Wanderlei Silva reveals how he was convinced to take on Quinton Jackson for the fourth time at Bellator 206.
Wanderlei Silva will take on longtime rival Quinton Jackson for the fourth time in his career. After defeating ‘Rampage’ twice during the Pride era and being knocked out himself at UFC 92, ‘The Axe Murderer’ will now come back for his second fight in the last five years to do it one more time.
A 42-year-old who’s currently running for Brazil’s Federal Congress, Silva explained to Combate that the offer Bellator MMA president Scott Coker made him was the reason why he took the fight.
“I was offered one million dollars,” Silva said. “Scott called me up and said ‘I’ll give you a million dollars to fight Rampage’. I was like ‘I’m not doing anything anyway’. I’m already training again and I feel good. I’m going to do this fight and then I might fight again in December.”
Although Wanderlei hasn’t trained since his unanimous decision loss to Chael Sonnen back in June 2017, the Brazilian guarantees he’ll show a more intelligent approach when he faces Jackson again, while still being on the lookout for the knockout.
“You can expect a great Wanderlei. I feel well, training is going well. I’m more experience, I’m fighting more intelligently and aggressively. I think it’s going to be a great fight. He better train, because I’m sharp and I’m going for the knockout. I don’t know if he’ll be man enough to accept a striking match against me. I hope so. If he does, we’ll have a great fight.”
Wanderlei Silva vs. Rampage Jackson is set to co-headline Bellator 206 in San Jose, California, on September 29. The card will be headlined by a middleweight title fight between the champion, Gegard Mousasi, and Bellator’s welterweight titleholder, Rory MacDonald.