MMA legend recalls being in the same room with 'Rampage' Jackson and Wanderlei Silva after their UFC fight: "How am I gonna hold this giant?"
An MMA legend recently recalled being in the same room with 'Rampage' Jackson and Wanderlei Silva after their UFC fight and described what the mood was like. He noted that it was quite tense, especially considering that the two had just fought each other.
'Rampage' and 'The Axe Murderer' had a legendary rivalry that began when they competed in Pride and then concluded at the end of their respective careers in Bellator. They fought on four occasions, with the Brazilian getting his hand raised in their first two encounters and the Memphis native avenging his losses and winning their final two encounters.
During his appearance on 'Rampage's JAXXON PODCAST, former middleweight title challenger Demian Maia brought up that he was remembered being in the same room with the MMA legends after their bout at UFC 92. Maia mentioned that there was some fears that a fight would break out in the room and his hilarious response if it escalated to that point:
"After the fight, some people don't know but we all go to the same room. So they put Wanderlei [Silva] and Quinton [Jackson] in the same room and they were looking to each other and staring, and saying something to each other. And there was a guy [that] came to me, 'Demian, please, hold this guy...If they start to go too close, hold them'...I said, 'Look, I'm a kid here, how am I gonna hold this giant?'"
Check out Demian Maia's comments below:
Wanderlei Silva retired after final loss to 'Rampage' Jackson
'Rampage' Jackson and Wanderlei Silva fought for the final time at Bellator 206 in 2018.
The quadrilogy bout was contested at heavyweight and served as the co-main event of a star studded card that featured a champion vs. champions bout between Gegard Mousasi and Rory MacDonald in the main event. Jackson evened up their MMA series at 2-2 as he earned an impressive second-round TKO.
Bellator 206 marked the final time fans would see Silva competing in the cage as he officially announced his retirement from MMA in 2022.
Check out Bellator's tweet regarding 'Rampage' Jackson's win over Wanderlei Silva below: