We never expected someone to out-snark Quinton Jackson, but Shannon Briggs just got under his skin and razzed the hell out of the former UFC light heavyweight champ.
Triller Fight Club returns this Saturday November 27th with another unusual event: the debut of their Triad Combat promotion which is being marketed as a more fair venue for MMA fighters to compete against boxers. The ring is triangular, clinch fighting is allowed, and spinning backfists are cool. That about sums up the difference.
Will it be enough to allow former UFC heavyweight champ Frank Mir to defeat two time European champion Kubrat Pulev? We have our doubts, but it will be interesting to see how many people tune in over Thanksgiving weekend for the fight.
As usual, Triller is throwing a lot of money into this event and others they have planned down the road. Frank Mir says he’s making a career high payday against Pulev, which is pretty sad for a former UFC champ who fought Brock Lesnar at UFC 100.
As for the future, it looks like Triller plans on putting another former UFC champ, one Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the ring (triangle or square, guess we’ll see) against two time heavyweight boxing champ Shannon Briggs.
No date or details have been released on that one, but Triller had the 43 year old Jackson and 49 year old Briggs on hand for Mir vs. Pulev fight week, and we’re loving the back and forth between the two. Jackson became a mixed martial arts superstar off his ability to sass the hell outta fighters before powerbombing them through the canvas. But Shannon Briggs is no slouch when it comes to running his mouth either, and definitely got under Rampage’s skin backstage at the Triad Combat press conference.
In an interview with MMA Junkie, Jackson said MMA no longer excites him, while the prospect of boxing Briggs does.
“Me stepping into a boxing ring with someone of the caliber of Shannon, I’ll have that rush,” Rampage said. “In the training camp, I’ll get that rush. If I don’t get this right, I can get knocked out – and that’s what I need. That’s what made me so successful in MMA and I lost that over the years by fighting everybody and doing that.
“I accept the challenge,” he continued. “I think Shannon would be a real tough boxing match. If I’m going to be 100 percent honest, I didn’t imagine fighting him in Triad Combat. I never imagined fighting him in anything like that. I imagined my first boxing match in a boxing ring with boxing gloves. But I’m prepared for any challenge that comes my way.”
A big question is what kind of shape Jackson will be in should a fight come together. His last pro fight was December 29th, 2019 in Japan against Fedor Emelianenko, and an overweight “Rampage” was dubbed “Hampage” by many fans that accused him of stepping off the couch to collect a paycheck. Fedor finished him just 2:44 into the first round of their fight.
As for Shannon Briggs, his last boxing bout was in 2016, a first round KO of Emilio Zarate that left his record at an impressive 60-6-1. While he definitely took a step down in competition after losing to Vitali Klitschko in 2010, he capped his career off on a 9 fight win streak with 8 KOs/TKOs.