The Count Recants...

Michael "The Count" Bisping, UFC fighter and new UFC columnist caught some heat with some of his remarks about Quinton "Rampage" Jackson's debut fight at UFC 67. The Count said in his first column about Rampage's debut:

"JACKSON FIVE (OUT OF TEN)

The second time I was out in Vegas was during UFC 67 weekend. I always enjoy
sitting at Octagon-side and watching the fights and I really enjoyed the event.

After fighting on two live UFC shows now, the TUF finals last summer and now an actual PPV card, it has finally sunk in that I am a proper UFC fighter now, but I'm still a big UFC fan at heart, too.

But even though I enjoyed myself and the fights, I switched out of "fan mode" when Quinton Jackson made his Octagon debut.

Because he's in the same division as me, I took a very close interest in Jackson's win over Marvin Eastman. Because of his big win over Chuck Liddell in Japan a couple of years back, Jackson's come to the UFC with this massive reputation but, to be honest, I've got to say I wasn't that impressed.

I'd probably give Jackson five out of 10 on his performance, if you forgive the pun.

Even allowing for the fact that Eastman is a very underrated fighter, I didn't think Rampage looked like this killer who has put the entire division on red alert.

Jackson said he was nervous and I am sure he was – and maybe he'll show more of himself next time. I hope he does because I want my division to be the most exciting one in the UFC.

But like I said after my last fight, everyone in the 205lbs division (or 14stone 9lbs in English money) better watch their backs because I've not come this far just to make up the numbers in the UFC light heavyweight division."

Here is the response from Bisping recanting his UFC 67 post fight thoughts:

"JACKSON FANS ON THE RAMPAGE

Just want to clear something up from last week’s column because I’ve seen a lot of feedback on various forums about what I said about Quinton Jackson’s first fight in the UFC.

When I said I’d give him 5 out of 10 for his fight against Marvin Eastman - I wasn’t dissing Rampage at all. He’s a great fighter and a massive addition to the UFC. All I was saying was that he was below par – by his own standards, obviously - in his UFC debut at UFC 67.

And if you remember, Rampage himself said pretty much the same thing after the fight, too."

MMA Fever can smell a match between The Count and Rampage sometime in the not so distant future, fo show!

Bloody hell man!