Quinton Jackson pleads guilty to felony, to be sentenced on January 7th, 2010.
Roughly a week after losing his UFC Light Heavyweight Title to Forrest Griffin in July 2008, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson found himself in a rampage truly befitting of his nickname when he led the police on a car chase and drove recklessly on a grim night in Southern California.
While Jackson had pleaded not guilty during the first few hearings, it was during a recent hearing where he pleaded guilty and thus accepted a deal with the Orange County District Attorney's office. According to the agreement, Jackson will have to "pay restitution for his crime, undergo mental health evaluations and perform 200 hours of community service." Jackson however could face the possibility of being sentenced up to six months in jail and probation if he does not fulfill his terms before the sentencing date, which falls on January 7th, 2010. Had he not accepted the deal, Jackson could face up to three years in prison if he was convicted.
According to toxicology reports, Jackson was not under the influence of any substances on the night of the incident. Medical professionals however have determined that Jackson was suffering from delirium (a form of mental issue) while he was driving, which led to the road rage. Jackson was reported to have driven recklessly through Cosa Mesa to Newport Beach while leading the police on an out of control car chase. Driving with a blown tire and talking on the cellphone, Jackson ignored the police's plea to pull over, ramming into several cars and also endangering the safety of pedestrians when he drove on the sidewalk. After running through several red lights, Jackson finally pulled over for the police before being subsequently charged for his actions.
In his first interview since the incident last August, Jackson explained that he "was trying to save his friend's life," in regards to the reason behind his actions.
Denis Kang to debut at UFC 93!
Popular Korean-Canadian fighter, Denis Kang, will finally be making his UFC debut since signing with the company last month when he takes on Alan Belcher at UFC 93 to be held in Dublin, Ireland. Kang had previously fought for PRIDE, HERO'S and DREAM while he was in Japan and felt that the UFC was in his radar, which he had mentioned in a recent interview regarding his impending UFC debut against Belcher with the Between Rounds Radio Show.
Kang has had several problems leading to him signing with the UFC. While he did not go into specific details, Kang mentioned that he "wanted to experience a new level of professionalism", something which he seemed to not have been able to experience while he was competing in Japan. He also has problems securing a visa and that caused many problems for Kang to be able to train with his team, American Top Team, over in Coconut Creek, Florida.
Aside from Belcher, Kang is looking forward to facing other exciting middleweights over in the UFC, including Demian Maia, Thales Leities, Rousimar Palhares and Drew McFedries. He is also very interested in one day challenging Anderson Silva for the UFC Middleweight Title, noting that The Spider has holes and weaknesses in his game, but has yet to have any of them be exploited by his opponents. Kang is also determined to work his way up the ladder into becoming a top contender for the title, not "do a Brock Lesnar and get two fights and get a title shot right away."
Satoshi Ishii makes a bizarre challenge!
In an incident that would make FEG squirm, Olympic Gold Medalist and potential UFC competitor Satoshi Ishii made an appearance at WVR's recent event, Sengoku no Ran 2009, when he delivered a promo right before the Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Sanae Kikuta match. Ishii introduced himself as an MMA fighter, then made a challenge to controversial Yokozuna, Asashoryu, to face him in a future Sengoku event! WVR PR Takahiro Kuniyasu is interested in signing Ishii to a deal once he is done competing in the UFC.
It was truly an incident which proved unflattering for FEG as they were strongly hoping for Ishii to make an appearance at Dynamite!! 2008 in order to announce that he would someday make his MMA debut for the promotion. Ishii then revealed last month that he had planned on heading to America to compete in the UFC instead in order to fulfill his dream as an MMA fighter. While Ishii was also reportedly in talks with WVR, nothing ever came out of it and thus, his appearance and subsequent challenge proved to be quite a shocker to the MMA community in Japan.
Asashoryu however has never competed in MMA. His brothers, Dolgorsuren Sumiyabazar and Dolgorsuren Serjbudee have both competed in MMA bouts with Serjbudee also competed as a former pro-wrestler with New Japan Pro-Wrestling under the ring name Blue Wolf. Thus far, nothing has come out of Asashoryu's camp regarding the challenge, even though both the Yokozuna and Ishii were seen having a small chat after the challenge was made.
Newly crowned Sengoku Lightweight Champion Satoru Kitaoka was strongly negative on Ishii's advance into MMA, stating during the press conference the day after Sengoku no Ran 2009 that "Ishii is not good enough to survive in MMA. I don't think he can achieve success in MMA. Everybody will understand that I deserved to be here." This came into light when the Olympic Gold Medalist was said to have been getting even wider coverage of his surprise appearance at the event over Kitaoka's historic title win that same evening.
Source: MMAFighting.com and Sportsnavi
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