Quinton Jackson vs. Dan Henderson to Headline UFC 75

[Rappy Veteran]

Recently crowned UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson (27-6 MMA, 2-0 UFC) will make his first title defense against PRIDE Fighting Championships welterweight (183-pound) and middleweight (205-pound) champion Dan Henderson (22-5 MMA, 2-0 UFC) at the UFC 75 event in London, according to an interview Jackson conducted with CBS 2 in Los Angeles.

During an earlier radio interview, Jackson said he expected the fight to happen sometime in September. He now confirms it?ll be at the Sept. 8 UFC 75 show in England rather than Sept. 22?s UFC 76 show in California.

UFC president Dana White recently said the winner of the cross-promotion mega-fight will hold both 205-pound belts.

Jackson earned his belt by defeating longtime champ Chuck Liddell last month at UFC 71. The quick, two-minute TKO victory capped off the Vegas event and delivered Liddell his first loss in nearly four years. The previous loss also came to Jackson ? at a November 2003 PRIDE event.

Henderson, a U.S. Olympic Greco-Roman wrestler, won the UFC 17 tournament in 1998 before heading overseas for a successful career in PRIDE. The PRIDE welterweight champ most recently scored an upset of Wanderlei Silva at PRIDE 33 to pick up the middleweight belt, as well. Aside from Randy Couture, he?s the only MMA fighter to ever hold titles in two different weight classes in a major organization.

Although the Jackson-Henderson fight will be the night?s most notable event, fan favorites such Mirko ?Cro Cop? Filipovic and Michael Bisping are also expected on the UFC 75 fight card.

The UFC has yet to announce whether or not UFC 75 will be broadcast here in America on a tape-delay basis, as was the case with Manchester, England?s UFC 70 event in April.

Will Rampage own Henderson?...

[Zoom7000]

Will Rampage own Henderson?...

I've not really seen anything of Dan Henderson, but from what I've heard, the answer to your question would be a resounding "NO WAY!"

It's interesting that the winner will hold both belts. Does this mean that eventually we may have belts being crossed over the 2 organisations? Imagine, Rampage as PRIDE/UFC LHW Champ, Randy Couture as PRIDE Heavyweight Champion and then someone in PRIDE as UFC Champ, things will get rather confusing. :wacko:

[Rappy Veteran]

I've not really seen anything of Dan Henderson, but from what I've heard, the answer to your question would be a resounding "NO WAY!"

It's interesting that the winner will hold both belts. Does this mean that eventually we may have belts being crossed over the 2 organisations? Imagine, Rampage as PRIDE/UFC LHW Champ, Randy Couture as PRIDE Heavyweight Champion and then someone in PRIDE as UFC Champ, things will get rather confusing. :wacko:

Yeah to many belts would get to confusing I think...plus noone wants really to see them unified...because that would make the company whole and Pride have their fans...

[LRoling]

I think PRIDE is going to become the Minor Leagues of the UFC. And the belts will be unified on the UFC end since the UFC is making more money the PRIDE ever had. But we'll see how they structure it.

Jackson vs. Henderson could be potentially a great bout. Henderson looked pretty good against Wanderlei Silva, but he really got a lucky punch in against him to take him out. Although, Henderson did have a great guard, wrestling skills, I don't know how he'll do against the new Rampage Jackson. Jackson looked sharper, more in shape than he's ever been, so we'll see. I think this may be a great one.