I laugh at all the people who said Rampage skills had improved when he first came to the UFC. NO, prime Rampage was in Pride, when apparently he was getting **** training. :roll:
His hands were at his best when he trained with Ibarra, motivation is a factor but he hasnt looked the same since the split
When Shogun and Wandy were kneeing him in the skull and Arona nearly choked him unconcious? (Though the slam was a grreat addition to the highlight reel) The best spell of his career was taking the strap from Chuck then defending it against and unifying the titles in the Hendo fight
He'd already beat Liddel who went on to dominate in the UFC in his very next fight, and beat him again, and it was **** all to do with Ibarra. And the Hendo fight was not a unification fight. You can't fight for the Pride title under UFC rules. Rampage became more one dimensional when he left Pride and I saw no change in his boxing skills from Pride to UFC and under Ibarra.
He out wrestled and gnp'd Chuck in the 1st. He kodded Chuck in the 2nd fight, go rewatch the difference in his stand up. Chuck was getting the better of the stand up exchanges, forcing Page to cover up. He did catch Chuck with a haymaker right which changed the ebb of the match, but he still went back to slam & gnp after swinging and missing with very wild right hands iirc, but the difference in QT's hands is noticeable. Rewatch the Hendo & Liddel 2 fights, both times he's slipping and countering nicely, something totally absent from his earlier PRIDE days It was a unification fight, it was billed and promoted as such [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV6SkWkdfiE[/ame] Let's not over rate PRIDE QJ, Rampage was always one dimensional to a degree, instead of relying on his slams and gnp, he fell in love with his improved hands, actually throwing combos and moving his head with Ibarra, shame he didnt put both together. And he always had trouble with kick boxers, even Forrest and Jardine gave him trouble, Wandy and Rua annihilated him
Bader is an okay top ten gatekeeper I think, good wrestling and decent power albeit sloppy standup, him being close to contender status is a bit of a worry though. I'd like to see him in with Thiago Silva.
Machida would destroy Bader, Ryan has literally nothing for Lyoto. Wrestlers with shaky chins are Machida's meat and drink.