Quinton "Rampage" Jackson spent the past three years in search of regaining the Ultimate Fighting Championship's light heavyweight title.
Jackson, fired up by what he perceived to be a lack of respect from champion Jon Jones, gets his opportunity to compete for the belt Saturday night against Jones in the main event of UFC 135 in Denver live on pay-per-view at 9 p.m. EST.
"When I first met Jones at the press conference, he was real cocky and he was saying stuff that he shouldn't be saying to a seasoned fighter like me," Jackson said. "The guy has never walked the way I've walked in this sport. Basically, he just said the wrong (expletive). I treat him the way I treat him because I have no respect for him."
Jackson found added motivation in his belief someone in Jones' camp inserted a spy into his training camp. Jones, who says the trash talk has not affected him, strongly denies the allegation.
"The only thing that bothered me initially was the spygate situation," said Jones, a 24-year-old native of Rochester, New York. "It wasn't necessarily the situation. It was the fact that fans actually considered the fact that I would find someone to go to his camp, pay someone and try to get Rampage to trust them, all this ludicrousness. I thought that was pretty interesting that the fans thought that I would do something like that. Outside of that, nothing has bothered me."
Jackson, a 33-year-old native of Memphis, Tennessee, hopes to score the first actual victory over Jones, whose lone blemish in his 14 fights came via disqualification against Matt Hamill.
"I want to be the first person to beat Jon," Jackson, 32-8, said. "I've basically looked at his fights, and my teammates have looked at them and saw that the kid hasn't really fought anybody like me. Everybody's counting me out and thinks he is kind of underestimating me a little bit. It makes me more and more confident."
The remainder of the pay-per-view card includes: welterweights Matt Hughes vs. Josh Koscheck; heavyweights Travis Browne vs. Rob Broughton; lightweights Nate Diaz vs. Takanori Gomi; and heavyweights Ben Rothwell vs. Mark Hunt.
Spike TV will air two preliminaries - lightweights Tony Ferguson vs. Aaron Riley and middleweights Nick Ring vs. Tim Boetsch -- at 8 p.m. EST. The remaining preliminaries, which will air on facebook.com/UFC at 6 p.m. EST, include: featherweights Junior AssunRo vs. Eddie Yagin; bantamweights Takeya Mizugaki vs. Cole Escovedo; and light heavyweights James Te Huna vs. Ricardo Romero.
-- Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, who was scheduled to fight Season Four tournament winner Michael Chandler on Oct. 15, was forced to withdraw due to an undisclosed injury.
Alvarez, who believes he could return within a month, could take the fight before the conclusion of the current fifth season.
"Eddie suffered an injury that will keep him out of our October 15th show at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City," Bellator chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney said in a statement. "Eddie Alvarez has a huge heart and if there was any way for him to fight on the 15th, I know he would. Ed's in spectacular condition, so both of us are hopeful that this fight can potentially still occur later this fall."
-- Daniel Cormier, who was an injury replacement for Alistair Overeem in the Strikeforce world heavyweight grand prix tournament, broke his right hand in his semifinal victory over Antonio Silva.
Cormier is expected to return to face Josh Barnett in the final in early 2012.
-- Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, who was scheduled to fight Season Four tournament winner Michael Chandler on Oct. 15, was forced to withdraw due to an undisclosed injury.
Alvarez, who believes he could return within a month, could take the fight before the conclusion of the current fifth season.
"Eddie suffered an injury that will keep him out of our October 15th show at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City," Bellator chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney said in a statement. "Eddie Alvarez has a huge heart and if there was any way for him to fight on the 15th, I know he would. Ed's in spectacular condition, so both of us are hopeful that this fight can potentially still occur later this fall."
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