he has become a well-rounded fighter who has been willing to do anything to regain lost glory. He is trying all the latest training techniques, and when guys like Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin were taking the HW division by storm, he tried to bulk up so that he could match the biggest fighters in the weight class strength for strength. It didn’t work. But what did work was his development into a fierce striker. This is a tool that will help him in his fight about Roy Nelson, a man who keeps doing the same training, the same techniques, and eating the same whoppers in perhaps increased amounts. He is the kind of fighter who make people believe anyone can be a MMA fighter, although many do not realize just how much effort he actually does put into training.

 

Prediction: I would love to think that Nelson can finally break into the top 5 in the UFC HW division, however I believe this is where Nelson starts his journey on being a gateway fighter for the Heavyweight division.

Tags: Frank Mir \ Matt Hamill \ MMA \ Quinton Jackson \ Roy Nelson \ UFC 130

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