Jon Jones Expects to Face Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the Fall, Likely at UFC 135
By Chris Leslie on June 3, 2011
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones expects to face former title-holder Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in his first title defense this fall, likely at UFC 135 in September, Jones told MMAjunkie.
UFC 135, slated for Sept. 24 in Denver with Matt Hughes vs. Diego Sanchez, is the only PPV scheduled for September but has also been rumored to host the third meeting UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard.
Jackson is coming off last weekend’s victory over Matt Hamill at UFC 130, where he also revealed a broken hand, but UFC President Dana White said if Jackson was healthy he was still next in line for a title shot.
While Jackson was suspended up to six months for the injury by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, he can still be cleared by a doctor to return earlier and recently tweeted that he did not do any additional damage to his hand.
Jones has been dealing with his own hand issues as well, as he recently decided to forgo surgery for a lingering injury. Jones has expected to face Rampage or Lyoto Machida for awhile now with his friend-turned-nemesis Rashad Evans fighting Phil Davis at UFC 133. Jones would be making his first title defense since dominating former champion Marucio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128 to claim the belt.
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Pictured: Jon Jones (via Sherdog)
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Jones will dominate Rampage more than he did Shogun. imo rashad vs jones was the better matchup,but this could be just as good if the Rampage that fought Liddell,Hendo,and silva shows up.
@jcohl2 – the first UFC fight I ever saw was Rampage v Liddell – and since then, I have been a changed man. I miss the Rampage of Pride, unless you talk about his previous ring battles with Silva. I was not impressed with the victory over Hamill at all, and personally, I would much rather see Machida fight Jones with their two differing styles of fighting. Knowing now that Rampage had a hand issue up to and during the fight, it makes a little more sense on why he couldn’t stop Hammill. I hope for Rampage’s sake, the Quentin we saw in the cage against Silva last shows up vs Jones – otherwise, it could be a short night for the former champ.
There’s no way the UFC puts both the light heavyweight and lightweight titles on the line at the same event. If anything, throw Rampage v Jones over the pond to the England card – I know the fans there would like to see a headliner other than Bisping and Hardy.
good point
@Chris Leslie
I had no idea that UFC 135 was going to be in Denver..is that official?
It’s been announced that it’s Denver, but the it has yet to be made “official” though the date is still availible for the Pepsi Center that day according to their online event schedule. Expect a formal announcement w/n the next few weeks.
It will good to see if a 205 lb champ can actually hold on to the belt for more than one fight.
You mean like Machida did?
i like this fight..i do, i do.lets just hope injuries dont hinder or become a factor for either fighter.
this whole situation with rashad and jon jones makes absolutley no sense. if the only difference in time between rashad and phil davis and jon jones and rampage is a month and a half, then y in the hell did rashad not just wait til september to fight for the belt instead of taking the fight with davis in august which winning really does absolutely nothing to better your status in the 205 division. rashad is already the number 1 contender, so how can winning this fight with davis help his career more than waiting another 6 weeks and fighting jon jones for the belt? rashad has already sat out over a year, so what is 6 more weeks going to hurt? this makes zero sense at all. Y would the ufc allow this to happen? sure any fight with rampage jackson is sellable but what makes more sense? Having rashad wait 6 more weeks to fight jon jones who is his former friend now foe and not to mention that rashad is the rightful #1 contender, or have rashad fight phil davis and risk losing which will put of a match between evans and jones even longer and then have rampage who rashad dominated in his last fight get murdered by jones instead? can someone anyone please explain to me how this makes any sense whatsoever?
I think it will be quicker than Jones vs Shogun fight. Poor rampy.
If Rashad can’t beat Davis though, then he has no business fighting for the title anyway. So it makes perfect sense to me.
Theyve got this so backwards…should be Rampage vs. Davis, Evans vs jones.
Maybe rashad considering he been out for since his fight with rampage and wants a fight to get rid of the ring rust before going for the title
Corlin and WillyT have it right. SKDRCR you have it wrong because this shouldn’t even have come to that. How many fights did Rashad have to win in order to get his shot? Phil is basically fighting for a shot right here completely bypassing any of the other contenders and going straight to the number one guy after beating one top shelf gatekeeper. Davis should be facing any number of other guys except Rashad. Perhaps the UFC is rewarding Davis after not giving him a top five guy, changing his opponent to a grizzly vet on shorter notice and coming out on top while injured. They are also not high on Rashad, but if he wins, you better believe Rashad should take the place of whoever has that shot. He fought two top shelf guys to get the shot..they should give it to him ASAP. The favoritism towards Jones is strong as if they’re purposely giving him more time to prepare for Rashad.
It seems like maybe some of you might be forgetting and/or ignoring something important involving the UFC matchmaking process here.
Dana White doesn’t like Rashad Evans very much.
I know it sounds like some middle school sh!t, and maybe in some ways it is.
But until DW hearts Evans, at least a little bit, he isn’t getting a shot if there is a more promotable fight to be made.
And believe me, Rampage Jackson versus Jon Jones is WAY more promotable than Jones and Evans, who some haters claim plays the b!tch card a bit too often.
We’ve all seen it time and time again.
DW hands out title shots based solely on two criteria:
- who can I make the most coin with?
- do I want to see these 2 guys throwdown?
Obviously Jackson is the money choice, and clearly Jackson is the DW choice for his cageside viewing pleasure.
So unless someone gets hurt, Evans is on the outside looking in.
Period.
I’m not saying its right or that its wrong, I’m just saying thats how it is…
@jcohl
whats the dispute between Rashad and DW..i musta forgot cuz i dont recall y dana isnt “hearting” evans..refresh my memory pleeze
Evans vs. Jones would be more profitable really because since all this talking and fighting between former teammates, more and more people want them to fight. Same goes with Diaz vs. GSP at UFC 137I think the Edgar/Maynard 3 will be slated for UFC 136 which is best. So next coming pay per views: UFC 131: De Santos vs. Carwin, 132: Cruz vs. Faber, UFC 133: Evans vs. davis, UFC 134: Okami vs. Silva and with Griffin vs. Rua as co-main event, UFC 135: Rampage or Machida vs. Jones, UFC 136: ? Maynard vs. Edgar 3 or Aldo vs. Hominick 2, UFC 137: Diaz vs. GSP, so far not bad. UFC 138:? Valezquez vs. Carwin/De santos, UFC 139: Fitch vs. BJ Penn, UFC 140: Jones/Rampage vs. Machida/Evans/Davis/Rua/Griffin.
Or if not Hominick, maybe Aldo vs. Mendes UFC 136.
Oops, sorry guys, UFC 136: VELAZQUEZ vs, CARWIN/DE SANTOS and maybe Aldo vs. Mendes or move it to UFC 138.