After-Smack Talk: UFC 96

In a sense, UFC 96 has felt as another step in the drama that is Quinton "Rampage" Jackson . The troubled fighter needed to prove that his upset of Wanderlei Silva wasn't an accident, and it was clear to all that the matchup against Keith Jardine was intended for him to prove his worth and cement his reconstructed reputation. Now, it would seem, he needs to do nothing more but wait till he he is pitched against Rashad Evans for the Light Heavyweight Championship. Now, after Frank Mir was injured in training and his match against Brock Lesnar was postponed from the planned UFC 98, the LHW title claim fight could just as well be it, but seeing how Rampage needs to recieve a doctor's clearance to fight again so soon, Lyoto Machida just might get his, as some say, well-deserved, LHW title shot. But this is all a matter of the future. For now, let's talk about what the fighters themselves had to say after UFC 96 was over. The undefeated Shane Carwin, whose meteoric rise to the top ranks of the heavyweight division has been clouded by criticism that he has never faced a real top-notch opponnent, will no longer be the butt of such accusations. It took him only a scratch over a minute to KO Gabriel Gonzaga; an achievement he shares with Randy Couture and Fabricio Werdum. To the press he could have told about great coaches, intense sparring sessions, and intention to continue fighting; he could have said more about Greg Jackson, with whom he had prepared to fight Gonzaga on the ground (but ended up not having to), about how he thinks conditioning is an asset: but he had reached a much more honest moment when he simply blurted - "My nose is broke for the first time in my life."

Pete Sell and Matt Brown , both fighters with mixed records, met on the primary card of the event. Sell didn't have much to say to Brown as he barely offered any resistance, let alone retaliation, at the relentless punishment unleashed by Brown. Brown had admitted that he was waiting for the referee to stop the fight already; it was clear to him that Sell was done and he wanted it to be over, on the high moral grounds of not wanting to cause any significant and unnecessary damage. Brown had also stated that while he knew that Sell was flatfooted, but had expected for him to hit back. Instead, however, he went to the mat.

Rising Lightweight Gray Maynard has talked a lot about boxing. He had seemed somewhat sick of being seen as not much of a stand-up guy and has admitted that he was been working on his rights and lefts for the past year, almost every day. As for the title shot, he didn't even want to talk that: right now it's going to Kenny Florian , he said. He had checked the reporter's attempt to still be pushed into that river of conversation just as well as he had checked Jim Miller 's blows.

Keith Jardine was pretty pissed off. The judge said to him that he had lost the fight in the last ten seconds of it, and as far as he was concerned, he thought of himself as in the best shape in his life when coming to the fight. "I never lost conciousness," he stated, and has also mentioned that his conditioning was going well.

Quinton Jackson was acting a bit strange after the fight, not really helping anyone to forget his publicized nervous breakdown from last year. He seemed to have been talking to himself, or maybe Jardine, or maybe Evans, or maybe someone else, who knows? At the press conference he already seemed more collected, stating he could've done better (the fight went to him by decision), and mentioning that he had psyched himself out, didn't want to burn out and blow his wad. All understood, Quinton. At least you won.

As for Matt Hamill , all the reporters cared about was seemingly accusing him of acting too happy after knocking out Mark Munoz .