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02/10/08 - Exclusive: Rampage comments on facing Wanderlei for third time
Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson will face Wanderlei Silva for a third time at UFC 92 in December.
The pair have fought twice before, in Japan’s now-defunct PRIDE organization, with Jackson losing by KO both times.
The second loss was particular dramatic, with Rampage taking a barrage of knees to the head before being left hanging from the ring ropes. It was the kind of loss that many would find difficult to come back from.
"I was conscious that whole time! I was kind of KO'd but I remember all that!" he laughed when discussing the forthcoming fight with Fighters Only.
"I did take a while to come back from that, but I'm a fighter, you either keep fighting or you retire. Everything's a fight, right?"
Asked whether Silva is as dangerous a fighter as he was when he was in PRIDE, Jackson shrugs his shoulders.
“A fight is a fight, anything can happen. He has still got the same fists, knees, elbows, kicks… he can still do the same damage. We’ll see”
In fact, Jackson is so keen to make up for the two losses that he would like to spend extra time in the cage with his Brazilian nemesis.
“I would rather fight him in a five-round fight than a three-round fight,” he reveals. “I don't know if he ever went 25 minutes. I know he did 20 minutes in PRIDE, but 25 minutes is a whole different thing.
“I'm not saying the fight would go 25 minutes, you know, but I've done it twice and I don't think he ever has.”
The former UFC light-heavyweight champion has gone on the record as saying that he believes there was crooked refereeing in PRIDE, which led to the fight being stood up whenever he got Silva – a huge star for the organization – to the floor.
He is confident that he will get a fair deal in the UFC: “I think the referees would be fair.”
“I am not concerned about cages or rings, but I think the referees would be fair. That's all I really care about.”
The bout is just one of several huge fights on the UFC 92 card.
Interim heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira faces Frank Mir, while light-heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin will make his first title defence against Rashad Evans, who knocked out former champion Chuck Liddell last month.
John Joe O’Regan
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