Jason Jackon had his Strickland moment

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Jackson had a tough rode to that Bellator title.

Lost to Covington in his 2nd pro fight. Had to fight Hayder Hassan and Diego Lima while still on the regional scene. Lost on TUF when he was 5-2. Lost via injury TKO on DWCS later on.

Wins a few LFA and Bellator fights before dropping a split decision to Ed Ruth.

Then goes on a run where he beats Kunimoto, Mein, Bendo, Neiman Gracie, Daley and Lima before he ends up in the title fight as a 5-1 dog vs a 27-0 undefeated champ in Amosov.

Jackson has only had 5 KO’s in his career but he got one when it counted on Friday.

Like Strickland, I just never expected to see that man a champ in either Bellator or UFC. When people talked about future Bellator and UFC WW champs a few years ago, nobody was talking about Jackson.

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I thought it was likely that Koreshkov, Larkin, Ed Ruth and Neiman Gracie all had a good shot to win Bellator gold but not many people saw Jason Jackson coming.

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Crazy that Jamaica now have their 1st and 2nd ever UFC/Bellator champs in the two WW champs right now.

Both fighters moved to Florida and England as kids.

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Never heard of this dude. Wish Bellator did a better job with promoting

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Magomedkerimov is now 15-1 in PFL and the most successful fighter in PFL history.

Wants the Jason Jackson fight next and does not plan to be in the next tournament.

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:open_mouth:

But what about Aljo!

Born and raised in NY but he carries a Jamaican flag. Flags don’t count?? :rofl:

Didn’t know Leon was born there.

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I didn’t know that either until he won the title and I looked at his wikipedia bio.

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Glad he won, MMA doesn’t have too many feel-good stories. I feel like he was one of the favorites to win that season of TUF, but it didn’t go his way.

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Eight Bellator cards next year and that is it. Six are gonna be in Europe and two out of the US.

Davis said they want to do a big PFL champs vs Bellator champs card so I assume that means the 2023 PFL champs won’t be in the 2024 tournament as they will be needed for this and another PFL PPV.

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Gracie dominated him. The decision was absurd

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I don’t think I got to see that fight.

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Bill may be the only person that did, Bellator is near impossible to find here in Asia. Even when they have it on their YouTube it’s like a 6 hour tape delay.