Getty Former UFC Champ Rampage Jackson wants to box Rashad Evans and Wanderlei Silva
It has been almost nine years since Quentin “Rampage” Jackson has stepped in to the UFC Octagon, but it seems he still has some unsettled scores from his time in the organization.
Jackson is currently working on getting a boxing career going and it looks like he has his sights set on future matchups against foes he previously faced in the UFC.
During an appearance on the February 5 episode of “The MMA Hour” Jackson told Ariel Helwani that he wants to box Rashad Evans and Wanderlei Silva.
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Either of these matchups would get UFC fans to tune in, but going before he can fight either, he has a very high-profile fight lined up for later this year.
Jackson’s Boxing Career
Jackson has already stepped into the boxing ring once as part of a wild event back in April of 2023.
He teamed up with Bob Sapp for a two-on-two boxing match in the Fight Circus organization. Jackson and Sapp won in the third round.
His next match will be a much more standard matchup against a much bigger name.
Jackson recently announced that he had signed a contract for a match against former heavyweight boxing champion Shannon Briggs.
Briggs has a career 60-6-1 record with 1 no contest as and, like Jackson, has previously tried his hand at another form of combat sports.
He competed once in K-1 kickboxing, knocking out Tom Erikson in the first round.
Regardless of how the matchup between Briggs and Jackson turns out, it looks like Rampage is going to try and line some opponents with a bit less boxing experience afterwards.
History With Rashad Evans and Wanderlei Silva
Jackson has an interesting history with both of these fighters.
His rivalry with Silva stretches all the back to the 2003 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix.
They met in the final of the tournament with Silva winning by TKO in the first round.
The two fighters met again a year later for the middleweight title and ended up with a similar result. This time Silva’s victory came by second round TKO.
Four years later they got a chance at a trilogy fight. This time around, it was Jackson that came out on top. He knocked Silva out in the first round in his first fight after dropping the UFC’s light heavyweight belt.
Their rivalry still wasn’t done there. Nearly 10 full years later, they met one last time in Bellator. Jackson evened the score in their fourth bout with a second round TKO.
Now he wants a chance to settle who the better fighter is with a fifth bout.
Jackson’s history with Evans isn’t nearly as long, but did lead to one of the most entertaining seasons of The Ultimate Fighter.
After a matchup for Evans’ light heavyweight belt failed to materialize, the two fighters ended up coaching season 9 of TUF.
Following some more delays, the two finally met at UFC 114. Evans ended up outwrestling Jackson on his way to a unanimous decision victory.
Now Jackson is trying to get a matchup against his fellow former lightweight champ where wrestling won’t be a factor.