This past Saturday, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson made a successful comeback to the Ultimate Fighting Championship by beating Fabio Maldonado by unanimous decision at UFC 186 — his first UFC victory since 2011.
Jackson left the organization for Bellator MMA in 2013 after three consecutive losses. Losses, that he plans to redeem now that he’s back, as he told MMA Junkie in a post-fight interview:
“Honestly, I want to come back and beat everybody that beat me,” Jackson told MMAjunkie. “I want to fight (Mauricio) ‘Shogun’ (Rua), Rashad (Evans), Glover (Teixeira), an make my way back up to Jon (Jones). That’s the honest truth.”
Rua beat Jackson in the opening round of the 2005 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix but has been on a tough stretch since he entered the UFC in 2007. Evans beat Jackson by decision five years ago in what turned out to be a rather lackluster fight considering the heated build-up and rivalry between the two fighters. Jones submitted Jackson in a title-fight in 2011 and Teixeira is the last man to beat him. It was Rampage’s last fight before he left for Bellator, where he went 3-0.
The problem right now is that no one knows if and when Rampage will be allowed to return to the UFC for a fight. His contract with Bellator is still valid, even if Jackson self-terminated it due to an alleged breach of contract by the Viacom-owned promotion.
According to Jackson, Bellator failed to properly promote him and his fights. Bellator successfully filed an injunction to prevent Jackson from competing at UFC 186, before it was later reversed by the court. It is likely that Bellator will now try to push their contractual rights through in court. Even UFC president Dana White believes that “Rampage” has some “legal troubles” ahead of him.
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