UFC Veterans Jackson, Evans take their fight to ....Twitter?

It’s a battle that has been years in the making. The mixed martial arts community wanted it, pleaded for it, and finally, on May 29 at UFC 114, they will get it.

Top UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) Light-Heavyweight fighters Quentin ‘Rampage’ Jackson and ‘Sugar’ Rashad Evans have never been the best of friends. Expected to fight each other in early 2009, injuries and the birth of Evans’ second child put things on hold. Then, after being chosen as opposing coaches on the UFC’s reality show, “The Ultimate Fighter” (which almost always means a scheduled fight between the coaches after the show’s conclusion), Rampage retired from fighting to begin his acting career. These delays did absolutely nothing to halt the verbal sparring between the two, which had began in earnest in March of 2009 when Evans interrupted a Rampage interview after UFC 96. After 45 seconds of trash-talking that had to be partly bleeped out for television, Rampage declared that there was “going to be some black on black crime!” threw his microphone down in disgust and walked out of the ring. Things got no better during the filming of the reality show, with each episode featuring at least one face to face showdown between the two willing combatants. Yet after Rampage surprisingly withdrew from the UFC, many were positive that the fight would never happen.

Fast forward to December 2009. After the filming of his first movie (a redone, "The A-Team" with Rampage as B.A Baracus) had wrapped up, Jackson announced that he would be returning to the UFC, and that he planned to fight Evans. The fight was confirmed for UFC 114 in Las Vegas (after originally being set for UFC113), and both fighters set off to begin their training camps. Fans immediately rejoiced in this announcement, ecstatic that the rivalry and mutual dislike between the two fighters was finally set to come to a head. Many undoubtedly circled May 29, 2010 on their calendars, with hardcore fans aware that there might be some fireworks at the weigh – ins the night before the actual event, when the two would again come face to face. Other than a conference call between fighters and UFC’s usual countdown show where both would be interviewed a few weeks before the event, most people believed that it was finally time for the two to do their talking in the ring. Those people forgot that both fighters were on Twitter.

The online trash talking began in earnest in early April, with Rampage seeming to be the aggressor. With Tweets to Evans saying things like, “@sugarrashadevans Bring your pillow cause you going to sleep boy!! Dem chin stands ain't gonna help!!” and my favourite of the bunch, “@sugarrashadevans mama so fat he bought her a UFC shirt & thought it stood for ugly fat chick!!” it was obvious that things were getting ugly at a rapid rate. Evans, the one in showdowns who appears to try to act a little classier (not saying much when compared to Rampage), would try to fire back with facts, stating, “@Rampage4real I got ko'd (knocked out) once bruh! U've been ko'd 3x's! I'm not a mathematician but I'm almost certain 3 is more than 1.. Get it 2getha!” (Adam note: I’m aware these dudes don’t follow CP Style).

Now, for a guy new to Twitter such as myself, I was actually surprised to see this kind of thing taking place. I had grown up in a world where social media didn’t really exist on any grand scale until I was halfway through university: the only chirping I heard between fighters when I was a boxing fan growing up was on scheduled shows such as HBO’s 24/7. Even now, with Twitter, Facebook, and other options available to fighters everywhere, I still expected some of the toughest men on the planet to leave the posturing to scheduled promotions and the cage. In retrospect, believing this meant completely disregarding the personalities of both Rampage and Evans. Both are showmen, prone to allowing their cockiness to get in the way of their skill: giving athletes such as these new outlets to reach a vast audience and expecting it to have no effect? Do I not go to school for PR? How did I not see this coming? It is questionable whether both fighters have engaged in this online war simply due to their dislike for each other: rather, I believe options such as Twitter allow these men to grow their own brands and build excitement for the fight, something which results in increased Pay–Per-View buys, and ultimately, leverage in negotiations for further contracts. Don't get me wrong. I have no doubt that these two have great disdain for one another: but I do not believe it is the underlying reason for this social media war.

Perhaps this is the problem with taking every Twitter/Facebook/Myspace (yeah right) post that your favourite celebrity makes with complete seriousness. While social networking enables us to allow the public into our personal lives, it also affords companies, public figures and even those just seeking personal gain a chance to further promote themselves. Sometimes, particularly in the case of Rampage and Evans, all of these entities are rolled into one. You’ve heard it a hundred times before, and frankly I’m sick of hearing it: the world is changing. Technology and social networking are playing an ever-growing role in our lives. Yes, they are, for better and for worse. The downside of situations such as a Twitter war between two of your favourite athletes is that you’re never sure what is legitimate trash talking and what is carefully calculated marketing. The upside is that it’s funny as hell to read, and actually gets you excited to watch them square off in person. I don’t know about you, but I’m okay with taking the trade-off.