The battle between Darth Bader and Mr. Overweight at UFC 144 is almost here!  For all of you MMAVictor.com’s Fantasy MMA tournament newbies you still have time to register for the free or paid MMA tourneys tonight!  So, what are you waiting for?  It is free to sign up, no obligations and you can win bragging rights or cold hard cash!  Sign up here.

Bader vs Rampage

For those of you who missed the weigh-in’s yesterday, Rampage came in at 211lbs and is now Mr. Overweight for UFC 144.  Obviously,  Rampage was not looking to lose 20% of his fight purse and put himself in jeopardy with Dana and Lorenzo, but this is really impacts the outcome of this fight in my eyes.

I originally had Rampage winning by unanimous decision because I felt that Bader just wasn’t in the same league.  After seeing Rampage in the weigh-in late last night though and hearing his BS excuse about not being able to make weight I am concerned about this fight.  I have cut weight for fights before and am very familiar with travel related weight issues.  This situation to me doesn’t smell of an injury but instead Rampage getting hit with some sort of bug upon arrival.  With that situation doctors would more than likely force him to take IV fluids and in turn give him the weight issue.  Just look at Rumble Johnson and his outcome.  Otherwise, if it is something else like Rampage is saying I really have to question where his head was at.  As an example, a hamstring injury would not  cause this dramatic weight discrepancy.

Anyway, “the where is Rampage’s head at” questions have been floating around for years and this only solidifies the fact that it is never going to die.  I guess the only real way we can tell will be what he does in the cage tonight.  Sadly, because of all this drama I am switching my MMAVictor pick to Bader by TKO in the second round.  I know, Bader doesn’t typically finish fighters, but Rampage’s apparent injury and overall sluggish demeanor at the weigh-ins is only going to spell tears for the Japanese Rampage fans.

~Pete D.  (Follow me on twitter – @longhorns978)
MMAVictor.com Writer
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