...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson's tenure in the UFC will continue beyond October, as UFC President Dana White announced on Twitter on Tuesday that the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion has suffered an injury, taking him out of a bout against Glover Teixeira at UFC 153 in Rio de Janeiro.
The bout was to be the last on Jackson's UFC contract, at which time the two sides had agreed to mutually part ways. However, the injury means Jackson's contract will extend, and he'll still have that one fight remaining before the UFC allows him to compete elsewhere, whether in MMA or otherwise.
The injury loss is a blow to the UFC 153 card in Rio, and a bigger blow to Teixeira, who had a massive opportunity to make a statement against a former Champion in that matchup. The UFC has not yet announced a replacement opponent for Teixeira, and it's not yet known whether he'll remain on the October 13 card.
Penick's Analysis: That is really unfortunate news for Teixeira more than anything. Jackson's made it clear that he's not enjoying himself in MMA, saying just this last week that he finds the sport today "boring as f***," so while the injury sets him back and keeps him from fighting elsewhere for a while, it's Teixeira who misses out on a huge opportunity. Perhaps the UFC will attempt to set up the Shogun fight again, even though he's booked for UFC on Fox 5 against Alexander Gustafsson. With Lyoto Machida turning down Jon Jones on short notice and needing another fight at light heavyweight, perhaps he'd be an option as well, but that may take Teixeira off the Brazil card. It's tough to find another name that would work for Teixeira the way Rampage would have on this card, but that's what the UFC will now attempt to do.
[Rampage Jackson art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
UPDATE: According to Ariel Helwani at MMAFighting.com, Jackson's injury was to his elbow. Additionally, the UFC is looking for a replacement opponent to keep Glover Teixeira on the UFC 153 card.
DON'T GO YET... WE SUGGEST THESE MMATORCH ARTICLES, TOO!
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
