It’s no secret that former UFC light heavyweight champ Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson doesn’t want to cut down to 205 pounds anymore heading into his Bellator 175 showdown with longtime rival Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal, and apparently that’s lead to some confusion as to just what weight the rematch will be contested at.
During yesterday’s (Wed., March 22, 2017) Bellator 175 media conference call (quotes via MMA Fighting), after “King Mo” called “Rampage” “fat” and “soppy,” Jackson revealed he thought the fight was a catchweight of 235 pounds, to which Lawal responded by focusing on the fact that it is indeed at heavyweight:
“Guess what? You ain’t fighting me at heavyweight,” Jackson said. “You fighting me at a catchweight.”
“No. Heavyweight, player. Ain’t no catchweight here,” Lawal said. “It’s at heavyweight, dog. Two-sixty-five is the weight class. Heavyweight. I don’t do no catchweights.”
“Wait, wait, you’re telling me I can weigh 265?” Jackson said. “Is this what you’re telling me?”
“Yes. Yes, you can,” Lawal replied. “Ain’t no catchweight. I ain’t no ho. I don’t do no catchweight. Man, hell no.”
“I was told the fight was at catchweight,” Jackson said.
Jackson had plenty to say in response in classic fashion, poking fun at previous opponent Lawal’s girlfriend before citing a thyroid problem that has him unable to make 205.
It’s the reason why he’s going to show up to Bellator 175 weighing an astonishingly high number, something he doesn’t Lawal, whose style is obviously much more takedown-focused, will be able to deal with:
“You guys, we can tell weight don’t matter to ‘King Mo.’ Look at his girlfriend,” Jackson said at one point. “We can tell he don’t give a f*ck about weight. Listen, ‘King Mo’ wants to talk about my weight and he thinks that hurts my feelings and stuff like that. It ain’t no secret, I’m older now. I’m an older fighter and I have a thyroid problem that is hard for me. I’m on medication, but what I did was, I addressed the problem. I went and saw a specialist and I talked to my coaches, and we decided to go to heavyweight and lift weights, get stronger, get bigger.
“So, ‘King Mo’ can fat shame and the stuff all he wants. I didn’t ask to fight ‘King Mo.’ I wanted to fight at heavyweight because I’m a bigger guy now. I left ‘King Mo’ in the past. I figured, yeah, I wanted to knock him out, I wanted the rematch, but I feel like fighting ‘King Mo’ again ain’t going to be nothing but a wrestling match, and why do I want to do that when I’m a striker? I like putting on exciting fights. I like being exciting.
“That’s why my career went towards the way it’s went, because I come to fight,” Jackson continued. “So, I don’t care what ‘King Mo’ says about my weight or what anybody else says. I’m doing Bellator a favor by giving them the rematch with ‘King Mo,’ and he had a problem dealing with me at 205. He’s going to have a problem dealing with me at 260, in shape.”
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