UFC welterweight Mike Jackson, perhaps best known for his stinker against 170-pound experiment CM Punk, had one fight remaining on his current contract but claims the promotion was unable to find him a suitable opponent, so it instead opted to release him.
Jackson, 37, insists the release was unrelated to his recent altercation with fellow UFC welterweight veteran Jake Shields. The two came to blows at the promotion’s Performance Institute in Las Vegas and the 37 year-old “Truth” is now looking to settle their score.
“My mindset wasn’t to beat the f—k out of Jake Shields, it was to not get punched in the face,” Jackson, who recently had jaw surgery, told MMA Fighting. “So he’s in my DMs, talking a bunch of s—t, but then his tune changed, and he was like, ‘Do you want me to come to Houston to box? I’ll come box you.’ I haven’t responded yet, but that’s my new thing. He’s going to come to Houston, or we’re going to find somewhere to meet, and I’ll beat the f—k out of him for the s—t that he did.”
Jackson (1-2, 1 NC) previously told the combat sports media he was filing assault charges against Shields and that a potential lawsuit was also on the table. Shields, 44, retired from MMA after a technical knockout loss to Ray Cooper under the PFL banner back in 2018.