'Rampage' Jackson willing to fight Tito Ortiz: 'It'll suck to knock out my friend'

Quinton Jackson doesn't necessarily want to fight Tito Ortiz. But if that's a fight Ortiz wants, "Rampage" said he would be in.

Jackson beat Satoshi Ishii via split decision in his Bellator return in the main event of Bellator MMA: Dynamite 2 in St. Louis. And apparently, Muhammed Lawal, Jackson's sometimes rival, was the one who broached the subject of "Rampage" facing Ortiz. Jackson and Ortiz are longtime friends.

"'King Mo' wants me to fight my boy Tito," Jackson said at the post-fight press conference. "He must really not like Tito. King Mo told me that if I fight Tito, then he'll fight Ishii, because I think that'll be a good fight, King Mo vs. Ishii. Because they both fight the same. Just sayin'."

Jackson (37-11) was held against the cage by Ishii for much of their 15-minute fight. "Rampage" has criticized Lawal also for not being an exciting fighter and relying on wrestling. Jackson beat Lawal by unanimous decision for Bellator in 2014.

"Rampage" was supposed to face Ortiz in both of their Bellator debuts back in 2013. But Ortiz got hurt and the fight was never revisited.

"Tito, we were supposed to fight," Jackson said. "I really didn't want to fight him then, but it's my job to fight. If Tito wants to fight, I think we'll come in and put on a good show. It'll suck to knock my friend out, but I gotta get a knockout. I gotta get a knockout. I've gotta knock somebody out. I've gotta knock somebody out. If Tito gets in the cage with me, you know I'm gonna try to knock him out. It would suck to beat up one of my friends, but if Tito wants to do it, then we can do it. If not, I ain't gonna cry."

Jackson, 38, left Bellator for the UFC in December 2014 to the shock of the MMA world. Bellator maintained Jackson was still under contract, but Jackson said the promotion had not fulfilled the terms of the deal, so he departed for the UFC.

"Rampage" fought and beat Fabio Maldonado by unanimous decision at UFC 186 in March 2015 in the middle of a legal battle between him and Bellator. In the end, Bellator won out and Jackson re-signed in February. This was his first fight back  and it came at heavyweight.

Jackson said over the last 12 months he wasn't very active, so he'll be back in the gym in a little more than a week getting ready for another bout.

"What you guys don't know about me, not only did I not fight for a year, but I didn't train for a year," Jackson said. "All I did was play video games, man. I was so depressed, I'm not gonna lie. I was so depressed, man, I was just sitting at home playing video games and drinking beer. That's all I did for a whole year. You can't be a professional athlete doing stuff like that."