Both Rampage and Silva came into the UFC as relative unknowns to casual UFC fans. This is no secret to anyone.
Only you would disagree with that something that even Rampage Jackson said in posted interviews....
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Originally Posted by roaddawg
Silva already paid his dues before even coming to the UFC. However because he wasn't fighting in the UFC noone gave a rats ass about him or knew who he was. He basically came in like Rampage Jackson.
I wouldn't say he was as unknown as you make him out to be.
Couture/Liddell III only drew 400k.
Liddell/Sobral drew 500k.
Liddell/Ortiz II 1,050,000 Liddell/Jackson II 675k
Liddell/Jardine 475K
Lidell/Silva 650K
Liddell Evans 480K
Rampage's UFC debut fight (along with CroCop's) on the Anderson Silva/Travis Lutter main card drew 400k, which fell right in line with other PPV numbers around its time.
Whether it was due to UFC marketing, Pride fans, or both, the casual UFC fans didn't treat Rampage like a "relative unknown".
I wouldn't say he was as unknown as you make him out to be.
Couture/Liddell III only drew 400k.
Liddell/Sobral drew 500k.
Liddell/Ortiz II 1,050,000 Liddell/Jackson II 675k
Liddell/Jardine 475K
Lidell/Silva 650K
Liddell Evans 480K
Rampage's UFC debut fight (along with CroCop's) on the Anderson Silva/Travis Lutter main card drew 400k, which fell right in line with other PPV numbers around its time.
Whether it was due to UFC marketing, Pride fans, or both, the casual UFC fans didn't treat Rampage like a "relative unknown".
That was actually something Page said himself which makes sense when you think about casual UFC fans who aren't likely to watch fights that happen in other orgs. This is the same reason why guys like Fedor, Overeem were also unknowns (for casuals). Obviously the hardcore fans knew everything about these guys.
To them both Page and Silva came in as unknowns fighting their heros. Noone (amongst casuals) really expected Silva to beat Leben not even some fighters (Koscheck comes to mind).
Also very few casuals expected Rampage to beat Liddel in the UFC. I still remember how the crowd reacted. It went something like OMG WTF just happened (like when Silva beat Griffin).
Amongst the casuals its my belief that neither Silva or Rampage Jackson were suppose to win there respective UFC debuts. The only logical reason for the write offs imo was due to a lack of knowledge (ie they didn't know who the fug these guys were).
I would love to have seen the fighter polls on who fans thought would win.
__________________
Anderson Silva:
Best Fighter on the planet.
That was actually something Page said himself which makes sense when you think about casual UFC fans who aren't likely to watch fights that happen in other orgs. This is the same reason why guys like Fedor, Overeem were also unknowns (for casuals). Obviously the hardcore fans knew everything about these guys.
To them both Page and Silva came in as unknowns fighting their heros. Noone (amongst casuals) really expected Silva to beat Leben not even some fighters (Koscheck comes to mind).
Also very few casuals expected Rampage to beat Liddel in the UFC. I still remember how the crowd reacted. It went something like OMG WTF just happened (like when Silva beat Griffin).
Amongst the casuals its my belief that neither Silva or Rampage Jackson were suppose to win there respective UFC debuts. The only logical reason for the write offs imo was due to a lack of knowledge (ie they didn't know who the fug these guys were).
I would love to have seen the fighter polls on who fans thought would win.
I'm not saying you are completely wrong, because there is some truth to what you are saying. But I also think that people were expecting Liddell to win because after the first loss to Rampage, he went on a 7-fight win streak (against guys like Couture x2, Ortiz x2, Babalu, Jeremy Horn, and Vernon White), winning every single fight by KO or TKO.
Meanwhile, Jackson went 7-3 with some brutal losses to Wandy and Shogun.
Also, there was the whole speculation that Pride fighters were juicing...
Man, I miss the old days of Pride vs UFC. I hope some other promotion will rise up and rival the UFC. It would help the fighters, fans, and sport immensely to have some competition.
I'm not saying you are completely wrong, because there is some truth to what you are saying. But I also think that people were expecting Liddell to win because after the first loss to Rampage, he went on a 7-fight win streak (against guys like Couture x2, Ortiz x2, Babalu, Jeremy Horn, and Vernon White), winning every single fight by KO or TKO.
Meanwhile, Jackson went 7-3 with some brutal losses to Wandy and Shogun.
Also, there was the whole speculation that Pride fighters were juicing...
Man, I miss the old days of Pride vs UFC. I hope some other promotion will rise up and rival the UFC. It would help the fighters, fans, and sport immensely to have some competition.
Agreed I also think Rampage has trouble fighting guys really proficient in MT. I too remember Liddell's winning streak but I also remembered Chuck's 1st fight with Rampage.
IMO Rampage simply had all the tools to beat Chuck in the rematch. Superb boxing, wrestling, a strong chin, good defense. If Chuck would have been proficient in MT like Shogun or Wandy Rampage probably would have gotten wrecked.
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Anderson Silva:
Best Fighter on the planet.
Both Anderson and Rampage were big names in MMA when they came to the UFC.... Saying who the "casual" fan knew back then is pointless... Who did they know... Chuck, Tito, Randy, etc... not many fighters at all...
Rampage and Anderson were both ranked and well known by any decent MMA fan. Anderson had a stint in pride and success in other organizations, fighting some known fighters....
Liddell certainly wasnt looking past rampage as he was asking for that fight to avenge his loss and Leban even admitted that he didnt think he was ready for Anderson at the time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by roaddawg
If Chuck would have been proficient in MT like Shogun or Wandy Rampage probably would have gotten wrecked.
That is asking a lot... Chuck has never been that kind of fighter...
Both Anderson and Rampage were big names in MMA when they came to the UFC.... Saying who the "casual" fan knew back then is pointless... Who did they know... Chuck, Tito, Randy, etc... not many fighters at all...
Being a big name in MMA doesn't mean you're known by all audiences though. I've been watching the UFC since Royce Gracie was a stud and it wasn't until I joined this forum that I found out whom Fedor was. I didn't have access to Pride at the time and had to watch his fights via Youtube (same applies for Silva, Page, Shogun, Crocop).
I had to jump over a few hurdles to get caught up to speed but what about those UFC fans that never ventured out to watch other orgs? I believe that is where the GAP lies and why so many didn't know much about Page, Silva, Fedor, Crocop yadda yadda.
When the UFC finally acquired most of these talents they had to update their fanbase. Enters the hype train.
__________________
Anderson Silva:
Best Fighter on the planet.
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