The sparks were flying today (July 19, 2011) during the UFC 135 press conference in Denver.
What started out as a few playful jabs got a bit personal between UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones and his challenger, former titleholder Quinton Jackson.
"Rampage" will be battling "Bones" for his belt on Sept. 24, 2011 at UFC 135 in Denver, Colorado.
Jackson mixed in some insults masked as compliments when discussing how Jones came to win the belt from former champion and Pride legend, Mauricio Rua.
The full transcript of their little spat is after the jump.
Jones was asked if he was thinking about using his wrestling but "Rampage" quickly interruped:
Quinton Jackson: "You know he is. Come on, man. Who been standing up with me? Who been doing mixed martial arts with me? Everybody been wrestlin' with me. You already know."
Jon Jones: "I think I displayed pretty good kickboxing against Mauricio "Shogun." "Shogun" is one who will throw knees and elbows and actually throw high kicks. Rampage is like fighting a boxer in my opinion. If he thinks that I'm intimidated to stand by him then I think it's great for me that he's under that impression."
Quinton Jackson: "I just have to say, straight up, I respect you dog, I do think you're the future of MMA, keepin' it real but you fought "Shogun" when he was rusty as hell. He was off an injury, hadn't fought for a year, like two knee surgeries."
Jon Jones: "There will always be excuses. There will always be excuses. I'm sure after our fight I'll hear, 'you didn't fight the Pride Rampage, you fought the movie star Rampage.' There will always be excuses."
Quinton Jackson: "You're right, there's always excuses. There's a hundred of them. I've got like three excuses for every time I've lost. I've got a bunch of 'em (laughs)."
Jon Jones: "You thinking of anything good now?"
Quinton Jackson: "I ain't gonna need no excuses after this fight. I ain't going to need not one. You're gonna need a bunch of 'em."
Not bad.
Who do you think won the war of the words today? Did Rampage's last words put him over the top? Did the young gun "Bones" Jones hold his own?
Sound off!