‘Rampage’ Jackson returns to UFC in a blockbuster bout

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson makes a good point.

“There’s not a lot of people doing A-level movies and putting their life on the line in their other job,” he says. “I don’t know when the last time an actor was seen laying his life on the line.”

“Rampage” has undoubtedly brought the Ultimate Fighting Championship a wealth of drama, producing a light-heavyweight title belt, a car crash after a high-speed chase through Newport Beach, a reality television role, a “resignation” from fighting that he submitted via his blog, and now Saturday night’s comeback at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena against former champion Rashad Evans.

The bout comes just in time to hype Jackson’s acting work with Liam Neeson in “The A-Team,” which is to be released June 11. Irvine’s Jackson, 31, co-stars as B.A. Baracus, a role that he says was made “iconic” by Mr. T on television in the 1980s.

The role threw a kink into the UFC’s plans last year to have the former light-heavyweight champion Jackson (30-7, with 14 knockouts and seven submissions) fight Evans (14-1-1), who served as a rival coach in the UFC’s reality television series, “The Ultimate Fighter.”

Fighter-coaches routinely square off at the close of the series, but Jackson did things differently, writing on his website in September 2009 that he was quitting fighting while taking some jabs at the UFC.

“He had a lifelong dream to play Mr. T, and with the filming conflicting with our [scheduled] fight, it became contentious,” said Lorenzo Fertitta, the UFC’s principal owner. “Everybody knows the coaches are supposed to fight. But now he was bailing. I don’t think he ever meant to quit, but guys like ‘Rampage’ sometimes wake up on the wrong side of the bed and say things they don’t really mean.”

Jackson explained, “I asked the UFC to postpone the fight [from December 2009]. They wouldn’t, and we got in a big argument over it.”

His absence added to a winter void in the UFC’s schedule, but Jackson attended the UFC’s February card in Australia to support his English stablemate Michael Bisping and ended up having a sit-down with Fertitta.

“We had a good discussion, laid out a game plan for him, and we both opted to move the [Evans] fight to May,” Fertitta said.

Jackson’s sniping with Evans also has obvious appeal, as the pay-per-view bout ($44.95) at the MGM Grand is sold out. The MGM/Mirage sports book lists the fight as a pick-em.

Evans and Jackson’s feud started after Jackson’s most recent UFC fight, a March 2009 victory over Evans’ friend Keith Jardine. Evans, a skilled wrestler who beat Jackson’s title conqueror, Forrest Griffin, and briefly held the light-heavyweight belt, entered the octagon after the Jackson-Jardine bout, said some things and the bickering has continued.

“I don’t like how cocky he is,” Jackson said.

“I have more experience than him. I’ve fought tougher guys. I’ve accomplished more in this sport. The guy’s got quick hands, but he’s not a big puncher like me. I can take his punch. I don’t think he can take mine.”

Fertitta says Saturday’s winner is next in line for a title shot at current champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

Jackson has mentioned the delicate subplot of this fight; it is the first main event featuring two African Americans amid mixed martial arts’ typical mass of young white males. Jackson said he was speaking for comedic effect when he previously called the fight “black-on-black crime.”

“I said it to be funny, but some people take things too far,” Jackson said. “I said it in entertainment, for comedy, but now I’ve been told to be careful what I say. I’m not a pro wrestler. I don’t have what I’m supposed to say written for me.”

Fertitta said he “never thought” about skin color in scheduling this fight, explaining its box-office success has come “because these are the top two contenders.”

“This is a cool thing that’s going on right now,” Jackson said. “Before people see the movie, they can check me out in my day job.”

lance.pugmire@latimes.com