UFC
Jon Jones and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson verbally agree to UFC Light Heavyweight Championship fight at UFC 135
Jun 15, 2011 - 7:00:08 PM Jon Jones and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson verbally agree to UFC Light Heavyweight Championship fight at UFC 135

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

UFC 135 has its headliner, as Jon Jones and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson have verbally agreed to meet for the UFC Light Heavywight Championship at the September 24 event.

The UFC announced the agreement through their official Twitter account. The card marks the UFC's first event in Denver, Colo. since 1995, and will air live on pay-per-view from the city's Pepsi Center.

Jones captured the title in March with a dominant third round TKO victory over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. The win was his seventh in eight fights in the UFC, the sole loss his disqualification against Matt Hamill in 2009. The 23-year-old Champion will make the first defense of his newly won title in this fight.

Jackson gets the title shot after his second consecutive win, against Hamill himself at UFC 130 in May. That win followed up his decision win over Lyoto Machida last October, and with Rashad Evans already booked against Phil Davis in August, Jackson was the next in line.

Penick's Analysis: This is going to be a big Light Heavyweight Title fight. It's not as big as a bout between Jones and Evans would have been in its place, but nonetheless this is a close second. If Jones gets past a star in Rampage, and Evans gets past Davis, that fight could still become even bigger than it would have been right away. The bad blood has been building up for some time, so as more time passes the two of them will continue to raise that level of tension between them. If all goes according to plan, the UFC will have a hell of a title fight to close out the year or open 2012.