Some of those kids are now fighting in the UFC or closing in on it, and they’re lucky that they don’t have to take the road so many of the vets had to take. For fighters like Jackson, that road to the top can be dusty and dirty – literally.
“I had an amateur fight in a rodeo arena,” he recalls. “It was an outdoor rodeo arena that had a cover over the top, and we had to warm up in these stalls. (Laughs) I am not playing at all. There was not any piece of mat, nothing to get on the ground with, so you couldn’t drill wrestling or jiu-jitsu, so we’re warming up in the stalls and we had to walk from there to the middle of the arena, and all it is, is dirt. So you would walk out there barefoot and get into the cage, but first there was a boot cleaner and you had to wipe your feet off on that, step on a towel and then get in the cage. I’m the third or fourth fight of the night, and this cage is absolutely filthy.”
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Then there was the time he had to pay $500 to compete in an amateur fight, or that time when someone in the first fight of the night threw up in the ring after taking a body punch and the rest of the card had to avoid that part of the canvas that wasn’t exactly cleaned properly.
“It was bad,” said Jackson. “I’ve seen some crazy s**t, for sure.”
Those experiences make for some great stories years later, and also add a layer of grit to someone who gets into a tough fight and needs to pull on some reserves and veteran tricks. Jackson is not afraid to do that, and since returning to the UFC for his second go-round, he’s won two of three, submitting Mirsad Bektic in a Performance of the Night effort, and decisioning the always tough Rosa. And though he says, “I’m not that guy” when it comes to reflecting on the past, he does appreciate where the sport has come.
