KENNY GREER/THE LANTERNFormer UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson punches Keith ‘The Dean of Mean’ Jardine in the closing seconds of their bout at UFC 96 in Nationwide Arena on Saturday. Jackson won the fight by unanimous decision.Jackson earned a shot at recapturing the title as light heavyweight champion by fighting standing champion Rashad Evans at UFC 98 on May 23 in Las Vegas.
“I want to be the best I can be,” Jackson said. “I want to show the world that I am one of the best fighters.”
While Jackson vs. Jardine earned the title of “Fight of the Night” and a $60,000 bonus for each fighter, Matt “The Hammer” Hamill earned the “Knockout of the Night.”
Hamill, totally deaf since birth, captured the sold-out crowd of 17,033 Ohioans by entering the Octagon to “Hang On Sloopy.”
“Matt picked that. It’s a big Ohio State song, I guess,” said Dana White, president of UFC who has final say on walkout music. “I said ‘no’ and then they explained to me that it’s a big Ohio State song.”
The unofficial Buckeye anthem was more than a mere ploy to get the crowd on his side.
Hamill, born in Loveland, Ohio, relished the opportunity to fight again in his home state.
“I wanted to fight in Ohio where I’m close to my friends,” Hamill said in a question-and-answer with The Columbus Dispatch. “Two years ago at UFC 68 [in Nationwide Arena], I beat Rex Holman and I never felt a vibration like that in my career. … That’s how I get my heart in the fight. That’s why I came here. The vibration.”
Hamill wasn’t the only one to feel a vibration.
With a right kick 3:53 into the first round, Hamill landed a devastating shot to the left temple of Mark Munoz, knocking him unconscious before he hit the mat. Hamill won by KO and moved to 8-2 in UFC’s light heavyweight division.
Homecomings were a common thread throughout the live pay-per-view event.
Gray Maynard, fighting out of Las Vegas, Nev., began wrestling at St. Edward High School in Lakewood, Ohio, where he excelled and moved on to become a three-time All-American at Michigan State University.
After failing to make the 2004 Olympic wrestling team, “The Bully” turned to UFC and found himself in the cage Saturday night against Jim Miller in the lightweight division.
“Jim is a tough kid,” Maynard said. “I hit him hard and was kind of at that point where I was like, ‘I’m not going to take this guy down.’ I don’t want to do that … I want to throw hands. I love it.”
Maynard used his newly acquired stand-up punching technique to beat Miller by unanimous decision 30-27.
Controversy never strays far from UFC, and a few matches ended in frenzies at the hands of referees.
In the first fight of the night between Shane Nelson and Aaron Riley, referee Rick Fike drew criticism for calling the fight early after Riley went down but still appeared to be fully conscious and in control.
“Those two kids have been in camp for six-to-eight weeks training. They fly out here to fight, and the fight gets stopped like that,” White said. “Listen, people make mistakes all the time. That was a bad one.”
White was even angrier and more baffled by the officiating in the Pete Sell vs. Matt Brown fight.
Brown, a Xenia, Ohio native, knocked Sell to the ground a few seconds into the fight. Referee Yves Lavigne stepped in and appeared to stop the fight. Thinking the match was over, Brown stepped back, but Sell returned to his feet in a daze and continued to fight. This confused both spectator and fighter, and Brown eventually won by TKO 2:32 into the first round.
“I hurt my arm tonight beating on the Octagon, screaming to stop that fight,” White said. “I’ve never done that in eight years. I don’t even know what to say. It drives me crazy.”
Despite the referee setbacks, UFC 96 was a success both for the promoters and for the city.
The sold-out arena drew $1.8 million at the gate, White said.
Dan Salomone can be reached at [email protected].
