Jackson turns down title shot against Machida to coach against Evans on TUF:10
Source: Yahoo
When Rashad Evans climbed into the cage at UFC 96 in March following Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s victory over Keith Jardine and began jawing nose-to-nose with Jackson, many saw it as a stunt devised by the public relations and marketing wizards at the Ultimate Fighting Championship to drum up interest in a future pay-per-view fight.
But on Thursday, during a conference call to announce the coaches for the 10th season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Jackson proved conclusively that angry confrontation with Evans was no stunt.
Jackson declined a shot at the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s light heavyweight title, currently held by Lyoto Machida, in order to coach against Evans on Season 10 and have the opportunity to fight him in December.
The show, which will premiere Sept. 16 on Spike TV, will be known as “The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights.” From the way he sounded on Thursday, Jackson would have been willing to teach grandmothers how to knit if it would have gotten him a chance to fight Evans.
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He said Machida didn’t want to coach, because he wants to stay busy. Machida had said on his website that he would defend his belt at UFC 103 in September, but White said Thursday that is not true.
White said he is working on an opponent for Machida, but declined to identify him. He said he could make an announcement as soon as Thursday afternoon, but said the possibility exists that the process could drag on. He wouldn’t put a time frame on it, either.
