“That thrill is not there anymore in MMA like when I started.” —Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson may be done with MMA, but he’s not walking away from combat sports just yet. Especially when promotions like Triller are looking for battle-tested veterans to fill vacancies at “Triad Combat.”
In a perfect world, the 43 year-old Jackson will be able to make his transition to boxing against former WBO heavyweight smashing machine Shannon Briggs. “The Cannon” has been an outspoken critic of “Rampage” over the last few years.
“Shannon is really disrespectful,” Jackson said during Triller’s “Triad Combat” press conference (via MMA Junkie). “I’m going to keep it real. It’s embarrassing for me that I lost my last fight the way I did and Shannon was very disrespectful. Before I can even get to the locker room, I got a text on my phone saying, ‘I’ll fight you, I’ll fight you in boxing.’”
I guess Deontay Wilder was busy.
Jackson has not competed since a technical knockout loss to fellow PRIDE FC veteran Fedor Emelianenko under the Bellator MMA banner back in Dec. 2019. “Rampage” has lost three of his last four and doesn’t appear to be as effective as he was at light heavyweight.
Briggs is 49 and coming off a five-year layoff.
“Then he goes on to post memes and put my face on ridiculous things,” Jackson continued. “Shannon is real disrespectful and I’m going to shut him up. I’ll let him do all his talking and his laughing. Shannon started this whole feud and called me out at the worst time.”
Nothing is official at this time but you can expect the Jackson vs. Briggs talk to heat up after the inaugural “Triad Combat” event on Nov. 27, where Jackson (MMA) and Briggs (boxing) serve as team captains.