Yes, you read correctly. Viacom is planning to use their newly signed fighter, Quinton “Rampage†Jackson, by pitting him in a boxing match against Roy Jones Jr.
According to sources, former UFC light heavyweight champion “Rampage†Jackson (32-11 MMA) and former multi weight-class boxing champion Roy Jones Jr. (56-8 Boxing) are being targeted to compete in a PPV boxing match at years end. Here are the details via MMAjunkie.com:
Viacom is expected to announce plans to go head-to-head with pay-per-view juggernaut Zuffa LLC and its UFC 168 offering at next week’s Bellator 97event on Spike TV.
An unveiling of Bellator fighter Quinton “Rampage†Jackson’s plans with the promotion will likely include a pay-per-view boxing match with former multi-division boxing champ Roy Jones Jr.
The fight is expected to take place at the end of the year, though a date and weight class for the bout could not immediately be confirmed. It’s also unclear how the event will be branded given Bellator and parent company Viacom’s focus on MMA.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion, “Rampageâ€, has never boxed professionally. Jackson’s last professional MMA fight took place in January at UFC on FOX 6, where he lost to rising star Glover Teixeira. The 35 year-old recently signed a multi-year deal to fight in Bellator Fighting Championships and appear as a pro wrestler with TNA Wrestling.
Meanwhile, Roy Jones Jr. had recently been in discussions with the UFC about a possible fight with longtime middleweight champ Anderson Silva. That, however, was before Silva’s title was taken away by newly crowned middleweight champion Chris Weidman at UFC 168. At 44 years of age, Jones Jr. is obviously not the same man who dominated boxing throughout the 90′s. Roy’s last fight was a controversial unanimous decision win over Pawel Glazewski in Poland.
Bellator 97 is next week so more details will probably come out on July 31st.
