- Rampage Jackson thinks Jon Jones is pondering about retiring with an unbeaten championship record
- The ex-UFC light heavyweight champ said Conor McGregor could have a successful return if he gets a warm-up fight first
Rampage Jackson shared his thoughts on the UFC career and the current situation of Jon Jones and Conor McGregor.
‘Bones’ is just stressed
Speaking on Bradley Martin’s Raw Talk, Jackson commented on the narrative that “Bones” is not interested in facing modern-day heavyweights because he doesn’t want them to bully him into retirement. For Rampage, that was not the case and Jones may just be stressed over the idea of retiring with a flawless championship record.
“It would be smart to retire undefeated. That’s every fighter’s dream but I don’t him ducking anybody from what I know about Jones but once you go that long with being undefeated, every time you fight it’s like in the back of your mind like, ‘Oh am I going to stay undefeated?’ you know it’s a lot of stress,” Jackson speculated.
Conor needs a warm-up fight
As for McGregor, Jackson said he is rooting for “Notorious” to make an epic comeback like he’s supposed to. Rampage believes that the UFC should’ve booked McGregor for a warm-up fight first against a lower-tier fighter before Michael Chandler.
“I would love to see Conor McGregor come back and entertain us and stuff like that but he has like coming off an injury, a real bad injury he hasn’t had a fight since then so what I know about the psyche of fighting is, fighting is 95% mental and you got to have like a really strong mind to come back off a injury and a long lay off to fight somebody like Chandler,” Jackson explained.
“I’m understanding what the UFC don’t believe in but what’s is very important is warm-up fights,” “So if I’m a fan of somebody, I’m going keep it real I think Conor McGregor should come back and do a warm-up fight with somebody that’s a lesser opponent just to get to yourmind back right and then fight Chandler or somebody,” he added.
Jones is yet to be booked for a fight after his title fight with Stipe Miocic was canceled due to his injury. On the other hand, McGregor is set to face Chandler in a showdown targeted to take place during International Fight Week on June 29.
Check out Jackson’s full podcast talk below:
