“It’s definitely important,” Jackson said. “It’s something that I’ve wanted to do. My wife and I did a senior project over opening our own gym and that’s something I’ve wanted to do my entire life, but you always think that you’re busy doing something else so you keep putting it off. So we put it off over years and years and years, and now it was just pulling the trigger on it while I had some time off and it’s been great. I’m really happy that I did it, and it’s just something else to look forward to. When I’m done fighting, I’ll definitely coach. I’ve been coaching a lot the last few years with wrestling, but I would like to move over to coaching some MMA fights also.”
That’s in the future. In the present, Jackson still has plenty of fight in him, and after sitting on the sidelines since January, he doesn’t want to just fight Quarantillo and call it a wrap on 2023 – he wants another one or two bouts before the end of the year. But first, it’s Billy Q and an intriguing matchup at 145 pounds.
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“You have to get excited,” Jackson said of Saturday’s fight. “You have to be a fan of the sport and watch it. So I was thinking him or Alex Caceres, and some of these guys that are coming up are tough as hell, too. So there’s plenty of guys to choose from for fights. Me and Billy are sitting right outside the Top 15, so I knew the fight was going to happen. It’s a good matchup because the winner goes on and the loser has to really buckle down and get it together again because we’re both coming off losses and it’s definitely a tough fight for both of us.”
