UFC on Fox 6 weigh-in: Rampage Jackson remains beloved on his way out

By Case Keefer (contact)

Friday, Jan. 25, 2013 | 4:45 p.m.

The biggest star at UFC on Fox 6 is the departing one.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, who plans to leave the UFC after he fulfills his contract with one final fight against Glover Teixeira Saturday, confirmed those strong suspicions at Friday’s weigh-in. The crowd of nearly 2,000 erupted in cheers as the former light heavyweight champion walked across the stage and onto the scale.

The reception for the other 21 fighters combined, all of whom made weight, could barely match the one Jackson (204) received.

“Rampage has the ability to be a huge star,” UFC President Dana White said yesterday. “We’ve seen it. When he’s on and his head is right and he’s in the game, there’s nobody more entertaining.”

The same is often said of Jackson’s mixed martial arts career. When he’s dedicated and taking fighting seriously, Jackson is one of the best in the world.

It looks like that’s the version Teixeira (206), one of the UFC’s top prospects, will face at the United Center. Rampage hardly resembled the fighter who came in six pounds overweight and lost a decision to Ryan Bader at UFC 144 his last time out.

After making weight, he forcefully moved toward Teixeira and yelled in his face the entire time the two were posing for their customary stare-down photos. Teixeira had expressed a desire to ignore all of the fuss around Jackson before their bout.

“I’m just going to do my fight,” he said earlier this week.

But Jackson didn’t let the Brazilian get by with that at the weigh-in. He brought Teixeira into it.

The most anticipated fight on the card, a lightweight bout between Anthony Pettis (155) and Donald Cerrone (155), also featured some talking during the face-off. The two kept their distance, but Cerrone mouthed a few words to Pettis while smiling.

Like Teixeira after him, Pettis opted for silence. Fighters other than Rampage that drew meaningful ovations included Mike Russow (256) and Clay Guida (146).

Russow, who faces Shawn Jordan (251) in an undercard heavyweight bout, works as a Chicago police officer. Guida, who meets Hatsu Hioki (146) in his featherweight debut, is originally from Chicago but moved to Albuquerque, N.M., to train.

The response for the flyweight main event between Demetrious Johnson (125) and John Dodson (124) proved tepid. But Dodson did get a few laughs for tipping the scales with a bag of Pop Rocks in his mouth.

Find complete results from the UFC on Fox 6 weigh-in below.

Flyweight championship bout: Demetrious Johnson (125) vs. John Dodson (124)

Light heavyweight bout: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (204) vs. Glover Teixeira (206)

Lightweight bout: Anthony Pettis (155) vs. Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone (155)

Featherweight bout: Erik Koch (145) vs. Ricardo Lamas (145)

Lightweight bout: T.J. Grant (155) vs. Matt Wiman (156)

Featherweight bout: Clay Guida (146) vs. Hatsu Hioki (146)

Light heavyweight bout: Ryan Bader (205) vs. Vladimir Matyushenko (205)

Welterweight bout: Mike Stumpf (170) vs. Pascal Krauss (171)

Heavyweight bout: Mike Russow (256) vs. Shawn Jordan (251)

Middleweight bout: Rafael Natal (185) vs. Sean Spencer (186)

Welterweight bout: Simeon Thoresen (171) vs. David Mitchell (171)

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or case.keefer@lasvegassun.com. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.