Rampage Jackson happy to be fighting in UFC again...for now

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is happy after a fresh start with a new promotion. He couldn’t be happier with his new relationship and has nothing but disdain for his old one.

"I thought I was going to do better by leaving the UFC and I was wrong," the former UFC light heavyweight champion said Saturday night. "The UFC is the best organization on the planet.”

It was less than two years ago when Jackson (36-11) was whispering sweet nothings into the ear of then-Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, trash-talking the UFC and claiming Bellator would be his home for the rest of his career.

Longtime fans will recall that when Jackson’s first UFC stint began in 2007, the Memphis native had choice words for PRIDE, where he fought for several years.

Say this for Jackson, who turns 37 in June: he’s consistent in his inconsistency. And he’s never been through quite a promotional adventure like the one that ultimately landed him at Montreal’s Bell Centre for UFC 186, where he defeated Fabio Maldonado via unanimous decision in the evening’s co-main event.

“I’m going to tell you: This was the most stressful time in my whole career,” Jackson said at the post-fight news conference. “I’ve been fighting for 15 years, and I never had to deal with what I dealt with just to get here, and I hope I never have to deal with that again.”

Jackson re-signed with the UFC in December, although most believed at the time that he was still under a valid Bellator contract. Bellator sued in a New Jersey court, which issued an injunction on April 7 preventing Jackson from fighting, after the UFC 186 bout with Maldonado had already been announced. An appellate court overturned the injunction on April 21 and allowed Jackson to fight, placing him back on the card.

"You guys don't know how stressed I was ... I won that fight to get here," Jackson reiterated. "I had to fight to get here.”

With that out of the way, Rampage was free to focus on fighting in the cage. The bout was contested at a catchweight 215 pounds, to accommodate the fact Jackson had stopped training when he believed the fight was off. Maldonado’s main strength is his ability to absorb significant amounts of punishment and keep moving forward. He took everything “Rampage” could dish out. The third round looked like both fighters were going in slow motion, but Jackson pushed through his fatigue and sealed the win.

"I just think that Fabio is not human," Jackson said. "I hit that guy with everything, and he was asking for some more. I was like, ‘Damn.’ I even tried to kick him in the head. I didn't even think he'd see that coming. I didn't know what to do. I was thinking about blowing my bad breath on him ... but I didn't think that would work either. So I just kept trying.”

So what does the UFC do with Rampage from here? Jackson won three in a row in Bellator, the biggest win being a questionable decision of “King Mo” Lawal. Prior to that, Jackson lost three fights in a row on his way out of the UFC, with losses to Jon Jones, Glover Teixeira and Ryan Bader.

Nothing about the victory against Maldonado on Saturday night suggested a run back toward the top of the division. Still, that doesn’t stop Jackson, who enters each new promotional arrangement with a new burst of optimism, from shooting for the moon in his second UFC run.

“Honestly, I want to come back and beat everybody that beat me,” Jackson said. “I want to fight [Mauricio] ‘Shogun’ [Rua], Rashad [Evans], Glover [Teixeira], and make my way back up to Jon [Jones]. That’s the honest truth.”

And this is where the UFC’s matchmakers will have to make a choice: Do they give Jackson his wish and pit him against the top guys in the division, essentially sacrificing Jackson to build one of the top contenders? Or do they get as much mileage as possible out of Rampage’s remaining name value?

A “fun fight” against the likes of Shogun, who defeated Jackson in 2005 in Japan, or Dan Henderson, who Jackson defeated at UFC 75, could headline a fight night card or get a solid place on a PPV main card. And while the UFC flinched at such matchups in the past, all bets are off in the post-Tito Ortiz vs. Stephan Bonnar MMA world.

All this remains to be determined. But what we know for now is that “Rampage” is back in the UFC, and is talking like a lover who was just reunited with his ex.

“I’m not worried about what [Bellator is] doing, because I want to give [UFC executives] Dana [White] and Lorenzo [Fertitta] big thanks in having my back. They helped me out, and I’m just going to say it right now – I was over there and Bellator can’t [expletive] with the UFC, so I ain’t scared.”

Follow Dave Doyle on Twitter @DaveDoyleMMA

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