LAS VEGAS - It's win or go home Saturday night for Juanito Ibarra, manager/trainer of light-heavyweight champion Quinton (Rampage).

Ibarra, who has been in the fight game for almost 30 years, promised on the UFC's preview TV show to retire if his man lost to challenger Forrest Griffin at UFC 86.

Ibarra said the boast came from the heart.

"It was a moment, it really was," he explained Thursday. "It was a moment there at (training) camp, me feeling very confident in Rampage. Nothing against Forrest at all, but it is what it is."

Ibarra says it doesn't really matter who Jackson's opponent is.

"At this point, I think Rampage - as long as he wants to listen and keeps listening - I think he's going to be champion for a long time. That's why I say it's nothing against anybody, it's just Rampage's time. ... He hasn't peaked as a fighter yet."

Jackson (27-6) and Griffin (15-4) were rival coaches on Season 7 of "The Ultimate Fighter" reality TV show. Both men are known more for their sense of humour than ill-temper so few sparks flew between them on the show. But their matchup is an interesting one.

Jackson, 30, is a bull of a man with knockout power who is getting better under the smart tutelage of Ibarra. Griffin, 29, is a big well-rounded fighter with no quit in him.

"I like fighting guys who like to fight. I don't want to fight guys who like to run. That's all that matters to me. I want to fight a fighter," Jackson told a news conference Thursday. "That's what I do. I fight. I come to fight. And I train to win. I trained my hardest in a long time because Forrest is a hard worker. I learned that about him. So I had to work hard.

"I want you all to know you're in for a battle. It's going to be one of the best fights you'll have ever seen and I do plan on finishing this fight. I'm going to be your champion for a long time. That's a promise."

Griffin also spoke of his training camp, including sparring with Wanderlei (The Axe Murderer) Silva at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.

"I've gotten very used to getting in the head a lot, hard, so I've got that going for me," he said.

Griffin is coming off an upset win over Mauricio (Shogun) Rua, the last fighter to beat Jackson. The UFC champion has won his last six outings since that May 2005 loss on the rival Pride circuit.

Jackson, who beat former Pride champion Dan Henderson in his last bout, says the Rua that faced Griffin was the not the same fighter who turned heads in Pride.

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The winner of the middleweight bout between Montreal's Patrick Cote and Ricardo Almeida will get a title shot in the fall, UFC president Dana White said Thursday.

Anderson Silva, the current 185-pound champion, is slated to move up to light-heavyweight on July 19 to face James (The Sandman) Irvin. Then he is set to defend his middleweight title on Sept. 6 in Atlanta at UFC 88, probably against Japan's Yushin Okami.

White said Silva wants to step into the cage again two months after that. "Cote or Almeida will be his next fight after Yushin Okami," White said.

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