Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (38-14) has some fight left in the tank.
The former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight champion took to Twitter to announce his return to combat sports today (Weds., Jan. 31, 2024). Jackson, 45, will make his boxing debut (excluding his two-on-two Fight Circus match alongside Bob Sapp) against the 52-year-old former Heavyweight boxing champion, Shannon Briggs (60-6-1, 1 no contest), in Qatar on June 1, 2024. The embedded video of Jackson’s announcement can be seen in the embedded player above.
“I finally got the contract,” Jackson said. “It’s been over two years in the making of me hearing Mr. Shannon Briggs’ mouth. I get to shut him up once and for all in Qatar, June 1. I gotta sign this contract.
“Shannon, you’re gonna regret even calling me out all those years ago and you’ve been posting just ungodly videos of me, tagging me in ungodly videos, and I just endured it,” he continued. “I got the contract. Thank, God. I’m gonna shut your mouth once and for all. Sign this s—t.”
Briggs has been one of his division’s master trolls throughout his career and carried over his antics to social media in pursuit of the Jackson fight, as the one-time UFC champ alluded to. Briggs’ nautical distraction of a paddle-boarding Wladimir Klitschko is still one of the funniest things you’ll ever see, period.
It’s been eight years since Briggs last fought, as he extended his current winning streak to nine with a first round knockout of Emilio Zarate. Jackson, on the other hand, last fought in a longtime fantasy match up against one of his idols, Fedor Emelianenko. Unfortunately for Jackson, he lost the fight via a first round technical knockout at Bellator 237 in Japan in December 2019.