Jackson fought in other small shows but eventually started floating between KOTC and Gladiator Challenge promotions. In July of ’01, after compiling a 10-1 record, he attracted the attention of PRIDE and made his debut at PRIDE 15 against legendary submission grappler Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures). Jackson fought valiantly and lost. But he won an instant following.
Jackson returned to Japan to face Yuki Ishikawa and wasted little time, knocking out the Japanese wrestler early in the first round. At PRIDE 18 he faced Takada Dojo fighter Daijiro Matsui (Pictures), but an unintentional knee to the groin from Jackson forced a disqualification.
“Rampage” beat Alexander Otsuka (Pictures) in an MMA match at the “BattlArts vs. The World” show in Japan and stopped K-1 fighter Masaaki Satake with a hard slam at PRIDE 20. He returned to the U.S. to face veteran Sean Gray (Pictures) at KOTC 13 and pounded him into the canvas in round three. Then it was back to PRIDE to face Russian striker Igor Vovchanchyn (Pictures). This was to be Jackson’s statement fight and “Rampage” did not disappoint. He slammed Igor hard and pounded out a win late in the opening round.
Kevin Randleman (Pictures) battled Jackson at PRIDE 25 and “The Monster” dropped from a knee to the face in the first round. Quinton beat Russian Top Team fighter Mikhail Illoukhine (Pictures) at PRIDE 26 with strikes and then took a questionable decision victory over Brazilian Top Team fighter Murilo Bustamante (Pictures).
Jackson stopped current UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell (Pictures) with strikes in the 2003 Total Elimination show but was knocked out by the knees of Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) later that night. Back on the road to victory, he beat Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures) with strikes in the second round of the 2003 New Year’s Eve show.
Jackson then slammed Ricardo Arona (Pictures) into unconsciousness at the 2004 Critical Countdown show before being knocked out by Silva again in their rematch at PRIDE 28.
In a minor stroke of revenge, Jackson defeated Chute Boxe fighter Murilo Rua (Pictures) by decision at PRIDE 29 and knocked him out of the middleweight tournament. But Jackson’s tournament appearance came to an end when Mauricio Rua (Pictures) dropped him with strikes. Then last October “Rampage” stomped his way to victory against heavyweight submission fighter Hirotaka Yokoi (Pictures) at PRIDE 30.
YOON: Dong Sik Yoon (Pictures) is the winner of 47 consecutive international judo competitions and has competed in better than 50 tournaments. As the winner of the 1994 Goodwill Games, Yoon did not have a single point scored against him in his three victories while scoring 22 points on his opponents.
Although highly decorated, Yoon has never competed in the Olympics due to the politics involved with his country and it is the reason for one of his many nicknames: the “King Without A Crown.” He also feels he has to submit all of his opponents to avoid a bad call in competition. The Korean fighter’s second nickname, “Unlucky Star,” resulted after he failed to win a gold medal. His other nickname, “The Japanese Killer,” is due to the fact he has only lost only once to a Japanese competitor in judo.
Yoon is considered by his people to be someone who can win it all. However, the main reason he was in the GP was because of the new partnership with FILA (Fédération Internationale des Luttes Associées or the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles) and because of the influence of Chairman Fukuda of the Japan Wrestling Federation. Yoon is a confident fighter, having trained with top-level judo players from the Korean Racing Association for the majority of his career and is currently training with members of the Takada Dojo including boxer Yosuke Nishijima.
In his MMA debut Yoon was knocked out by Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures). He returned to face fellow judoka Makoto Takimoto (Pictures) at PRIDE 30 and lost a decision.
MY PICK: Jackson. This should be quick. It is a mismatch where Yoon’s only hope at success is if Jackson falters early. He will not be able to sustain a great deal of punishment and avoid continuous slam attempts from “Rampage.” Jackson by KO early in the first round.