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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson's time with the UFC will come to an end following his next and final fight in the organization. However, after undergoing surgery on his knee, the question now turns to when that will be. On Monday, Jackson gave an update on his status in an interview with Brian Hemminger at MMAMania.com.
"Well actually, my left knee is not torn yet," Jackson revealed. "It's fraying which means that it's starting to tear. That was from when Jon Jones kicked my knee backwards during the fight. I'm healing up and I'm still in rehab. Actually once I'm done on the phone here, I'm going to the gym. I'm back to training and stuff now. I just started back. My doctor said I could run the day after my birthday on June 21st so I can't wait to get back and start training and see how that knee is feeling and see when my next fight's gonna be.
"I'm just trying to move forward with my fighting career. My left knee is starting to feel better. I'm not gonna do anything to it just yet. I'm just gonna do my rehab and go from there."
Jackson said he's not rushing anything with his final fight, as surgery wasn't a pleasant experience and he's not going to go into another fight injured like that again.
"I never had surgery before this and I hope I never need surgery again," he said. "Being sideline and having the rehab process. That was something I really didn't like... I definitely don't want to have surgery again. That's why I'm trying to avoid surgery on the left knee....Right now I'm just concentrating on healing myself and coming back 100 percent. I never want to fight injured again. I've made my mind up. My next fight, I want to be 100 percent or as close to 100 percent as I can possibly be."
"It don't matter where I'm fighting at. Like I've said, no one appreciates it [when I fight hurt], so I'm not gonna do bad for my health and I'm not gonna fight injured every again. No matter where I'm fighting at. If I'm hurt, I'm backing out."
Jackson is hoping to be back around September or October, but when asked if he was worried about the UFC burying his final fight on a preliminary card or something along those lines, he made it clear it doesn't matter to him.
"Actually, I wouldn't care if they did that. I don't care," he reiterated. "They can do whatever they want to do. The reason's I made the decision to leave the UFC are the same reasons I left Pride. They can do what they want. I don't care."
Penick's Analysis: Jackson's relationship with the UFC somehow soured into this volatile back and forth to the point where he's going to exit with a complete whimper. There's a large segment of the fanbase that really won't bat an eye at it, either. Jackson didn't really build a ton of goodwill with a lot of people, and wherever he goes from here he may not find what he's looking for. At this point it's impossible to say where that will be, but he's got one more fight with the UFC, and then he'll go from there.
[Quinton "Rampage" Jackson art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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