The UFC are making a habit of these big announcements.
After the Las Vegas promotion confirmed that CM Punk had joined their roster a few weeks ago, the UFC announced another addition tonight in the form of MMA legend Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
“Rampage” spent six years with the UFC, winning the light heavyweight championship in just his second bout for the company when he TKO’d Chuck Liddell in May 2007.
Jackson lost the belt the next year to Forrest Griffin but had a lengthy career with the UFC before losing three in a row to Jon Jones, Ryan Bader and Glover Teixeira before making the move to rival organisation Bellator MMA.
The 36-year-old went 3-0 in Bellator, defeating Joey Beltran, Christian M’Pumbu and Muhammed Lawal but his relationship with the promotion had become strained in recent months after he was not announced as a part of Bellator’s upcoming fight events.
But it was revealed at UFC Fight Night 58 tonight that the Tennessee native would return to fight in the UFC in 2015 before retiring.
“It hasn’t really hit me, but it sounds like most people are happy for me to come back,” Jackson told UFC.com. “I feel like I can put on some exciting fights. I don’t feel like there are a whole lot of people out there putting it on the line the way I do.”
“I went out in the world and I looked at the other side and said ‘man, the grass looks greener over there across the street.’ So I ran across the street and looked at the grass and it got ran over by the lawnmower. (Laughs) Sometimes you think the grass is greener and you’ve got to take that chance. I never would have known if I hadn’t gone out there.”
Despite the very public and very sure announcement from the UFC, Bellator president Scott Coker claims that “Rampage” is still under contract with his promotion.
Let us be clear that Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is under an exclusive contract with #BellatorMMA. We will protect our contractual rights
— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) December 21, 2014
We don’t know who to believe but we’re just hoping we see that famous “Rampage” walk-out again before long.
