Jackson Expected to Fight Again Soon

Weeks after he struck multiple vehicles and nearly injured pedestrians while leading California police on a high-speed chase, former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has launched himself back into the public eye.

Jackson was present at yesterday’s pre-fight press conference, which was covered by MMA on Tap partner site Rogers Sportsnet, to promote this Saturday night’s UFC 87: Seek and Destroy. He was one of the featured guests on the podium, frequently standing besides UFC President Dana White, who claimed that Jackson was healthy and could return to action sooner than thought.

“Apparently they tell us he is healthy”, White said at the press conference. “He is healthy, mentally and physically and will back in the UFC soon. They took him in for psychiatric evaluation for 72 hours, and what they came back with, was that there was nothing wrong with him mentally, it was physically. He was exhausted. Severe dehydration and that caused something called delirium.”

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UFC 87 Pre-Fight Press Conference Video

Here’s video from yesterday’s pre-fight press conference for UFC 87: Seek and Destroy, courtesy of ESPN. Georges St. Pierre and Jon Fitch discuss their UFC welterweight title bout in the above video. Clips featuring Brock Lesnar, Heath Herring, Kenny Florian, and Roger Huerta are after the jump.

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Evening News and Notes - August 9, 2009

Report: Rothwell-Rizzo to Happen at Affliction II

Former IFL heavyweight champion Ben Rothwell will attempt to bounce back from his first loss in three years when he reportedly takes on three-time UFC heavyweight title challenger Pedro Rizzo at Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning” event on October 11th in Las Vegas according to MMANews.com, which cites Affliction VP Tom Atencio as confirming the fight.

At Affliction’s debut show last month, Rothwell suffered a third-round knockout loss to former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski while Rizzo was defeated in a rematch against Josh Barnett, another former UFC title holder. Barnett knocked Rizzo out with a left in the second round of their fight.

WVR Announces Middleweight GP Participants

World Victory Road has announced four of the fighters that will compete in their inaugural middleweight grand prix, which will begin at “Sengoku V” on September 28th at the Yoyogi National First Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, Jorge Santiago, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Siyar Bahadurzada will all compete in first-round bouts.

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MMA Live Episode Thirteen

From ESPN, here’s this week’s installment of MMA Live with Jon Anik, Franklin McNeil, and special guest Frank Mir as usual analyst Kenny Florian is off preparing for his upcoming lightweight bout against Roger Huerta at UFC 87: Seek and Destroy this weekend.

Report: Lambert-Day Signed for UFC 88

Jason Lambert will reportedly make his middleweight debut against Canadian veteran Jason Day when the Ultimate Fighting Championship travels to Atlanta, Georgia for UFC 88: Breakthrough on September 6th.

The news comes from Sam Caplan of Five Ounces of Pain, who has confirmed the bout with one of Lambert’s managers, Matt Stansell of the North County Fight Club. The bout will be one of UFC 88’s non-televised preliminary fights.

After solidifying himself as a one of the UFC light heavyweight division’s premiere contenders with a surprising knockout of Renato “Babalu” Sobral last year, Lambert went on to drop two straight fights, most recently a brutal TKO loss to Luis Cane at UFC 85 in June.

Day busted onto the UFC’s middleweight scene with an eye-opening first-round TKO win over Alan Belcher at UFC 83 in April. However Day failed to capitalize on the momentum, losing his last bout to Michael Bisping at UFC 85 in June. The Canadian Martial Arts Centre product also owns a win over former UFC middleweight title challenger David Loiseau.

Report: Sakara-Vedepo Likely for UFN 15

One-time Italian professional boxer Alessio Sakara will try to pick up his first win at middleweight when he reportedly meets newcomer Joe Vedepo at the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s inaugural venture to Omaha, Nebraska for UFC Fight Night 15 on September 17th.

The news comes from our friends at MMA Junkie, who have learned that both fighters have verbally agreed to fight and bout agreements are in the process of being sent out according to a source close to the matchup. The bout will likely take place as one of the card’s non-televised preliminary bouts.

After splitting his last six fights as a light heavyweight, Sakara opted to move down to the middleweight division earlier this year. However his debut fight in his new weight class didn’t go as planned - Sakara suffered a first-round TKO loss to Chris Leben at UFC 82 in March.

Vedepo meanwhile, has fought primarily in smaller shows based out of the midwest. He most recently became the Midwest Cage Championship middleweight belt with a third-round submission win over Brian Green in June. Vedepo’s lone loss came at the hands of ICON Sport veteran Mario Miranda at a Carnage at the Creek in April.

Huerta Wants to Solidify Title Shot

In the above video courtesy of ESPN, lightweight standout Roger Huerta looks to remain undefeated in the UFC when he meets fellow top contender Kenny Florian at UFC 87: Seek and Destroy this Saturday night. Among the things Huerta also touches on are his will to win, how he wants to knock Florian out, and why he believes a win this weekend should solidify a lightweight title shot against B.J. Penn for him.

DREAM Middleweight GP Pairings Announced

DREAM has announced the pairings for the final round of it’s inaugural middleweight grand prix, which will culminate at DREAM.6 on September 26th at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan. The event will be televised live on HDNet in North America.

Grappling wizard Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, who won a hard-fought decision over Jason “Mayhem” Miller to advance to the tournament’s final round, will take on skilled kickboxer Zelg Galesic in one semi-final. The other will see tournament favorite Melvin Manhoef face off against well-rounded rising prospect Gegard Mousasi. The winners of both bouts will then fight in the show’s main event.

Also announced for DREAM.6 was a featherweight bout between the streaking Hideo Tokoro, winner of his last two fights, and Shooto and Pancrase product Atsushi Yamamoto. Additional rumored participants include former PRIDE heavyweight standout Mirko Cro Cop, Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, and rising middleweight Yoshihiro Akiyama.

Countdown to UFC 87 Airs Tonight

“Countdown to UFC 87”, the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s usual event preview show, will premiere tonight at 11 PM ET on Spike TV. You can check out a preview of the episode here. The show will focus on the three biggest main card fights that will take place this Saturday night: Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch, Roger Huerta vs. Kenny Florian, and Heath Herring vs. Brock Lesnar. Interviews and video of all fighters training in their respective hometowns are expected to be shown.

Dana White’s UFC 87 Blog Part II & III

UFC President Dana White has decided to keep a video blog of his doings in this week leading up to Saturday night’s UFC 87: Seek and Destroy, which will take place at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Here’s Part II & III (after the jump) where he lets everyone in on his itinerary for Tuesday and then sits down for dinner with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Definitely a must-see for all those wondering how Rampage is doing these days.

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