UFC 153 was decimated with injuries at the very top of the card. The original co-main event was Vitor Belfort vs. Alan Belcher until Belfort went to fight Jon Jones and Belcher was injured anyway. Quinton Jackson vs. Glover Teixeira was elevated to co-main status, but Rampage was out after suffering an injury in training. In stepped Fabio Maldonado against Glover as the new fight, but before that, a familiar name from TUF 10 offered his services to the UFC. James McSweeney spoke to MMA Junkie about fighting Teixeira.
As soon as the news became public that Quinton “Rampage” Jackson had an injury and pulled out of his UFC 153 fight with Glover Teixeira, McSweeney and his management phoned UFC matchmaker Joe Silva.
“I actually offered – if I lost that fight, don’t pay me,” McSweeney (10-9) recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “That’s how confident I was going into that fight.”
They were told the following day by the UFC the promotion was going in another direction. However, the UFC did tell them the offer was appreciated and they should stay in touch moving forward.
McSweeney is on a four-fight win streak, fighting exclusively in Australia with all wins coming by stoppage. He is rumored to be facing Tyrone Spong at World Series of Fighting 1 this November. Funnily enough, McSweeney had fought Maldonado at UFC 120, where he was TKOed in the 3rd round and promptly given his pink slip.
There’s really no way the UFC would willingly let James McSweeney get a high profile spot on a PPV after his other UFC outings, and if he fought Teixeira it would probably not last a round. The last sentence about “going in another direction” almost sounds like the nicest rejection ever. He’ll definitely need some more wins to get a second crack at the UFC.