Montel Samuel Jackson (born April 24, 1992) is an American

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorpo ...

, who currently competes in the

Bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. B ...

division in the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

Background

Jackson started training in wrestling at high school to get away from street life as most of his friends ended up in jail or dead. With good results in wrestling, Jackson set his goal to be an Olympic wrestler; however, he chose to stay back and take care of his sick grandparents and turned down the opportunity to wrestle in college. Jackson did an invitational wrestling match, Team USA vs. Team Japan and started training in the Olympic training center in Marquette, Michigan. His dream of becoming an Olympics wrestler would not materialize as in February 2013,

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

(IOC) members voted to remove wrestling from the Olympic programme. During this time, one of his friends, Devondrick Bankston, was preparing for a fight against Raufeon Stots, and asked him to help on wrestling drills at Red Schafer MMA gym. At the gym, he met Gato, a Puerto Rican, who managed to talk him into competing in a Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament without a real class instructions. Eventually, Jackson gave up his Olympics dream and transitioned to mixed martial arts.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Jackson started his professional MMA career in 2017 and fought primarily on the regional circuit in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

United States. He amassed a record of 6–0 before being signed by UFC.

Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series

Jackson faced Rico DiSciullo on June 12, 2018 at Dana White's Contender Series 9. He won the fight via technical knockout on round three.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Two month after the win over DiSciullo, Jackson made his promotional debut on 11 day notice, replacing Benito Lopez, on August 4, 2018 against

Ricky Simón Ricky Simón (born August 31, 1992) is an American mixed martial artist. He was the former Legacy Fighting Alliance Bantamweight Champion and currently competing in the Bantamweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of Dec ...

UFC 227 ''UFC 227: Dillashaw vs. Garbrandt 2'' was a mixed martial arts event that was produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship and held on August 4, 2018, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Background A UFC Bantamweight Championshi ...

. He lost the fight by unanimous decision. Jackson was originally scheduled to face

Brian Kelleher Brian Matthew Kelleher (born August 19, 1986) is an American professional mixed martial artist. Kelleher currently competes in the Bantamweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional competitor since 2011, Kelleher ...

on November 3, 2018 at

UFC 230 ''UFC 230: Cormier vs. Lewis'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that was held on November 3, 2018 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. Background A UFC Heavyweight Championship bo ...

, replacing injured Domingo Pilarte. At the weigh-ins, Kelleher weight at 137 pounds, 1 pound over the bantamweight non-title fight limit of 136. He was fined 20 percent of his purse, which went to Jackson. On November 3, it was reported that Kelleher withdrew from the bout due to illness and thus the fight was cancelled. The pairing was left intact and rescheduled for December 29, 2018 at

UFC 232 ''UFC 232: Jones vs. Gustafsson 2'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that was held on December 29, 2018 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. Background A UFC Light Heavyweight Championship bout b ...

. At the weigh-ins, Jackson weighed in at 137 lbs, 1 pound over the non-title fight bantamweight limit of 136 lbs. Jackson was fined 20 percent of his purse to Kelleher and the fight proceeded at catchweight. Jackson won the fight via submission in the first round. Jackson faced Andre Soukhamthath on April 13, 2019 at

UFC 236 The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest M ...

. He won the fight by unanimous decision. Jackson faced Felipe Colares on January 25, 2020 at

UFC Fight Night 166 ''UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. dos Santos'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 166'' and ''UFC on ESPN+ 24'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on January 25, 2020 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, ...

. He won the fight via unanimous decision. Jackson faced

Brett Johns Thomas Brett Johns (born 21 February 1992) is a Welsh professional mixed martial artist who currently competes in the bantamweight division of Bellator MMA. Prior to signing with Bellator, Johns competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (U ...

on July 19, 2020 at UFC Fight Night 172. Despite knocking Johns down in the first round, Jackson lost the fight via unanimous decision. Jackson faced Jesse Strader on March 20, 2021 at

UFC on ESPN 21 ''UFC on ESPN: Brunson vs. Holland'' (also known as ''UFC on ESPN 21'' and ''UFC Vegas 22'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on March 20, 2021 at the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise, N ...

. At the weigh-ins, Strader weighed in at 137.5 pounds, one and a half pounds over the bantamweight non-title fight limit. The bout proceeded at a catchweight and Strader was fined 20% of his individual purse, which went his opponent Jackson. After knocking Strader down twice, Jackson won the bout via TKO in the first round. Jackson was scheduled to face

Danaa Batgerel Danaa Batgerel (born July 4, 1989) is a Mongolian mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Background Growing up in a rural region of Mongolia, Danaa began training kickboxing in 2007 ...

on September 18, 2021 at

UFC Fight Night 192 ''UFC Fight Night: Smith vs. Spann'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 192'', ''UFC Vegas 37'' and ''UFC on ESPN+ 50'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on September 18, 2021 at the UFC ...

. However, Batgerel was pulled from the event due to visa issues and he was replaced by JP Buys. Jackson won the fight by unanimous decision, setting the record for the most knockdowns in a bout in UFC Bantamweight history with four. Jackson was scheduled to face

on March 26, 2022 at

UFC Fight Night 205 ''UFC Fight Night: Lemos vs. Andrade'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 205'' and ''UFC on ESPN+ 63'' or ''UFC Vegas 52'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on April 23, 2022, at the UF ...

. However, Jackson had to pull out of the bout and was replaced by

Chris Gutiérrez Christopher Gutiérrez (born April 22, 1991) is an American mixed martial artist and currently competing in the bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As of December 6, 2022, he is #12 in the UFC bantamweight rankings. B ...

. Jackson faced

Julio Arce Julio Andres Arce (born October 27, 1989) is an American mixed martial artist (MMA). He was the former Ring of Combat bantamweight and featherweight champion. He also won the Golden Gloves 2011 Championship. Arce currently competes in the Banta ...

on November 12, 2022, at

UFC 281 ''UFC 281: Adesanya vs. Pereira'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on November 12, 2022, at the Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, United States. Background A UFC Middle ...

. He won the fight via unanimous decision.

Mixed martial arts record

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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Montel Living people 1992 births Bantamweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing wrestling Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu American male mixed martial artists American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu Sportspeople from Milwaukee Mixed martial artists from Wisconsin Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters

Background

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Mixed martial arts record

See also

References

External links