With UFC retirement not etched in stone, Damon Jackson calls out King Green
Damon Jackson may be retired – kinda/sorta. Or, maybe like in “Friends,” he’s just on a break. Let’s go with that.
Jackson recently told MMA Junkie Radio the word of his retirement from the UFC may have been a little premature. He’s on a planned hiatus away from things, but expects it to be short – so short, in fact, that he’d take a return to the cage mid-year.
Jackson (23-8-1 MMA, 6-6-1 UFC) took his gloves off and left them in the middle of the octagon following his first-round submission loss to Jim Miller at UFC 309 in November. But he told MMA Junkie Radio that loss was in the wake of all kinds of issues outside the cage, and he thinks with those reasonably far enough in the rearview mirror, he’ll be back to his better form.
He even knows whom he’d like to fight: King Green.
“I’ve got a name right now, (even though I’m not officially back),” Jackson told MMA Junkie Radio. “I wanted to win that fight so bad (against Miller) and then I wanted to freaking call out Bobby Green – King Green. That was my goal, was to win that fight against Jim and then to go out there and fight Bobby.”
Green (32-16-1 MMA, 13-11-1 UFC) beat Miller in April 2024 a few months before Jackson lost to him, so Jackson said he watched plenty of footage of Green preparing for that fight. And in the process, he became a fan.
Green’s win over Miller was a bounce-back from a first-round knockout loss to Jalin Turner, but after the Miller win, he was submitted by Paddy Pimblett at UFC 304. With Green and Jackson both coming off losses, the timing could work.
“He’s such a ‘G,’ man. He fights so hard every fight – tough dude,” Jackson said. “I’m a bit of a fan of him watching him for a long time. (He’s) just tough as hell. After watching his fight with Jim over and over and over – because obviously I watch film on people – I just saw his style. Then I watched a few of his other fights and I was like, ‘Man, that would be a good fight.’
“I was hoping to win that fight and then to call him out, and I just got caught up in the moment (and lost).”
Jackson said he has three fights left on his UFC contract, and though he’s not in the drug-testing pool, he said he only plans to fight for the UFC.