Blame it on Rio for light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s ascent to the top of his weight class.

OK, Brazlian-born Mauricio "Shogun" Rua is not quite from Rio, but within 500 miles of the beachfront city that’s home to a hundred songs. And ever since Shogun beat Jackson, the 205-pound weight class has never been the same. Just better.

Now the undisputed owner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Pride Fighting Championship belts in the 205-pound weight division is slated to meet rising star Forrest Griffin in a title defense this coming July 5 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

But these past few months have been a whirlwind of distraction for the Rampage team.

With both Jackson and Griffin serving as coaches for rival teams in The Ultimate Fighter reality television series, the usual training regimen has been changed and scrambled as both fighters traveled nationwide to promote the series.

One other thing: Las Vegas is not what it’s cracked up to be.

“I hated it,” said Jackson while working with the various fighters on the series for six weeks. “Vegas is OK for a day or two, but after that, get me out of there.”

If not for Jackson’s loss to Shogun Rua back in 2005, the world may not have seen the howling pressure fighter who relies on power and more power to break his opponent’s will.

It was also Rua who served as Griffin’s launching pad to a match for the light heavyweight title when the Brazilian was defeated by the Georgia native; the first winner of The Ultimate Fighter program.

Jackson’s rise began when he hooked up with trainer Juanito Ibarra, a product of the tough streets of South-Central Los Angeles in an area known as Watts. Ibarra sought a means to end the constant beatings from neighborhood bullies and found it at the legendary but now defunct Hoover Street Gym.

“As a kid I got jumped a lot so I went to the Hoover gym and learned how to fight,” Ibarra says. “Freddie Moreno an old viejo who took me under his wing and showed me how to wrap hands, work cuts and train fighters. I learned from other trainers too like Jackie McCoy, Thell Torrence, Bill Slayton, guys like that.”

Ibarra sat watched and listened to the gurus of the boxing past who built up some of the greatest fighters in history. Everyday was a learning experience under those giants from the fight world.

“They all said ‘you’re going to be a good trainer’ because I picked up quickly,” said Ibarra, who later worked at various hard-nose training gyms in the greater Los Angeles area.

The deeply religious Ibarra then moved to Orange County where he began training fighters in the MMA world. It was in 2005, while watching a Pride tournament on television, that he spotted Jackson and Rua battling.

“I saw him get hurt against Shogun, it looked like something was wrong. He’s not a coward but he kept looking to his corner and out of instinct I’m saying to the (television) screen throw in the towel,” said Ibarra, who had also trained Vitor Belfort. “After the fight you could see his trainers chewing him out.”

Jackson suffered broken ribs in that fight and was physically unable to fight through the intense pain. Ibarra sought to speak with the Tennessee fighter and through a mutual friend, he spoke to Jackson by telephone.

“We talked for two and a half hours,” Ibarra recalls. “We were both excited about our relationship with God. We met in a gym in Huntington Beach and in 15 minutes we decided to work together and haven’t been separated in three years.”

Ibarra promised a title for Jackson.

“I told him just listen to me and you’ll win the title. When you fight you’re going to win, and if you don’t, I’m walking away,” said Ibarra. “That’s why I broke down when he won.”

It was Ibarra’s first champion he taught on his own, and 13^th overall.

Now that the actual taping of The Ultimate Fighter show is over, it’s back to working on his Octagon skills with Ibarra for Rampage.

“I’m just training now” says Jackson, who was forced to train in hotel workout rooms, strange gyms or not at all. “I’m putting someone on their back, you feel me?”

Ibarra said the strange workout hours put a strain on Jackson, who disliked waking up before the roosters.

“Quinton is not a morning person,” Ibarra said. “Sometimes we had to train at 5 a.m.”

But that’s all over now. From now on, it’s training at the usual hour and in the usual environment.

Strange how one guy from Brazil changed three people’s lives.

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