?Rampage? Jackson growing weary of mixed martial arts

This weekend is a dangerous spot for Quinton Jackson. "Rampage" sounds less than motivated to face Ryan Bader and he admits he's sick of facing light heavyweights with a wrestling base.

"Sometimes it is hard to get motivated. Like when I fought Matt Hamill, I really wasn't motivated for that fight. At the end of the day, it's my job to fight," Jackson said. "I am kind of tired of fighting a bunch of wrestlers. I'd like to fight more striking-based fighters."

Jackson isn't getting his wish at UFC 144. Ryan Bader is a former All-American wrestler at Arizona State. His striking has gotten better, but he's already admitted there's little chance he's going to simply stand and bang with a guy like Jackson.

"I'm getting kind of bored with guys who want to take me down all the time. [...] I just want to excite people. I know fans are saying I'm one dimensional because i just try to knock people out. I just like knocking people out," said Jackson.

Who doesn't, right? But to do that a fighter has to be well-rounded enough to mix up his game, add to it and then improvise in the cage. Jackson doesn't seem to be adding much to his game at all. He's not a huge fan of training and he certainly isn't in the gym year-round working on his game. It sounds like he's already got his eye on his next challenge.

"The opponents I'm getting, a lot of people just want to take me down. I want to try and see how I'll do in both [boxing and MMA]. I haven't done boxing yet, so before I lay down the fighting, I want to try boxing," said Jackson.

At minus-260, Jackson is a big favorite in the fight.

You can watch UFC 144 right here on Yahoo! Sports

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/rampage-jackson-growing-wearing-mixed-martial-arts-183736666.html

John Alessio  Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves 

Photo: Benson Henderson celebrates UFC lightweight title with his mom

When Benson Henderson walked out of the cage after winning the UFC lightweight title, he walked right past security and the UFC staff who was directing him towards the locker room. He had to go celebrate with the woman who has supported him throughout his career: his mom.

In a sweet moment, Henderson hugged his mother. She pulled back and grabbed at his belt, bursting with pride over her son's accomplishment. Henderson provided another great performance in beating Frankie Edgar, but didn't forget to say thank you to his mom.

He admitted that he did hear her cheering during his fight.

""My mom has a pretty distinct voice. I can hear her everywhere," Henderson said.

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Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger  Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen  Alex Andrade 

Anthony Pettis, Hatsu Hioki impressive at UFC 144

Anthony Pettis was already known for one of the most memorable kicks in MMA history. He added to that legend with a left kick that knocked out UFC veteran Joe Lauzon at 1:21 in the first round of their bout at UFC 144 at Saitama Super Arena in Japan.

With that perfectly-placed kick, Pettis won his second fight in a row. After the fight was stopped, he jumped on top of the fence and gestured for the belt.

[Video: Watch Pettis-Lauzon fight highlights]

"Winning that fight is an amazing feeling.  I was on a bit of a down streak in 2011, but 2012 is my year and I'm getting a title shot.  I'm back, focused and ready to go, I didn't get touched.  I think I confused him with my southpaw, had him biting on the jab then threw the high kick and it landed.  I wanted to put on a good show for the fans because without them, I wouldn't be Anthony Pettis," Pettis said after the fight.

A title shot was supposed to be his after he won the WEC's lightweight belt in December of 2010. However, a loss to Clay Guida in June squashed those plans. Now, with an impressive knockout of Lauzon and a win over Jeremy Stephens, he's making a case that he belongs at the top of the UFC's stacked lightweight division.

Heading into the fight with Pettis, Lauzon was riding a high after stopping both Melvin Guilland and Curt Warburton in the first round. This loss sends him back to the drawing board.

Hioki wins over Palaszewski

In just his second UFC bout, Hatsu Hioki showed that he should be the next challenger for Jose Aldo's featherweight belt with a 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 dismantling of Bart Palaszewski.

In the first round, Hioki knocked Palaszewski down early. Palaszewski returned to his feet only to be taken down again. Hioki moved to side guard and threw repeated punches. To avoid strikes, Palaszewski gave up his back. As he tried to move out, Hioki pulled Palaszewski's arm into an armbar. He defended and moved out, but Hioki got back on top and threw several strikes. Palaszewski was more comfortable in the second round, keeping the bout standing. He was able to land more combinations than Hioki.

