Damon Jackson Shares Love for Coaching After Opening Gym

Ultimate Fighting Championship 145-pounder Damon Jackson is now head coach of Fortis MMA Lakeside.

The upcoming UFC on ESPN 50 event will see Jackson (22-5-1, 1 NC; 5-3-1, 1 NC UFC) competing in front of fans for the first time in years, as his recent fights were held in the UFC Apex with no audience. “Action” is set to take on Billy Quarantillo and is hoping to bounce back from a second-round knockout loss he suffered at the hands of Dan Ige in January. While talking with Sherdog, Jackson acknowledged the frustrating loss in his previous fight due to a chest injury, which affected his performance. However, he assured he was fully healed now and ready to go. Damon also discussed opening his own gym and how coaching is his passion. He loves working with young fighters, helping them develop their skills and plans to focus on coaching full-time once his professional fighting career ends.

“I like coaching. I started coaching the middle school wrestling team just because my daughter wanted to wrestle. It lit this fire up in me, I was just excited to show these kids all the stuff I've learned. I hadn't really put a lot of focus on coaching only. I do a lot of private training work where I get paid for everything I do, so it's like I'm working with a lot of people, and that's been my job since I was like 15. Whenever I started coaching, I was like, ‘Oh, this is cool cause I get to work with hundreds of kids, and they're growing up to be adults.' I have kids that I started coaching years ago, and they already have kids themselves now. It's pretty crazy to see these kids growing up, and it makes me feel old some days, but when I get to get in there with them and just smash them, it makes me a little happy to smash these young kids. It's been great. I love it for sure.”

Timestamp:

(00:00) Intro
(00:34) His intense sparring session
(01:07) Preparing for Quarantillo
(02:01) Losing to Ige
(03:41) Recovering from the chest injury
(04:40) Opening his own gym
(06:04) Representing Fortis MMA
(06:50) His love for coaching
(07:40) How people are responding to his gym
(08:55) Dedicating to coaching once his fighting career is done
(10:16) Outro