Saturday, July 5, 2008

It has been 10 months since Quinton Jackson defended his Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight title with a unanimous five-round decision over Dan Henderson in UFC 75.

Most mixed martial arts fighters go only three or four months between fights, so when Jackson steps into the Octagon tonight for a title bout with Forrest Griffin at UFC 86 in Las Vegas, the question at hand will be: How will the longest layoff in Jackson's nine-year career affect the now 30-year-old champion?

Jackson (28-6 overall, 3-0 UFC) said in the pre-fight news conference that he doesn't think the layoff will have any effect on him because of "three hard training camps" he has had since that September 2007 fight. Jackson's longest prior span between fights was six months.

Griffin (15-4 overall, 5-2 UFC), who turned 29 this week, is also coming off a prolonged absence from the ring. Last September, in UFC 76, he stopped Mauricio Rua with a rear naked choke, but a shoulder tear suffered even before the Rua bout forced Griffin to have surgery last fall, and he has been rehabilitating since. His health was also an issue in April 2007 when he was scratched from the UFC 70 card because of a staph infection in his knee. This will be his first title fight.

"It's a lot of pressure," Griffin said. "But I do the same thing I always do. I train hard, I've done my homework and I know I won't quit. The rest is up to whatever, you know, fate."

Jackson, a former Tennessee all-state high school wrestler, has the strength advantage and the wrestling edge, but he said he's confident of having success if the bout is fought mainly on the feet.

"I don't care where this fight goes," said Jackson, who rose to fame with a string of victories in the now-defunct Pride Fighting Championships. "I feel like I can fight anyone. I don't plan to keep the fight on its feet. If I feel like I want to take it down and do some ground and pound, I'm going to do it. But it doesn't matter. I don't plan to keep the fight in any one place."

-- Dave Yanovitz