Jason Knight calls out Damien Brown after UFC release; Brown “down to scrap” in Rizin
It hasn’t taken long for Jason “The Kid” Knight to find his first potential opponent after his UFC release.
The 26-year-old Knight informed BJPENN.com of his release from the UFC two weeks after his loss to Jordan Rinaldi, his fourth straight loss in the promotion. The losing skid was a steep fall from grace for the Mississippi native. Knight started his UFC career off 4-1, including four straight wins against Jim Alers, Dan Hooker, Alex Caceres, and Chas Skelly respectively. His fan-friendly, all-action style not only made him a fan favorite but one of the fastest rising prospects in the company.
However, if you are a fan of “The Kid” you may not have to wait long to see him fight again.
@beatdown155 tell ya boss to send me a contract and we will put on a fuckin war if you’re about that life !!! No disrespect but u wanted this for a while so heres your chance brother.
— Jason TheKid Knight (@Jasonthekid23) January 10, 2019
Knight took to Twitter to call out former UFC fighter Damien Brown, directing Brown to “tell ya boss to send me a contract” so the two could put on a war. The “boss” Knight is referring to is Nobuyuki Sakakibara from Rizin, the company where Brown most recently competed after his own release from the UFC, submitting Daron Cruickshank at Rizin 14. Brown quickly responded, offering his condolences to Knight for his release, but adding he was “down to scrap.”
Guaranteed fireworks
Ultimately the ball is in the court of Rizin officials to get this fight made; a fight that would almost guarantee fireworks. If the two men can get their signatures on the bottom line of a bout agreement, fans will certainly be in for a treat at a future Rizin show in 2019.
Despite their unceremonious departures from the UFC, neither man was let go due to a lack of an exciting fighting style. The 34-year-old Aussie Brown went 3-4 during his time in the promotion, picking up one ‘Fight of the Night’ honor. Fans will know Brown for his constant forward pressure and tendency to get into all-out brawls, sometimes to his detriment, most notably in the aforementioned ‘Fight of the Night’ effort against Frank Camacho. That fight with Camacho saw the two land a combined 258 strikes according to FightMetric, earning the two a standing ovation at the end of 15 minutes.
“The Kid” was at one time considered a future title contender in the UFC. He displayed a high volume striking style, supreme confidence in himself and a slick submission game off his back. The Mississippian hardly sent the fans home unhappy with two UFC finishes and a ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus as well. Fans christened him with the name “Hick Diaz” inspired by his brawling nature and penchant for trash talk. Similar to the Diaz brothers, Knight will walk his opponent down with strikes and a mouthful of less than encouraging words until your ego or your chin cracks. At the end of his UFC run, Knight’s area of weakness was takedown defense and spending long periods of time on his back. While Brown has a very capable grappling game, a brown belt in BJJ, he hardly uses grappling to simply secure control time and out-point his foe.
The term “war” is a cliche as cliche gets when describing a fight, but it is hard to see a clash between Knight and Brown being anything else.
What do you think fight fans? Are you “down for a scrap” between Knight and Brown?