Rampage Jackson needs to prove he is serious about fighting before getting another bout with Bellator

Bellator president Scott Coker believes that Rampage Jackson needs to prove he’s serious about fighting before he puts him back in the cage.

Jackson returned to action back at Bellator’s co-promotional event with Rizin in December 2019, losing to Fedor Emelianenko within just a few minutes of the fight getting underway.

At the age of 41, there have been some big questions that have been raised regarding his fighting future and whether or not he actually still wants to compete.

During a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Coker had the following to say regarding Rampage’s future.

“Rampage, I think he’s got to figure out what weight class he wants to fight at,” Coker said. “That’s really what it comes down to. We fulfilled our obligation with him and we’re still talking to his manager. We have a good relationship with him and Tiki (Ghosn), and it’s just going to be like: Does he really want to do this? Does he really want to go out there and throw down? Because there’s times in a fighter’s career where it’s like, ‘That’s it.’ They’ve done everything they can in the sport.

“Rampage is a legend. He’s already done it all. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anybody, including myself. I think that’s something we’ll have a conversation with him but Tiki is saying he wants to go back down to 205. If he’s really serious about taking another stab at it. We’ll definitely have that conversation.”

Rampage will have to dig deep and try to rediscover the animal that pushed him all the way to the top back in his prime. Either way, though, you can bet that he won’t want to leave this sport on a loss – and whether it’s in Bellator or somewhere else, we expect to see him back one day.

What do you think the future holds for Rampage Jackson?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 4/24/2020.