UFC 92 Betting Wanderlei Silva vs Quinton Jackson

UFC 92 is one of the best fight cards of the year with two title bouts and some unreal matchups. But ask any UFC fan which fight they most want to see (and especially the drunken ones on fight night) and odds are that the vast majority of them will say the Wanderlei Silva-Quinton “Rampage Jackson” fight.

Much like Silva’s fight against Chuck Liddell last December, this is one of those contests that fans just know is going to be a stand-up war with both fighters going for the knockout, points be damned, and technical skills, strong as they may be for each fighter, going right out the window.

With no title on the line, Jackson and Silva want nothing more than to put on a show and to send a message. In a grudge match like this with so much bad blood between these two from their days with PRIDE Fighting in Japan, neither man will be satisfied to see this one go to the judges’ scorecards.

The line for this contest is -130 to 110 in favor of Silva, odds that seem based almost entirely on Silva’s two PRIDE victories over Jackson in November of 2003 and October of 2004.

Casting those results aside and looking at recent history, it’s hard to argue that Silva has been a better fighter than Jackson. Silva has lost three of his past four fights and is just 5-5 in his last ten fights.

Granted, those five losses have come to strong contenders like Liddell, Dan Henderson, and Mirko “Crop Cop” Filipovic, but it can easily be argued that none of the guys Silva lost to are on the level of the current incarnation of Rampage.

Throw in the fact that Rampage is a vastly superior fighter now than he was 4-5 years ago and the case becomes even stronger in favor of laying some serious coin on Mr. Jackson, who’s won 6 of 7 fights with the lone loss a questionable decision against Forrest Griffin.

The argument in favor of a bet on Silva would be that “styles make fights” and Silva seems to have his number. But Jackson is too savvy a fighter to get caught in Silva’s muy thai clinch like he did in the first two fights. Also, don’t forget that Jackson was completely gassed and a bit hurt after his earlier fight with Chuck Liddell on the same night he lost for the first time to Silva. That’s not an excuse for Jackson, but simply a reminder that the circumstances were completely different and that needs to be taken into account while betting on this match.

Silva is more than capable of knocking out Jackson, but it’s going to take a mammoth shot to do so because Jackson’s chin is remarkably strong, as evidenced by the unrelenting barrage of knees it took to knock him out in their second fight.

Jackson on the other hand has better wrestling, more strength, and perhaps the cleaner stand-up game now. He also claims to finally be eating right, a welcome change from the old Rampage who took Spike TV cameras along with him as he gorged himself on Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits.

Whether you believe Rampage or not, he still stands an excellent chance of defeating Silva on December 27th. Silva is an MMA legend and is still capable of beating any light heavyweight out there, but this looks like a better match-up on paper for Jackson than most people seem to realize.

And as slight underdog and a known commodity with all the motivation in the world to win this fight at UFC 92, it’s hard to find a better bet on the entire UFC 92 card than Jackson.