Former UFC light heavyweight champion and current Bellator fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson fights Joey Beltran in Bellator 108’s headline bout this Friday.
Win or lose, it is unclear who the 14-year fight veteran will square off with next, but if he has any say in it, it won’t be Tito Ortiz or Dan Henderson.
While the Wolfslair MMA product simply acted disinterested in a matchup with Ortiz, Jackson clearly seemed to have a grudge when addressing Henderson, per MMA Junkie.
The only reason I was even interested in fighting Tito was because Tito and I used to be training partners and I always wanted to know if I would beat him or not. That’s what I was getting out of fighting Tito, not because he’s a big name. … Why would I be interested in having a rematch with Dan Henderson? I already beat him; I beat him for the unified titles. I beat him for the PRIDE title. He has no titles now. He sucks.
This is a classic example of the pot calling the kettle black, since Henderson has lost three in a row. Jackson enters Friday’s matchup with Beltran on a three-fight skid of his own.
Additionally, Henderson lost to opponents who could all easily be considered top five contenders in Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans and Vitor Belfort.
While Jackson did not lose to weak competition, his recent schedule of Jon Jones, Ryan Bader and Glover Teixeira is tough to sell as being tougher than Henderson’s.
Henderson and Jackson fought at UFC 75 in September 2007 to unify the Pride middleweight and UFC light heavyweight titles, with Rampage winning a close decision.
Hendo‘s last fight on his UFC contract was his knockout loss to Belfort, his first stoppage via strikes, and UFC President Dana White was noncommittal on what’s next for the 43-year-old, simply saying “We’ll talk,” per MMA Fighting.
On the off chance that Henderson signed with Bellator, would Rampage vs. Hendo II be a bout that fans would be interested in watching?
John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.
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