'Rampage' Jackson vows Chael Sonnen will pay in Bellator grand prix if he tries to wrestle

LOS ANGELES – Even before the Bellator MMA World Grand Prix bracket was released, Quinton Jackson wasn’t happy about the prospect of fighting Chael Sonnen.

And “Rampage” still isn’t excited about it. But at the same time, he’s done trying to fight promoters over matchups.

“I’m sick and tired of fighting all these damn wrestlers, and the promoters, they must love it,” Jackson told reporters Wednesday during a media lunch in support of his opening-round fight with Sonnen at Bellator 192. “They must love seeing me fight those stale-ass wrestling matches, because they keep throwing wrestlers at me, when why wouldn’t they throw strikers at me?

“So now, I fight a wrestler, or he tries to take me down. I’m going to make him pay.”

Bellator 192 takes place Jan. 20 at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. The event’s main card airs live on Spike following prelims on MMAjunkie.

For his part, Sonnen said he isn’t so sure about Jackson’s anti-wrestler sentiment and isn’t about to take him lightly.

“You never know when those veterans say stuff like that. He could be hustling me,” Sonnen said. “… I don’t quite know where this ‘Rampage doesn’t like wrestlers’ comes from. I know he’s working that angle, but I’m not falling asleep on this guy. I’ll tell you that much. He’s just been around too long.”

Jackson (37-12 MMA, 4-1 BMMA) remembers a PRIDE bout with Kevin Randleman as an example of what happens when his wrestling is on point. Randleman couldn’t take the fight to the mat and wound up knocked out in the first round.

That was all the way back in 2003, before “Rampage” was a UFC champion and movie star. But even today, he still professes to have the skills to keep Sonnen (29-15-1 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) standing with him.

“I’d be surprised if Chael could take me down, because I’ve been concentrating a lot on wrestling and a lot on all different types of takedown defenses,” Jackson said. “My takedowns are getting better as a result. I’ve always been a defensive wrestler, but when I go into fights, I get so caught up in trying to knock people’s heads off that wrestling goes out the window.

“When you’re trying to knock someone’s head off, and someone’s trying to take you down, it’s kind of weird. Once you find that happy medium, you can become a really good defensive wrestler in MMA. Sometimes I get it right, and sometimes I don’t.”

Ultimately, though, Jackson accepts the bout with Sonnen as a means to an end, which is winning the Bellator heavyweight belt and providing for his family. A new title will be a feather in his cap after winning the UFC light heavyweight title a decade ago.

So will the money he gets for fighting.

“I do want the belt, because my boxing coach said he’s had a lot of champions, but he’s never had a heavyweight champion,” Jackson told MMAjunkie. “So he would be really happy so he could say he’s trained a heavyweight champion.

“I want the heavyweight tournament. I want to win this tournament. But to be honest, I fight because this is my career, and I’ve had too many kids over the years, and they get expensive. You’ve got to put them through college. I’ve got two kids that are going to college for sure.”

For more on Bellator 192, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.