http://www.MMAWeekly.com had a chance to talk with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson last night and we can confirm Jackson will fight a very tough Russian fighter in Pride.

When asked his opponents name he said "some russian dude Mihail or somethin" (Believed to be Mikhail Illoukhine). When asked if he was concerned about his opponent, Jackson snapped back "Hell Yeah. I haven't even trained for this mother fu$*&% yet, so yeah it's a big deal."

It's believed by MMAWeekly.com that Jackson assumed he would wait to fight Vanderlei Silva later in the summer; but instead, he will be fighting in a couple of weeks against a very tough Russian who ultimately could cost Jackson a shot at Vanderlei and the title. Some insiders compare it to what Liddell has to go through. Liddell has to fight Couture just to get the opportunity to fight Tito Ortiz. If both fighters lose, it appears that both guys will be out of the picture for a title shot.

Some question if Quinton should even take the fight because he hasn't had a chance to train properly. And, because so much is at stake if he loses, he could be out of a big pay day and title shot.

BULL****- This sucks my nuts.

If he's fighting Mikhail Illoukhine, he's gonna destroy him. Illoukhine hasn't been active at all recently, he's way older than Rampage, and has little to no striking ability. It'll be like the Heath Herring/Iouri Kotchkine fight. It's not going past the first round.

The world is a ****ing **** basket.

this is bull****. jackson needs to get his chance at silva.
i've talked to several people about jackson and pride and we all pretty much agree that pride hasn't given him the respect that he deserves.
they pit that guy up against ****ing warriors where as silva is dished tomato cans and a-class fighters under his weight. rampage and liddel both deserve their title shots immediately!

**** this ****, before they where talking about Silva Vs. Rampage at the GP, and if Rampage won then he would get a rematch for the title, I dont like this bull**** Pride is pulling......

Somebody call the wahhhmbulance. Silva has said many times before he won't be ready to fight until August. They need Rampage to fight, cause he's popular, and the 26 card looks like ****. He's fighting some nobody that most of us have never heard of, just to fill out the card.

Enter the Silva nut riders. Nobody is accusing Silva, Pride puts the fights together. What I was reffering too is that Rampage won his title shot against Randleman, now if he looses this fight he is out of the title shot picture.....

Rumored Fights:


Murilo Bustamante vs. Murilo Rua

Igor Vovchanchyn vs. Assuerio Silva (or Kevin Randleman)

Heath Herring vs. Mirko CroCop

I really want Silva vs Rampage to happen, I hope Pride doesn't screw these guys over.

They did the same thing to Arona. He was supposed to get a shot if he beat Ninja.

The contract agreement in that fight was if he finished Ninja, but he didnt he won by a decision.....

oh

This is gonna be a slam-bam-thank you Ma'am victory for Rampage as long as he gets some training in. Illoukhine used to be decent but he has been fighting for like 8 years and is getting old. He is around 37 years of age and has had a fairly long layoff since his last fight which is not good for guy his age.
I think the only way he will have a chance is if he has been training like an animal with Fedor and Rampage comes in out of shape. Otherwise Rampage by Slam/TKO/Ko inside the the first round.

im not watching mma anymore
I cant stand bull**** like this

i'm about 99.9% sure rampage will fight wanderlei, win or lose this match.

wanderlei has to be cleared by his doctor after knee surgery, that is why they aren't fighting now.

He may have wanted this match like when Liddell fought Babalu

Illouhine is a very tough fighter

anyone who has seen Absolute Fighting 1 the tournament will have seen him get all the way to the final and lose to Ricardo Morais

if this goes to the ground he can dish out some damage, but saying that, as a lot of people have pointed out..way too old..suprised he passed a medical

When was the last time Illouhine fought? The inactivity may cost him. On the other hand, Rampage has been very active. I like Rampage by KO R1