"Ti**ies vs ti**ies, finally" - Rampage Jackson announces MMA comeback against long-time foe from TUF days, fans react

MMA veteran and former UFC champion Rampage Jackson has revealed that he will be returning to action soon.

The 45-year-old recently made an appearance at the JAXXON podcast where, in a conversation with Luke Rockhold, he shared the news that he will fight this year in December. The opponent, he revealed, will be none other than former TUF fighter Darrill Schoonover.

Jackson said that he only wanted to compete in grudge matches and thus, a bout with Schoonover made sense.

“The promotor [of UFL] wanted me to fight. I was like, ‘OK, I’ll come back and fight grudge matches only.’ So, I’m going to fight ‘T**ties’ [Darrill Schoonover] from The Ultimate Fighter. He just signed the contract, like yesterday or today for December... Yeah, I’ll be in shape. By that time, I’ll be 230, hopefully, and I’ll fight ‘T**ties.’”

The former light heavyweight champion then revealed how he convinced the former TUF contestant to agree to the fight.

“The way I got 'T**ties' to fight was, I told him, ‘Look, if you beat me, I will never call you ‘T**ties’ again. And he was like, 'OK, let’s do this.’”

Check out Rampage Jackson's comments from the 1:14:30 mark below:

In 2009, Jackson played the coaching role on The Ultimate Fighter against Rashad Evans. During that time, the 45-year-old developed a rivalry with Schoonover, who was a part of Evans' team. Jackson used to often tease him about his physique on the show which also led to a confrontation between them on one occasion.

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Rampage Jackson comments on his behavior towards his upcoming opponent on TUF

During the TUF season in 2009, many accused Rampage Jackson of bullying Darrill Schoonover. But the 45-year-old does not think he did anything wrong.

During his time on the JAXXON podcast, the former UFC champion shared that according to him, he was just providing entertainment to the viewers of the show.

"People from The Ultimate Fighter, they say, ‘You’re a bully.’ Honestly, I’m not a bully. I felt like that was entertainment. It’s a reality show. I like to be funny. I’ve got to make people laugh to keep coming back and watching the episodes. For me, it was just entertainment. At first he liked the name and then it stuck, his own teammates started calling him that, and I was the worst guy ever.” [1:15:46 onwards]

If the fight news is indeed true, then December will mark Jackson's first outing since his loss against Fedor Emelianenko in December 2019.