Sherdog’s Top 10: Fights That Failed to Live Up to Their Hype

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6. Rashad Evans vs. Quinton Jackson

Few fights have involved more bark and less bite than the disappointing matchup between Evans and Jackson -- one of the only non-title bouts in the history of the promotion to top a million pay-per-view buys. The two men went back and forth for months, beginning during their time coaching against each other on the 10th season of “The Ultimate Fighter” and continuing during the long lead-up to the fight itself.

Theirs was one of the highest-rated seasons in the history of the show, partially due to the presence of Kevin Ferguson, aka “Kimbo Slice,” but also because of the substantial profiles of Evans and Jackson themselves. Both had been light heavyweight champions and both had a reputation for trash talk, and they did not disappoint during the show. They routinely got in one other’s face and exchanged insults, while Jackson destroyed a door in a fit of rage.

Originally scheduled to meet at UFC 107, the fight had to be delayed until the following year due to the filming schedule for Jackson’s role in “The A-Team.” Still, the heat remained, and it was exacerbated by one of the more epic conference calls in the history of the sport. Evans accused “Rampage” of acting like “a black sambo character,” while Jackson responded with barbs of his own regarding Evans’ loss to Lyoto Machida.

With that background, anticipation ran high for UFC 114 on May 29, 2010, but the product failed to deliver. Jackson showed up to camp in bad shape and spent most of it just trying to get his weight down. Evans controlled him with takedowns and work from the top for most of the first two rounds. A barrage of punches from Jackson in the third made things interesting for a while, but the bout ended without much in the way of excitement.

Number 5 » In other words, the fight served as confirmation to both the fighters and the fans that style points did in fact matter, that a focus on leaving your opponent battered, bloodied or unconscious rather than taking safe decisions was a viable route to gold in the world’s biggest promotion. The fight itself was not by any means terrible, but it was nowhere close to the dogfight that had been promised or that most had predicted.