UFC light heavyweight champion Jon ‘Bones’ Jones (13-1) and former champ, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson (32-8) have verbally agreed to meet this fall in the headliner for UFC 135 in Colorado.
The news was announced this afternoon by the promotion on Twitter (@UFC).
– UFC 135 in Denver has its headliners – @JonnyBones and @Rampage4Real have verbally agreed to the LHW title bout
UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage is expected to take place on Sept. 24 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.
This will mark Jones first title defense after he stopped former champ Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua by third round TKO last March. It was Jones fourth straight win since the only loss of his career, a disqualification defeat for illegal elbows against Matt Hamill at the “TUF: heavyweight Finale” in December of 2009. ‘Bones’ had been expected to meet former teammate Rashad Evans but pulled out over concerns for an old hand injury. Evans was given a new opponent at UFC 13 and Jones was cleared to fight after a second opinion.
Jackson earned his shot at recapturing the UFC 205 lb title after a unanimous decision win over Hamill last month in the headliner for UFC 130 in Las Vegas. The victory was ‘Rampage’s’ second in a row, and puts him at 4-1 in his last five fights. The loss was to another former champ, and “TUF 10″ opposing coach Rashad Evans, at the UFC 114 event just over a year ago. Jackson bounced back by defeating Lyoto Machida via controversial split decision at UFC 123 and then over Hamill.