the american Quinton “Rampage”Jackson is one of the names mentioned to challenge the champion Jon Jones for the UFC light heavyweight belt. But the 33-year-old fighter has no plans to extend his professional fighting career. In an interview with North American ESPN, Rampage stated that he intends to hang up his gloves in the next two years.
“I always said I would retire when I turned 35. I don't want to spend more than 35 fighting! I've had a lot of injuries and that bothers me, but when I'm fighting and the injuries don't irritate me, it's the training that gets tiring. Going through everything I go through with each training session makes me think 'man, I don't want to do this anymore'”, he said. Rampage, who believes he is losing performance in his fights. “There are a lot of new guys coming in and presenting themselves well, I've been fighting for a long time and it's no secret that I'm not showing myself the way I did before.”
This is the second time that Rampage considers retirement. In 2009, after beating Keith Jardine at UFC 96, the fighter left competitions to play the character “BA” in the feature film “Esquadrão Classe A”. However, the American returned to the octagon in March 2010, at UFC 114, and lost to Rashad evans in the unanimous decision of the judges. But Rampage managed to recover from the setback when he overcame the Brazilian Lyoto Machida at UFC 123, in a unanimous decision by the judges.
Before possible retirement, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has a commitment in Ultimate: He will be in the main fight of UFC 130, an event scheduled to take place on May 28th, against Matt Hamill, and if he wins the duel he could be the next challenger for the organization's title.
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