ST. LOUIS – Bellator 157 headliner Quinton Jackson shares a common opponent with his former PRIDE stablemate, Fedor Emeliananko.

What was”Rampage” Jackson’s takeaway from Emelianenko’s comeback win at EFN 50? They sure didn’t approach Fabio Maldonado the same way.

“He fought a tough guy,” Jackson, who returns to the cage Friday at Bellator 157, told MMAjunkie. “I think Fedor might have underestimated Fabio a little bit. I didn’t.”

Emelianenko (36-4) was out on his feet for a large portion of his UFC Fight Pass-streamed bout with Maldonado (22-10) in St. Petersburg, Russia. But thanks to a very forgiving referee, he survived and mounted a comeback in the second and third rounds to win a majority decision.

The call was heavily criticized by MMA observers around the world and did little to revitalize Emelianenko’s career, though UFC President Dana White said the Russian remains a sizable draw. Maldonado unsuccessfully appealed the result.

Jackson earned a unanimous decision over Maldonado at UFC 186 – skirting a court injunction during a court battle with Bellator – and thinks Emelianenko should have used his formidable ground skills later in the fight.

“If I was Fedor, I would have taken Fabio down and fought him on the ground after that first round, but I’m not Fedor,” he said.

As to what comes next for Emelianenko, Jackson sees no reason why the former heavyweight champ should rush toward a debut in the octagon.

“Why would he go to the UFC, when he’s doing good outside the UFC?” Jackson asked. “If Fedor fights in the UFC, they’re going to throw him (against tough guys). Fedor’s been fighting a long time.

“It’s something fans don’t really understand. It’s hard for us hang in the sport. We get so much disrespect from fans when we get old and we’re still trying to compete. Even though we make money doing it, we started this because of the love. So it’s hard for us alphas to let it go.

“So maybe we fight, but we can’t fight the caliber of guys that we used to. So if we’re still alpha males, we should fight guys that are kind of like us, like over their prime. That makes for a good fight. That’s what (Fedor) needs to do – keep fighting people in the same bracket.”

It sounds like Jackson is very much in favor of the types of “tentpole” fights currently being promoted by Bellator, which restarted the careers of UFC Hall of Famers Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie, also promoting a “king of the streets” fight against Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson and backyard fight promoter Dhafir “Dada 5000” Harris. The fights were huge ratings successes for the Viacom-owned promotion in spite of widespread criticism over their legitimacy, and for the latter fight, near-disastrous consequences.

Jackson (36-11 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) is a heavy favorite to win when he faces Satoshi Ishii (14-5-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) on Friday’s Spike-televised headliner at St. Louis’ Scottrade Center, and admits he is more interested in marquee fights than titles.

His advice to Emelianenko would be to follow the same path.

“If he goes to the UFC, the UFC is going to throw their biggest, baddest fighter at him to show the UFC is a better organization,” Jackson said. “It’s the same thing they did to James Toney; it’s the same thing they did to Kimbo.”

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