Damon Jackson on His Brother’s Sudden Death, ‘Nothing Adds Up’

Months after his brother unexpectedly passed away, Damon Jackson is still looking for answers.

Ultimate Fighting Championship 145-pounder Jackson (22-4-1, 1 NC; 5-2-1, 1 NC UFC) is scheduled to take on his first ranked opponent, Dan Ige, in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 217 on Saturday in Las Vegas. 2022 was a rough year for the 34-year-old Jackson, who lost his brother Bradley a few days before competing at UFC Fight Night 210 last September. The former Legacy Fighting Championship titleholder honored his late brother not only by changing his nickname from “The Leech” to “Action” — as Bradley’s friends used to call him — but with a 69-second technical knockout victory over Pat Sabatini. Jackson is now focused on his upcoming assignment, but believes something doesn’t add up about what happened to his brother.

“We still really don't know,” Jackson said. “He wasn't answering calls and texts, so we went over to check on him and we found him in his house. It didn't make a lot of sense yet. We did try to figure out like it could have been a vaccine, it could have been medication, it could have been a handful of things. There's no present apparent reason why it happened. It’s kind of out of nowhere. He was 37 years old, so just doesn't make a lot of sense. He was vaccinated just shortly before that, about two weeks before. I don't wanna get into conspiracies and all that kind of stuff, but nothing adds up. We’re trying to figure out some answers, but we don't have any answers so far.”

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro
(00:38) Celebrating Christmas
(01:39) Watching Christmas movies
(02:34) Changing his nickname to “Action”
(03:26) What happened to his brother
(04:32) Facing a ranked opponent in Ige
(05:22) Defeating Sabatini in 69 seconds
(06:03) Commenting on Ige’s losing streak
(07:11) Preparing for Ige
(07:59) His MMA goals for 2023
(08:59) His plans for 2023
(09:36) Outro