Tonight’s Bellator 175 card doesn’t have a key title fight or even a true No. 1 contender match attached to it.
Instead, officials with the promotion are hoping that the past can ignite strong ratings for Spike.
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal called each other out for years before finally squaring off back in 2014 at Bellator 120. Jackson was victorious on that night, but the decision was overshadowed by the post-fight speech from Lawal.
Flash-forward almost three years now and we are back to square-one between these two.
Lawal worked his way back from the Jackson defeat by staying active. He earned five wins in 2015 and fought three times last year, but went just 1-2 with losses to Mirko CroCop and Phil Davis.
Jackson, meanwhile, returned to the UFC in 2015 and defeated Fabio Maldonado. However, lawyers from both sides played tennis with his career, which led to the former UFC light heavyweight champion coming back to Bellator last year. He defeated Satoshi Ishii via split decision, earning his fifth consecutive win.
While Jackson’s prime years have come and gone, his name still carries plenty of value with it and a shot at a title could easily be in his future if he is victorious. There are also plenty of marketable fights out there with Rampage and the likes of Chael Sonnen, Wanderlei Silva and Fedor Emelianenko.
For Lawal, this is a shot at revenge and more. He needs a strong showing to prove himself in Bellator, which is quickly adding more and more contenders with each passing day.
