Rampage Jackson says he will fight again: ‘I’m not happy with my performance in my last fight. I can’t leave MMA fans like that’
Rampage Jackson will fight again.
Jackson hasn’t fought since December of 2019 at Bellator 237 in Japan when he suffered a first-round TKO loss to Fedor Emelianenko. The fight was at heavyweight and Jackson was noticeably out of shape, and since then he has made it known he was disappointed in his performance, yet he still hasn’t fought since then.
Now, however, Jackson says the plan is to fight again as he can’t end his career like that. However, he’s uncertain if he will return to MMA or go to boxing.
“No, man. I ain’t done,” Jackson said to TMZ Sports. “I’m not happy with my performance in my last fight. I can’t leave MMA fans like that. … Yeah, I’m going to leave this sport a little better. … Like I said, I’m in talks with fighting Shannon (Briggs), finally. That fight has been almost a year in the making. I want to do some boxing before I retire. … I might do MMA, but I want to do boxing. I’m getting up there. I’m 44, man. I’m getting up there. My knees (hurt) from wrestling. When you’re doing MMA, a lot of people want to take you down.”
As Rampage Jackson says, he and Shannon Briggs have been in talks to fight for quite some time. They have been linked to one another in BKFC and boxing, and the fight would make sense given both haven’t fought in a while.
Jackson is 44-years-old and as mentioned, hasn’t fought since 2019 but is 38-14 in his MMA career. Before the loss to Emelianenko, the fan-favorite scored a second-round TKO win over Wanderlei Silva. Briggs, on the other hand, hasn’t competed professionally since 2016 when he defeated Emilio Zarate by first-round KO to end his career on a nine-fight winning streak. The 50-year-old is the former lineal and WBO heavyweight champion with notable wins over George Foreman, Ray Mercer, and Siarhei Liakhovich.