[Video: Watch Hioki-Palaszewski fight highlights]

In the third, Hioki brought the fight to the canvas immediately, taking down Palaszewski with a nasty trip. Hioki moved to side control and again used repeated shots to Palaszewski's head. When Palaszewski tried to escape, Hioki took his back. Palaszewski avoided the submissions, but Hioki's dominance was clear.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/lauzon-pettis-hioki-pal-035749883.html

Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves  Andre Amade 

Jake Ellenberger survives against Diego Sanchez at UFC on Fuel TV 1; was it enough to earn a title shot?

Just when Jake Ellenberger could see himself signing a contract to fight for the UFC interim welterweight title, along came a relentless Diego Sanchez in the final minutes of what was previously a one-sided fight.

Ellenberger survived an absolute onslaught down the stretch to gain a unanimous decision victory, 29-28 on all three cards, in the main event of the UFC's first main card on Fuel TV.

Georges St-Pierre's status for the remainder for the rest of 2012 is very up in the air. The promotion looks like it wants interim champ Carlos Condit to fight at least one more time before he could possibly get GSP. Ellenberger (27-5, 6-1 UFC) is in the mix, but one has to wonder if he did enough against a guy who many feel is on the downside of his career.

[Related: Yahoo! Sports pound-for-pound MMA rankings]

At minus-350, Ellenberger entered the fight as a sizable favorite, but Sanchez wouldn't give in.

The Nebraska native was schooling Sanchez on the feet. The former "Ultimate Fighter 1" champ looked tired by the middle of the second round and was whiffing on most of his shots. All that while eating jabs and counterpunches. A hard punch in the first appeared to have broken Sanchez's nose, but he kept coming.

"Diego's known for that. He's the toughest guy I've ever fought. No matter what, he's in there every minute of the fight. It's a great test for me. It's an honor to fight him," Ellenberger told UFC announcer Jon Anik.

By the middle of the third round, Ellenberger had outstruck Sanchez 85-32. He was cruising but then mysteriously hit the wall and stopped using his right hand.

With just over two minutes left, Sanchez caught Ellenberger with a left body kick that forced the hunter to become the hunted. Sanchez landed a straight left that jarred Ellenberger. That's when the underdog decided it was go time.

He landed a left to the body which convinced Ellenberger to go for a takedown. He got it with 1:30 left, but Sanchez refused to stay down and got right back up where he scrambled to work hip control. Ellenberger was exhausted so Sanchez jumped on his back and got a hook in. He tried to get a choke on two occasions in between getting off 29 shots. There were still 34 seconds left and Sanchez actually flattened out Ellenberger for a few seconds. Sanchez again tried to get his arm in there for a choke, but Ellenberger had just enough presence of mind to keep his chin tucked.

"That's a tough position. I was tired, but I'm just trying to fight through. I've been there a million times. You just gotta stay in it mentally," said Ellenberger.

[Also: 'Rampage', 'Dragon' or wait: What to do with Dan Henderson?]

Sanchez, 30, explained after the fight that he battled an ankle injury three weeks before the event but didn't want to pull out of this televised fight.

"Jake's incredibly tough. I was hitting him with some hard shots. I thought he was going to go out. I thought he was going to give me the back. I was just trying to get the stoppage. but it didn't go my way this time," said Sanchez.

Sanchez (23-5, 12-5 UFC) finished the fight with a huge lump on his nose and deep vertical cut on his eyebrow. He absorbed three huge elbows in the second round that could've finished a lot of fighters in the welterweight division, but that's not what Sanchez does.

Struve's improved striking too much for Herman

Stefan Struve got off to a slow start, but once he heated up Dave Herman was in big trouble.

The tallest fighter in the UFC began putting his strikes together in the second round. A left hook, inside kick-uppercut combination dropped Herman to his back where Struve mounted him and got off 52 unanswered shots before referee Josh Rosenthal stopped things at the 3:52 mark of the second to give the 23-year-old Struve his seventh victory in the UFC.

[Also: Watch Jon Jones get attacked by a police dog]

Herman (21-3, 1-1 UFC) is either crazy or fearless. Those aren't always good qualities when you reached the highest levels of fighting. He's super athletic at 6-foot-4, 235, but Herman simply made it too easy for the 6-foot-11 to reach him on the feet.

Herman won the first round with a varied striking game and good head movement. But he got too comfortable at the end of the round. His corner told him to standing right in front of Struve (23-5, 7-3 UFC), but he didn't he listen and continued to do so in the second.

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ellenberger-survives-again-sanchez-ufc-fuel-tv-enough-042140418.html

Cyril Abidi  Daniel Acacio Bernard Ackah  Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro AkiyamaÂ