'Rampage' Jackson will step back from trying to entertain to secure Bellator heavyweight title

LOS ANGELES – Quinton Jackson has always taken pride in being an exciting fighter, but he plans to break away from that reputation to win the Bellator heavyweight grand prix tournament.

Jackson (37-12 MMA, 4-1 BMMA), who meets Chael Sonnen (29-15-1 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) in the opening round of the eight-man tournament on Saturday at Bellator 192, admits he’s keen on the idea of running the table and taking home the currently vacant Bellator heavyweight championship.

“Rampage” believes he’s provided a career’s worth of action-filled contests to fans, and although it may not be what those fans want to hear, he intends on altering his strategy in a way that gives him the highest chance of winning.

“I’ve been quite honest about me being a part of MMA: I’ve always wanted to entertain the fans,” Jackson told reporters at Thursday’s Bellator 192 pre-fight news conference. “But my No. 1 priority is to win this tournament. I think I can take a step back from trying to entertain the fans for this tournament.”

Jackson is hinting his matchup with Sonnen, which headlines the Paramount-televised event at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., is going to lack excitement. However, he said that’s unlikely to be the case for the entire tournament. He believes nearly every potential future matchup would create natural excitement – with the exception of one.

“I think after I get past Chael – cause I’m not stopping, I’m winning this tournament – I think the other fights should be enough entertainment,” Jackson said. “Unless I run into the winner between ‘Queen’ – I mean ‘King Mo’ (Lawal) and Ryan Bader – some more wrestlers that like to leg hump.”

When Bellator originally formulated plans to run its tournament, Jackson said he accepted the fight against Sonnen without complete knowledge of what he was getting into. Now that he’s done with training camp and officially part of the field, he said he’s all in. Because of that, he’s determined to add another gold belt to his collection.

“I want to be heavyweight champion now,” Jackson said. “I’m in this tournament. I get to be heavyweight champion if I win. I want that belt. I’ve got a PRIDE belt, I’ve got a UFC belt. I want the Bellator belt. Now that I’m in the tournament, why not?”

For complete coverage of Bellator 192, check out the MMA Events section of the site.