Damon Jackson is set to take on Kamuela Kirk on a fun featherweight matchup at UFC Vegas 50. The fight puts two exciting grapplers against each other with a chance it only plays out on the feet.

The bout is also very important for Damon Jackson as it's the last fight on his current UFC contract. He's looking to renegotiate with the promotion after the fight and continue fighting for the UFC.

“I'm fighting for my shot to be out there,” Jackson told ClutchPoints. “I don't want to fight for anyone else. I want to fight for the UFC and that's it. So I need to go out there and make sure they understand that I have the potential to be in that mix of top 10, top 15 guys. I don't take it any hard way or nothing. It's just that they're not re-signing people because they want to make sure that you really want to be there. So they're making you fight for it. And that's it. It's kind of like The Ultimate Fighter every time.”

Some may see it as a stressful situation, having to fight to prove you still belong in the UFC. That isn't the case for Damon Jackson as he comes to fight hard in every fight no matter what.

“No [pressure.] I'll fight hard. I'm gonna fight hard for sure. Because I'm motivated right now. I should have finished [Charles] Rosa, I should have went out there and fought a little bit tougher, and got the finish. He kind of played a defensive game the whole fight. Me going out there and getting to finish this fight. It's important to me. I wanna make sure they understand I'm there to fight and I'll fight anyone.”

Both men have a strong grappling background heading into UFC Vegas 50 and there's a strong chance the fight will end up there. Damon Jackson believes he has both the offensive and defensive grappling to deal with Kamuela Kirk.

“He's got a pretty solid jiu-jitsu background, and everybody knows my style. I would easily say that the fights gonna go to the ground at some point, I think that his defense of jiu-jitsu is going to be great. I think that my defensive wrestling and defensive jiu-jitsu is gonna be great. I think that the fight could end up being a stand-up battle until someone gets hurt, and then the takedowns will start coming in. It's going to be a good fight for sure. You see two grapplers matched up, and you think it's gonna be just a grappling fight. That's not the case a lot of times and I think that that's kind of how it's gonna be this fight. I think that I have the better wrestling pedigree to either take him down or keep it standing. It'll kind of be up to me where the fight goes.”

There is a big difference between wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. MMA is where the different grappling bases are merged together and everyone figures out their own style. Damon Jackson will test himself against a black belt in Kamuela Kirk at UFC Vegas 50.

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“I've been doing jiu-jitsu since 2005. It doesn't bother me one bit to go against someone that calls himself a black belt. It says whatever they want about like their jujitsu skill level, I've been grappling with some of the best people in the world. I've been testing myself with some of the best wrestlers in the world and to go out there and fight someone that's a great wrestler, you got to use jitsu against them. You find someone with a jiu-jitsu background, you gotta use your wrestling against them. I have both those things. I'll be able to turn it on and off, and I think that it's going to be a good fight for sure. And I think that it is going to have a lot of stand-up.”

Damon Jackson will be ready to fight Kamuela Kirk on Saturday but he will also be fighting for his new UFC contract. The bout is expected to be very entertaining no matter where it goes.

“That forward pressure breaking this dude, like Billy Q [did.] Yeah, Billy Q went after him and got on him and I'm gonna do the same thing. If it stays on the feet, I'm down to stay on the feet. I'm just there to get a new contract, so I gotta win the fight and go forward and take him out. That's my goal.”