(“…and as part of your signing bonus, we’re going to hook you up with a tricked-out, 2014 stretch Winnebago.” Photo props: Bellator MMA via mmanytt.se)
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is becoming quite the utility player for Viacom. With his Bellator MMA debut looming in the future and his TNA wrestling career already underway, Rampage is about to add boxing to his list of duties. And we’re not talking about beating up some random cans in Oklahoma — the former UFC/PRIDE star will reportedly be fighting none other than multi-divisional boxing champ Roy Jones Jr., as part of a pay-per-view event targeted for the end of the year. As MMAJunkie reports:
Viacom is expected to announce plans to go head-to-head with pay-per-view juggernaut Zuffa LLC and its UFC 168 offering at next week’s Bellator 97 event on Spike TV.
An unveiling of Bellator fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s plans with the promotion will likely include a pay-per-view boxing match with former multi-division boxing champ Roy Jones Jr., multiple sources close to the event today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).
The fight is expected to take place at the end of the year, though a date and weight class for the bout could not immediately be confirmed. It’s also unclear how the event will be branded given Bellator and parent company Viacom’s focus on MMA.
“We’ve been talking to Roy and his people over a potential ‘Rampage’ vs. Roy fight for over seven months,” a representative from Jackson’s longtime team, Wolfslair MMA, told MMAjunkie.com. The rep requested anonymity due to the ongoing negotiations related to the matchup.
“If it happens, it would be an incredible fight,” the rep said. “Boxing and MMA have both been discussed, and (Bellator Chairman and CEO) Bjorn (Rebney) has been in these discussions every step of the way. I can’t say much more than that. We’ll see what happens.”
Bellator MMA officials declined to comment on the possible event.
Alright, two things…
– Although the Junkie report suggests that the Rampage vs. RJJ match could go head-to-head with UFC 168, it would be promotional suicide to put this stunt-fight up against a UFC event that features the Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman rematch and Ronda Rousey’s next appearance against Miesha Tate. Viacom is crazy — crazy enough to hire Rampage Jackson, at least — but surely they’re not that crazy. At the moment, the latest 2013 date without a fight event already scheduled is December 7th.
– I’ll just state the obvious: The only purpose of this boxing match is to screw with the UFC. Anderson Silva and Roy Jones Jr. have been going back and forth about a potential boxing match for over five years, and Jones even flew out to Las Vegas for UFC 162 to discuss it with UFC president Dana White. But now that Silva torpedoed every UFC super-fight possibility by losing to Weidman, Bellator is locking RJJ down for a boxing match on their turf. Well played, you devious bastards.
Until we hear Rampage Jackson and Roy Jones announcing that they’ve signed contracts for a certain date, we’re just looking at this as a weird possibility for now. But don’t act like you wouldn’t watch this freak show.