'Shogun' Rua reveals Quinton Jackson was offered a title shot ahead of Jon Jones
Posted on February 8, 2011, 12:42 AM by Joey SantosusIn a surprising turn of events Saturday night, the UFC announced that Jon "Bones" Jones would be granted an immediate title shot against current Light Heavyweight Champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 128. Joe Rogan first broke the news to Jones just moments following his victory over Ryan Bader at UFC 126. Jones' fellow Jackson MMA teammate Rashad Evans was originally set to face "Shogun," but was forced to withdraw after suffering an injury during training.
While Jones was noticably elated by the news, embracing the opportunity with open arms, it appears "Bones" was not the UFC's first choice of replacement. Speaking to Tatame.com, Rua revealed that Quinton "Rampage" Jackson had initially been offered the fight, but declined.
"The UFC thought in other alternatives, but it didn't worked out. For some reason he (Jackson) didn't accepted it," Shogun explained while speaking of his fight with Jones. "I'll have to change my training because he's a lot different from Rashad, much taller, and it'll be a great challenge He's been surprising everybody in the UFC, defeated everybody with easy, and it'll be a tough fight for me."
The revealation lead some to speculate that "Rampage" was ducking "Shogun," who defeated Jackson in a rather one-sided affair in their 2005 Pride FC bout. Jackson, however, refutes these claims, citing inadaquate time to prepare as his reason for passing on the match-up.
"I don't care who the opponent is," Jackson insisted when speaking with MMAJunkie.com. "I'm not taking a fight on four weeks' notice. It's not enough time to get ready for a five-round fight. And 'Shogun,' he's a fighter, and he should know that. He shouldn't even go and say [expletive] like that with him being a fighter."
"I'm 250 pounds, and I would have to lose 45 pounds in, what, three or four weeks?" he said. "The first time I fought 'Shogun,' I was injured going into that fight, and it's haunted me all the way up to now. I always believed the second time I fight 'Shogun' that I'm going to be close to 100 percent as possible."
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua will make his first title defense when he meets Jon "Bones" Jones on March 19th in the main-event of UFC 128 from Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Quinton Jackson, meanwhile, will keep his sights set on Thiago Silva, who he will face at UFC 130 on May 28th.
Source: Tatame.com, MMAJunkie.com
Comments
Makes sense now tht Rampage didn't take the fight...I never wnt to see the Rampage that fought Evans and if Rampage had to go from 250 to 205 in 4 weeks he would hve been too drained to perform well
Ya if Rampage is that big right now taking the fight would be a mistake, but that being said you'd think he would have learned not to let himself get that out of shape again.
Plus everybody said he ducked Machida when he had that movie opp etc and he fought him and beat him.
He will face shogun again i'm pretty sure and he'll be 100 percent.
Rampage should be kicking himself for this. I don't disagree with him in not taking the fight, dropping that much weight he'd be in trouble. But realistically the guy shouldn't be that big, it's no secret he doesn't like to train and lets himself go after a fight and it is holding him back....
If he was in shape like the majority of fighters between fights he'd be fighting Shogun in March .... in the end though it's better for the fans I'm sure most of us rather see Jones fight Shogun anyways...
Damn it I have to agree with whitey.... and I hate whitey's! Nah just playing haha. I agree that Rampage should stay in fighting shape. What is he doing at 250?! Man I love Rampage but come on. I wish he would take fighting seriously all the time. He would be even greater than he already is.
Rampage likes to eat and play video games, so he tends to get fat when he has more than 2 or three months between fights, and then takes a couple months to get his weight back down.
you kno he is a big guy. 250 may be alot but i mean slacking off his training just a lil bit may give him some weight. not like he ate every hour and sat on his ass in between fights.
in pride shogun gave rampage a hell of a beating!!! good idea to be well prepaired for a rematch!!!
Great Call by Rampage.
Don't you just hate it when Fighters come in less than 100%, and you know the outcome may have turned out differently should the fighter had been in great condition?
Rua - Griffin (rua may have won that without the knee injury)
Silva - Sonnen (silva may have knocked out sonnen in the first round without the rib injury)
Roy Nelson - Dos Santos (Nelson may have submitted or knocked-out Dos Santos if he wasn't so.....well, fat) :)
plus leben having to fight stann with him having the flu.
I could of beat Rashad if he wasnt a pussy
Wow he put all that weight on since he fought machida? greedy ****er!!
i like rampage,smart decision, idk how fighters train only like 2-3 months before the fight, should be training 4-5 days a week atleast, and always working on cardio, look at rampage his 50 pounds away from 300, remember his TUF season?....calling that guy "tities" karma a bitch LOL get to the gym haha
Rampage has been in the fight game for a long time. And if any of you used to wrestle you know how it is to cut weight on such sort notice. Your tired, your cranky, and most of all your body isnt at 100%. I love both rampage and shogun, defiantly both legends in the sport. But personally that was a great choice on his part. He would of gassed by the 3rd round with the relentless pace shogun brings to any fight. I can't wait to see Jones Vs. Shogun. Its bitter sweet for me though, since both of these guys are my favorite fighters right now.
you can never be 100% if you have to cut 45lbs
I'm glad no one is trying to say he is ducking Shogun because we all know about what happened with Wand.
Rampage deff isn't ducking Shogun I remeber he said in a interview that he really wants to avenge the losses to Shogun, Griffin, and Evans so he was just being smart and realised the weight cut would probably take alot out of him if he would have fought Shogun in March.
Rampage doesn't deserve a title fight yet anyway, so who cares? Jones does, and after he whips Shogun's ass, he can kick the piss out of Rampage.
rampage beat machida, which would be considered by most people a greater achievement than beating bader. he definitely deserved the shot, but he made the right decision and now we get to see what is sure to be an exciting title fight.
The fact that he beat Machida is probably the main reason he would be next up for a title shot; however, I do think he needs to face someone else after Thiago before getting a title shot. Now I can't really think of who he could face, maybe Bader? In any case, I'm glad he declined with such a short notice, it would be a much less exciting fight if he wasn't adequately prepared in every aspect.
oh well im looking forward to watching Shogun vs Jones and Rampage vs T. Silva
Well Rampage is fighting Silva, but I think it would of been exciting to see Rapage vs Rua 2
oh well jones-shogun is much more exciting.
and people are putting too much importance on that lackluster decision win over Machida who had already just lost to rua, imo a champ coming off a loss should be around the same place in the division as an upandcomer on a winstreak so i don't begrudge this to jones at all
damn...i didn't think Rampage was this much of a b*tch. Maybe if he actually trained he wouldn't be worried about cutting weight. Some professional.
just shows rampage not taking fighting serious again why is he 250 with a fight coming up he should stay in fight shape all the time instead of taking a month or two to sit around and fattin up