MacDonald vs Lambert Set For UFC 88

by Robert Sargent

With fellow Albertan Jason "Dooms" Day injured, Jason "The Athlete" MacDonald will look to rebound from his thrilling UFC 87 defeat when he battles yet another Jason, Jason "The Punisher" Lambert, at UFC 88: "Breakthrough" on September 6th.

The bout marks Lambert's debut at middleweight, after suffering three knockout losses in his last four bouts, while MacDonald seeks to immediately avenge his UFC 87 defeat.

MacDonald engaged in what was surely the Fight of the Night at UFC 87, showing incredible patience and skill in evading submissions from undefeated Jiu-Jitsu wizard Demian Maia, before finally succumbing to a rear naked choke late in the third round. Taking the bout with Lambert on very short notice, MacDonald will attempt to get right back on the winning track.

Lambert, on the other hand, is in desperate need of a dominating victory or his UFC days will likely come to an abrupt end. Despite his shocking knockout victory over Renato "Babalu" Sobral at UFC 68: "Uprising," Lambert has suffered knockout losses to "Sugar" Rashad Evans, Wilson Gouveia and Luiz "Banha" Cane.

Lambert's game of taking his opponent down and punishing him with strikes may or may not work against the crafty MacDonald, who has repeatedly shown that he can escape all sorts of danger on the ground and remain nearly completely unscathed. A TKO loss to Rich Franklin aside, MacDonald has been nearly impossible to finish in a fight, as was clearly evident in the gritty battle with Maia.

Lambert's best chance for victory is to take MacDonald down and figure out a way to hold him there, but MacDonald's incredible submission game is likely to pose endless problems for Lambert.


For the injured Day, this is a disappointing turn of events for a fighter who was looking to rebound from a tough loss to Michael "The Count" Bisping at UFC 85, but he is certain to return to competition soon.