Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s boxing debut is going to have to wait.
MMA Mania has confirmed with sources that the scheduled boxing match on June 8, 2024, at Rumble of Titans: Duel In the Desert in Qatar between Jackson and former Heavyweight champion, Shannon Briggs, is now off. The bout’s cancelation comes as a result of fraud concerns from the fighters regarding the event’s promoter, Quantum Sports & Media (QSM) World. It’s unknown whether or not the promoters will still try and hold an event on the discussed date.
QSM’s Founders, Hossama Dawood Khan and Suleyman Dawood Khan, along with other family members, were alleged of defrauding concerts of artists, Drake and Travis Scott, per a lawsuit by Jazba Entertainment (h/t Global Village Space) in July 2023. The allegations stated that Jazba Entertainment was persuaded by the family to invest in a Dubai concert featuring the above acts on May 28, 2021. The event was pitched with the name “Rhythm” at Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena. Jazba’s Pervaiz Akhtar with the aid of Kenyan promoter, Rani Jamal, transferred $250,000 to QSM World’s Qatar account for the event. QSM World ignored Akhtar and failed to deliver the promised concert materials once the transfer was made. The Khans were also alleged to have advertised a boxing event in 2022 that never happened after acquiring support from investors.
“Hossama Dawood Khan alleged that the $3 million investment made by Akhtar was forfeited by Drake and Travis Scott’s management when the concert was canceled,” Global Village Space’s report read. “However, representatives of the artists denied these claims, expressing surprise and disappointment that their names were misused in fraudulent activities.”
MMA Mania has since received a brief letter of legal action sent to QSM World in July 2023 along with proof of text messages that were unresponded to by Hossama Khan, countering his claim below that no legal action is being taken. It’s believed that all has just been ignored. A report was made to the Qatar embassy in London, England but a response has yet to be received by Jazba Entertainment as of March 2024. Jazba Entertainment plans to take action with Qatar’s capital, Doha.
“Both news articles are with the intention of defamation,” Khan said in a statement to MMA Mania this past March. “Also, if we have done something wrong, why have they not gone down a legal avenue as they have said in the article? To date, no legal action has been taken against us because legally they have done a breach of contract. Anyhow, we have moved on with our legal options to take down the news articles and our team is already working on it. As said before they’re just trying to defame our name.
“When you read both news articles they don’t match up,” he concluded. “One article says one thing and the other says another thing.”
QSM World requested The News International take down or at the very least edit out the QSM name from its story on the Khans on Feb. 22, 2024. Legal action was specified as not threatened but details for the request were not specified. Sources close to the situation alleged that QSM World is not registered in Qatar and currently uses a headquarters location in Doha Tower that does not exist.
As the boxing event got closer, a pre-fight press conference in Qatar was scheduled for March 28, 2024. The press conference didn’t happen and Khan’s reasoning for why was as follows.
“Regarding the press conference, it’s rescheduled as in Ramadan we can’t have musical performance in Ramadan,” Khan told MMA Mania.
Aside from the well-documented eating and drinking limitations of Ramadan, which ended on March 29, there don’t appear to be any rules in Qatar regarding musical events or performances. Nonetheless, the press conference was not rescheduled.