Rampage Jackson doesn’t want to challenge Emanuel Newton for the title, says ‘I really don’t care for the belt’

Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson has no intention of challenging Emanuel Newton for the Bellator light-heavyweight title.

The former PRIDE and UFC champion explained that he thinks Newton is a deserving champion, and is part of the “young cats” in MMA.

“Honestly, I think (Emanuel) Newton deserves the belt,” Jackson today told MMAjunkie.com’s Steven Marrocco. “I’m the first-ever unified champion; why not let the young cats be the champion and have their belt?”

Jackson, who has the same coaches as the Bellator champion, believes a potential title fight would divide the gym up, which is not something he is interested in doing at this stage in his career.

“Emanuel and I have the same coach. That’s going to divide our gym. I really don’t care for the belt.”

The winner of the Jackson-Lawal main event at Bellator 120 will be crowded the season 10 light-heavyweight tournament winner, which would set them in line for a title shot against Newton. Asked if he would face his teammate in that situation, Rampage insisted that he has not agreed that with the promotion.

“I’m saying I won’t want to fight Emanuel,” Jackson said. “I’m not looking forward to fighting Emanuel. I’d rather not fight him.”

Bellator 120 take place on May 17 at the Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi.

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About the author

Karim Zidan

Karim Zidan is a investigative reporter and feature writer focusing on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for BloodyElbow since 2014 and has served as an associate editor since 2016. He also writes for The New York Times and The Guardian. Karim has been invited to speak about his work at numerous universities, including Princeton, and was a panelist at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival and the Oslo Freedom Forum. He also participated in the United Nations counter-terrorism conference in 2021. His reporting on Ramzan Kadyrov’s involvement in MMA, much of which was done for Bloody Elbow, has led to numerous award nominations, and was the basis of an award-winning HBO Real Sports documentary.