Athletes
Damon Jackson Lives The Fight Life
UFC Featherweight Damon Jackson Sees A Perfect Opportunity To Get Back In The Win Column At UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs Font.
Damon Jackson hates losing. But in a sport where there are countless ways to win or lose, a fight like his January bout with Dan Ige is inevitable.
“It's never easy to take a loss,” said Jackson. “I definitely wanted that fight, but it wasn't the best time. Everybody goes in their excuses and everything, but I just wasn't a hundred percent that camp. And now that my chest is healed up, I've been grappling like two or three times a day, been doing everything back in the old school way. So it's been nice to have that feeling again.”
And there’s the answer to the question of how a fighter takes a defeat. Jackson healed up, got back in the gym, got back to work, and he gets a chance to return to the win column on Saturday when he faces Billy Quarantillo in Nashville.
UFC Nashville Full Fight Card Preview
Oh yeah, he and wife celebrated their 10-year anniversary with a week in Italy. And then they opened a gym when they returned to Texas.
Now that’s the way you put a loss in the rearview mirror.
“Whenever you don't have a fight, all you think about is fighting,” he said. “But it was nice because we had that big trip to look forward to and then we had the gym opening up and since opening the gym, it's just been crazy busy. So it was nice to have some time off before everything got crazy like it is now. And I’m definitely looking forward to another trip after this fight maybe.”
Nashville Fighters On The Rise
At 34, and with over a decade of pro experience, it could be accurate to say that Jackson has figured things out when it comes to life in the fight game, and while he’s passing on that knowledge to those at his new gym, Fortis MMA Lakeside in Rockwall, he’s also setting the foundation for his life after fighting.
“It's definitely important,” Jackson said. “It's something that I've wanted to do. My wife and I did a senior project over opening our own gym and that's something I've wanted to do my entire life, but you always think that you're busy doing something else so you keep putting it off. So we put it off over years and years and years, and now it was just pulling the trigger on it while I had some time off and it's been great. I'm really happy that I did it, and it's just something else to look forward to. When I'm done fighting, I'll definitely coach. I've been coaching a lot the last few years with wrestling, but I would like to move over to coaching some MMA fights also.”
That’s in the future. In the present, Jackson still has plenty of fight in him, and after sitting on the sidelines since January, he doesn’t want to just fight Quarantillo and call it a wrap on 2023 – he wants another one or two bouts before the end of the year. But first, it’s Billy Q and an intriguing matchup at 145 pounds.
MORE NASHVILLE: Tatiana Suarez Interview | Main Event Preview | Cory Sandhagen Interview | Rob Font's Path | Billy Quarantillo Interview | Michael Chandler Visits Tennessee Titans
“You have to get excited,” Jackson said of Saturday’s fight. “You have to be a fan of the sport and watch it. So I was thinking him or Alex Caceres, and some of these guys that are coming up are tough as hell, too. So there's plenty of guys to choose from for fights. Me and Billy are sitting right outside the Top 15, so I knew the fight was going to happen. It's a good matchup because the winner goes on and the loser has to really buckle down and get it together again because we're both coming off losses and it's definitely a tough fight for both of us.”
Damon Jackson Earns TKO Victory One Minute Into First Round | UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs Song
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Damon Jackson Earns TKO Victory One Minute Into First Round | UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs Song
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Quarantillo went through a knockout loss of his own, getting halted by Edson Barboza in April, but that’s the beauty of the sport – what happened yesterday doesn’t matter tomorrow. All that counts is what happens over the course of 15 minutes or less in Bridgestone Arena on Saturday night.
Just the way Damon Jackson likes it.
UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs Font took place live from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee on August 5, 2023. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
