This was posted at MMAOpinion the other day, as a response to Curtis Clontz's piece on the champs and their weaknesses.

Bon appetite.

The more I’ve been watching the things that people have been saying about the five resident kings of the UFC (for the record, I no longer consider Couture a champion, as his contract dispute will probably never put him back in the Octagon again) and it’s made me think that people are a little bit too attached to them, a little bit too enamored with what are, undoubtedly, incredibly impressive performances.

I’m not saying that the UFC champions aren’t the best fighters in the world. Certainly, some of them are and some of them are debatable. Still, it is important to remember that the UFC champions are beatable, and so I want to pick apart their games, take a look at what makes them tick and, most importantly, take a look at what can be done to beat the men that so many tout as the “undisputed champions” in a sport where there are so many ways to win, and even more ways to lose.

Just to explain the method to the seeming madness: I want to address these in order from easiest to hardest, and in order to make sure people don’t believe I’m talking about hypotheticals, I’ll list the guy (or guys) in each division that I think gives the largest problem, given my analysis, to each fighter. I’ll be saving the largest wrecking ball of all, Anderson Silva, for last. This will be in five parts, and I’ll make sure I finish these up.

Lets start with the man I personally believe is the most beatable colossus in the UFC right now. Not because he’s not an incredible fighter, but because he’s in a tough, turbulent division, and has alot of guys dancing around him with very challenging and very versatile skills sets.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is one of the most explosive fighters I’ve ever seen, and his raw power is something that I’ve been impressed with since first seeing him fight. Everybody knows that he can explode, and everybody knows that he is, almost certainly, the strongest guy in that division. Honestly, I’m well aware that Quinton has power and I think that anyone who lacks technical striking skills and tries to brawl with ‘page will be utterly, embarrassingly decimated.

Rampage’s game is run on his power. It’s run on his ability to work from every position and explode from every position. The problem is, there are some positions that explosions become incredibly difficult from, and there are positions that Rampage himself admits that he sucks from. He doesn’t think his jiu-jitsu is that good, and while there are many who have said that he’s a good grappler, I don’t think they were talking about the technical prowess of his guard game.

I’ll be honest, I don’t think there’s a guy in the UFC right now who can put Rampage on his back, but that’s what I think someone should try to do. In terms of the guy who is best suited to fight Rampage, many are probably thinking I’m going to say Tito Ortiz, because I know that that name is fresh in everybody’s mind, given his fight with Machida. That’s not what I’m going to say.

Honestly, I think that Tito would have a hard time dealing with Rampage because I think he’d fall into the same problem he did against Chuck Liddell, which is simply that Tito is a straight shot fighter. While Rampage doesn’t counterpunch as well as Liddell, I think that, even moving forward, Rampage’s short right hand off of the sprawl will present alot of problems for Tito.

No, I’m actually thinking differently. I’m thinking of a man who no longer fights in the UFC and who has largely been given up on as a wash-out. It’s unfortunate, actually, because he had my favorite nickname of any 205 pounder and, for a long time, the best submission game: Renato “Babalu” Sobral.

I know what you’re thinking: “How can a guy with that kind of jaw be expected to beat Rampage?”

I’m not even looking at Babalu’s chin, or his striking skills, which are obviously inferior to Rampage’s. I want to look at his wrestling, which most people forget is phenomenal, and, most importantly, I want to look at his submissions.

There’s another hole Rampage’s game that was exploited by Wanderlei Silva, and that’s his trouble with getting out of the clinch. Rampage can’t really explode out of the clinch, because that’s not how it works. The clinch slows the game down, and Rampage can’t handle that. I think that if Sobral catches Rampage in the clinch, he could put this fight in a very tough position, and by that, I mean we’d see Babalu land on top.

I think that if this fight hits the ground, it’s obvious whose game it is, but in case you’re not convinced, I should point out that all of the guys that have beaten Sobral have done so by being superior in the clinch and being better wrestlers. I don’t think that Rampage is a better wrestler, and I think that by putting ‘page on his back, Babalu can shake him up and catch a submission.

Babalu’s ability to transition off of the top is, in my opinion, the best in the 205 pound division, and if he locks down a joint, he can finish Rampage. What’s unfortunate is that a fighter who doesn’t do this as well as Babalu will be put into the position of executing this game plan, and probably isn’t going to be able to.

If we see Jardine attack this game plan, or Forrest Griffin, I’m not convinced that they’ll be able to do it right. I’m also not convinced that if the man I believe best suited to beat Rampage in the UFC (Thiago Silva) can catch ‘page in the clinch, because he can’t shoot as well as Babalu and can’t lock him in the corner. If he does, I believe Thiago Silva could be the next UFC champion, but, like I said, that’s not the way I would approach the situation.

Rampage is in a good position right now. He’s in a tough division filled with different kinds of fighters, but the opponents eligible to fight him have all had their weaknesses exposed and the two that everyone seems to think will be getting the most imminent title shots (Griffin, obviously, and Keith Jardine) have shown their weaknesses to be the one thing that Rampage does best: brutal, unrelenting explosions.