Athletes
Damon Jackson: 'It's Got Me Feeling Like An Athlete Again'
Damon Jackson Returns To The Lightweight Division To Face Jim Miller At UFC 309: Jones vs Miocic
It’s good to be Damon Jackson these days.
“I love my life; I got a pretty good one,” says the 36-year-old Texan, who returns to the lightweight division to face Jim Miller this Saturday in New York City. “I'm excited about the move up; it's got me feeling like an athlete again. So yeah, I'd say it's pretty good.”
Not bad for someone bringing a 1-3 record in his last four fights to Madison Square Garden to be the “bad guy” against local favorite Miller, but if the fight game has taught us anything, it’s that all wins and losses aren’t created equal. So take a close decision loss to Billy Quarantillo, a knockout defeat at the hands of Dan Ige where he got caught, and a second decision defeat to Chepe Mariscal in which Mariscal weighed in at 149.5 pounds, and add in the reality of Jackson sweating down to the 145-pound featherweight limit, and it’s not like he got blown out in three fights.
Order UFC 309: Jones vs Miocic
But he did have to make some decisions, one of which was to make the move to lightweight, where he hasn’t fought since 2018. And oh, he’s loving it.
“I'm done cutting to featherweight,” Jackson said. “That’s 30 pounds. I walk around about 175, so I can make the weight, for sure, but I think my body needs a break from cutting the weight and I don't really want to make a move up and then make the move back down. So, I'm definitely planning on this being a permanent thing. I don't see any other way that I would make the move down to featherweight. It's a lot on my body and I think that my body is just going to handle 155 so much better. So I'm excited just to get in there. We'll see how it feels and see how everything plays out. But I'm planning on staying at ‘55.”
Damon Jackson Earns TKO Victory One Minute Into First Round | UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs Song
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Damon Jackson Earns TKO Victory One Minute Into First Round | UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs Song
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And hey, after his last two opponents (Mariscal and Alexander Hernandez) missed their mark on the scale, he can almost guarantee that Miller will come in at 156 or less on Friday.
MORE UFC 309: Main Event Preview | Oliveira vs Chandler Fighter Timeline
“Yeah, he’s got a pretty good track record for making weight, so I'm excited about just being in there,” Jackson said of Miller, the man with the most fights and most wins in UFC history. “He's been around forever. You see all his fights and he's still a G, and he still shows up ready to fight, so I know it's going to be a scrap, but it's just nice to be a part of the card and to be fighting someone like him.”
Jackson, as no nonsense as they come in this business, isn’t one to give faint praise or to get overly excited about anything having to do with his day job, so when he does both, it’s authentic, and he’s excited to not just get into a fight with Miller, but to do it in the World’s Most Famous Arena.
“I'm definitely not a fanboy of anything; I just go with the flow, whatever it is, and I try not to get too amped up by anything, but there's been a lot of big moments in New York at Madison Square Garden,” he said. “You hear about it all the time, so it's pretty damn cool to be a part of that, and the card itself is going to be just insane. So I'm amped up, for sure.”
UFC 309 COUNTDOWN: Full Episode | Jones vs Miocic | Oliveira vs Chandler 2
At 36, it’s a different outlook on fighting and life than Jackson had when he was battling his way through the regional scene and, ultimately, the big show. But with his home life secure, his gym up and running, and the ability to eat the occasional cheeseburger on the way to fight night, he’s learned to appreciate the journey he’s on.
“I think when you're trying to make it, it's hard to look back,” Jackson said. “It's hard to process things. So when you get older, when you look back at it, you see how special these things were. It's kind of hard to be in the moment all the time. But for this fight, I feel like I'm already able to look at it and process it in a different way. I'm getting to go up a weight class, so my mind and my processing and everything is just different. I don't have to have a whole training camp around my diet and about losing weight. So I'm really excited about the move up to ‘55 to make me really happy.”
And that’s why it’s good to be Damon Jackson these days. And in the days (and years) to come.
“I don't feel the age at all, man,” he laughs. “I feel so good, but I just want to get in there and make a big statement at ‘55 and to take him out and get a finish and then move on to another fight at ‘55. It has me excited because I'm able to lift weights, I'm able to do my sprint work on days that I'm doing my running, just like I'm back in college. It feels so much better to have all that together. Now I can just worry about being an athlete. I might be the next Miller. I might fight until my upper forties, so we'll see.”
UFC 309: Jones vs Miocic took place live from Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York on November 16, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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