Former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson has two things on his mind: fighting Matt Hamill in the main event of UFC 130 on May 28 and retiring from mixed martial arts when he's 35-years-old.
But if he becomes the nail under "The Hammer" over the Memorial Day weekend, don't be surprised to see that timetable bumped up a few months.
That's because a disgruntled "Rampage," in spite of his success, has long detested the rigors of training and the inevitable injuries that accompany it.
Not to mention he got a taste of "Tinseltown" when tapped to play B.A. Baracus in last year's "A-Team" movie.
"I've always said I'll retire when I'm 35," Jackson said (via ESPN.co.uk). "I don't want to fight past 35. There are young guys coming in and doing good. I've been fighting for a long time and it's no secret that I don't fight the same way I used to. I've got a lot of injuries, one or two things that bother me. But when I'm fighting, the injuries don't bother me, it's the training that gets old. Going through each camp I go through all these pains and think, 'Man I don't want to do this anymore,' But after the fight I say, 'OK, I'll give it one more,' so who knows? But at 35 I'm done."
Jackson was expected to face Thiago Silva at UFC 130 until the Brazilian bomber was bagged for prosthetic pee-pee. The promotion quickly offered him a light heavyweight title fight against Mauricio Rua at UFC 128 when Rashad Evans blew out his knee, but an overweight and under-prepared "Rampage" was forced to turn it down.
Now he's booked against Hamill and will enjoy main event status following injuries to Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, but it's difficult to get the feeling he's motivated for "Hammer" time when he's adamant about retiring according to his pre-determined timetable.
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