As Quinton "Rampage" Jackson prepares to fight Keith Jardine in the main event at UFC 95, he says he's not thinking of anything except getting ready for the fight.When I asked Jackson on a call today whether he watches other fighters and tries to emulate them, he said that for the most part, he does not.
"I'm in my own little world," Jackson said. "I go to fights, but I don't pay attention to names or anything like that. I'm a fighter and I focus on my own fights."
When I asked Jackson whether his answer would have been different earlier in his career, he mentioned Tito Ortiz as someone he tried to train with and learn from when he was younger. And as if to prove that he doesn't pay attention to other fighters, when he was asked about Demian Maia's recent win at UFC 95, Jackson said he doesn't know who Maia is.
And Rampage also wasn't interested in expressing an opinion about the biggest controversy in MMA right now, the issue of Georges St. Pierre having grease rubbed on his body during his fight with B.J. Penn -- other than to say he knows that he wouldn't need that kind of illegal assistance.
"I'll whoop their ass because I whoop their ass. I don't need any help whooping ass," Jackson said. "I don't know nothing about nothing else."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-24-2009 @ 3:59PM
Eric said...
Not that he won't win, but this isn't a good fight for Rampage ... I'm really surprised that the UFC put this together and Quinton agreed to it.
Jardine has been KOed in 2 of his last 4 fights, even the 2 wins were by split decision.
If you look at how Forrest beat Quinton, it's not unreasonable to think that Jardine could win in a similar fashion. He only has to avoid Quinton's power for 3 rounds.
Rampage deserves the title shot, but a loss here would be a big setback.
Reply
3-01-2009 @ 2:20AM
B. FRANK said...
Eric, I certainly agree that this is not a great matchup for Jackson, however, unlike boxing, the UFC doesn't give their big name fighters easy matches just so that they can make a title fight for the next event. While Jardin has a suspect chin, he certainly can be a big spoiler here with those wicked leg kicks of his, just ask Chuck Liddell.
The bottom line is that Jackson asked for a fight since Evans wasn't going to be ready for quite some time to defend his new title. Jackson was given the next shot at the lhw title, however as part of his forte, Evans told the UFC that he needed more time to recover from his win over Forrest and wouldn't be ready to defend his title till at least the summer, at which time Jackson said that he didn't want to wait and sit idle for that long, so he went to White & Silva to get an opponent for UFC 96. As part of staying in elite & championship form, Jackson wants to remain busy and not fall back into the situation before the Griffin fight in which he took 9 months off.
I'm very surprised that "YOU" are surprised that both the UFC & Jackson agreed to this fight. This is what makes the UFC the monster that it has become and that's putting together fights that look nothing like what boxing has been doing to it's fans for decades now (ripping them off for every cent they can get from fighting nobodies). And I say "YOU" personally because whenever I get a chance to read the blogs on here, yourself and a few others make very intelligible posts.
Don't get me wrong, when this fight was announced, I was shocked, disgusted, and pissed off because I thought Jackson should have been up for the title next. I eventually found out why this fight was made and I really wished the UFC would have put this information on their website because I can't tell you how many people were outraged over this fight. Come to think of it, it's still a pretty weak card, while I wouldn't lay down the $50.00 to watch it, I will watch it at a closed circuit event.
Again, while Jackson will be the favorite to win, there's definitely a chance that he could lose this fight and that's why Jardin is the opponent. It would be a huge mistake, if not criminal on the part of the UFC to give Jackson anything less than a Jardin for this fight. Besides, if he can't get by Jardin, he shouldn't be up for the title to begin with.