After months of anticipation, MMA icon Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will make his long awaited Bellator debut Friday, November 15th from Atlantic City’s Revel against Joey Beltran live on Spike TV.
The event will broadcast live starting at 9 p.m. EST on Spike TV. The preliminary card will be streamed exclusively live and free on Spike.com starting at 6:30 p.m. EST. Tickets for the event can be purchased at Ticketmaster or by visiting Bellator.com with tickets starting at just $35.
Originally scheduled to face Tito Ortiz on November 2nd, “The People’s Champion” suffered a fractured neck that forced him to withdraw from the fight. Jackson now turns his sights to Beltran, who holds 12 finishes in his 14 professional victories, including 11 knockout wins. Always wanting to entertain the fans and put on a show, Rampage has his sights set on collecting his first victory on November 15th.
“I want to thank Joey Beltran for stepping up for the fight so I can get my first Bellator victory out of the way,” Rampage said. “He’ll have the unfortunate honor of taking the ass whooping I was going to give Tito. My body is in incredible shape right now. I feel like I did in PRIDE, and Joey Beltran is the right guy to put on an exciting fight and showcase what I’ve been working on.”
“This last month has been an absolute roller coaster of emotion,” Beltran said. “I’ve always been a warrior and thank god for my family and my teammates at Alliance MMA for keeping me focused and dedicated. I’ve always known that good things will happen to me if you put in the hard work and keep grinding, and that’s exactly what has happened with this opportunity. I fought for Bellator in 2009 when they were just starting out on ESPN, and I was fairly new on the scene as well. I loved my time there, and I couldn’t be happier to be back.”
“Getting the chance to fight Rampage is just a tremendous opportunity. This is my Rocky Balboa moment. A win against one of the best and well known fighters in the world would be an incredible accomplishment, and I’m not taking it lightly. Rampage better be prepared and ready for this fight. I’m prepared to go through hell during this fight. There will be blood. Someone is going to get hurt. This is my home now, and I don’t want to go anywhere. It’s Rampage first, then a Bellator Light Heavyweight Tournament, and then onto the title.”
“It’s been a long time coming to get Rampage into the Bellator cage, and on November 15th from Revel, we are going to see fireworks between Rampage and Joey Beltran,” Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said. “Joey showed his warrior spirit by taking this fight on just over 2 weeks notice, and having seen Joey fight many times, and seeing what type of shape Rampage is in, this is a fight I can’t wait to see.”
