Quinton Jackson has been in the news quite a bit lately, but for all the wrong reasons.
For the last few weeks he has faced scrutiny on several occasions, and the man known simply as Rampage confirmed in a recent interview with HDNet’s Inside MMA host Bas Rutten, that his time in the UFC is running out.
The 33-year-old’s troubles began when he injured his knee while preparing to fight Ryan Bader at UFC 144 in Japan; he missed weight (for the first time in his career) and put forth a poor effort against Bader, getting outwrestled and losing a one-sided decision.
Following the fight, the former UFC light-heavyweight champion tweeted that his next bout in the UFC would be his last with the promotion and has publically stated his frustration with the UFC.
Poor matchmaking decisions
In the interview with Rutten — a former UFC champion himself — Jackson went on to say that he believes the UFC is intentionally pairing him with wrestlers that will try to stall and make him look bad, so he will lose his fights and lose his fan base.
“I think (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva needs to be slapped in the face,” Jackson said. “I’m sorry, but if you’ve got a fighter like me that likes to go out there and fight fights, why do you going to keep giving me wrestlers who take me down and hump me?”
“I’m sorry, but I’m really tired of the UFC.”
In a way, he has a solid point. Although the UFC matches him up with top-ranked guys — not a bad marketing strategy by any means — the stylistic matchups could be more intriguing. And fans agree.
Rampage has been matched up with wrestlers like Bader, Matt Hamill and Rashad Evans in recent outings and it resulted in three forgettable fights. He was also matched up against Lyoto Machida, who didn’t engage until the third round, and Jon Jones who, well, he’s Jon Jones; that’s a frustrating matchup for anyone.
The last time Jackson was put against someone with a similar style, it was in the main event at UFC 96 in March of 2009 against Keith Jardine. It was a back-and-forth standup battle that delighted the crowd and won the fight of the night award.
If you take for example what the UFC does with other premiere strikers, they could do a better job of promoting Jackson.
The UFC realizes that a fighter like heavyweight Pat Barry isn’t going to be in title contention anytime soon, but he can put on fan-friendly performances. They often match him up with fighters who will engage him in a striking-heavy affair (think about his exciting fights with Antoni Hardonk, Mirko (Crop Cop) Filipovic, Joey Beltran and Cheick Kongo). If they matched Barry against strong wrestlers like Mike Russow and others like him, perhaps Barry would feel underutilized like Jackson does.
If they paired Rampage with fighters like Mauricio (Shogun) Rua, Thiago Silva, Stephan Bonnar or James Te-Huna — 205-pounders that never shy away from a brawl — maybe that would cool off all the talk from Rampage’s end.
Obviously Rampage is ranked much higher in his division than Barry is, but it’s something to think about.
And hey, if Rampage keeps missing weight, maybe he could fight Barry at heavyweight!
TRT controversy
Jackson also came under fire lately because of his admission that he used testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) in an attempt to heal quicker from his knee injury. The reason TRT is a controversial subject is because fighters in the past have abused it.
Jackson, though, was prescribed it by his personal physician and believes he did nothing wrong. There was no requirement for him to admit his TRT use, but he made it public to show he wasn’t trying to hide anything.
“If I have a hair condition, I’m going to use a hair transplant if I want to. If I lose one of my teeth, I’m going to put new teeth inside my mouth,” Jackson said. “If I’m an athlete and my doctor says, ‘your testosterone is low and you’re going to be at a disadvantage with other fighters,’ then I’m going to bring my levels of testosterone back up … it’s a no brainer.”
Rampage’s future
Rampage is one of the most popular fighters in UFC history and his appeal reaches beyond the Octagon. He starred in the Hollywood blockbuster The A-Team in 2010 and says he will do more movies when he’s done fighting.
He has many career aspirations — including designing video games and producing music — but unfortunately for his fans continuing to fight for the UFC isn’t on his agenda.
“I don’t want to fight for the UFC no more,” Rampage said. “I think the fans don’t understand. They think that just because I make a lot of money, I should be happy — because I’ve got a nice house. I’ve always stated that I fight for money because it’s my career, but I think a lot of fans are sheep, and they don’t understand.
“I’ll keep it real. For the UFC, I make pretty good money. But nothing compared to the money I’m supposed to be making. I feel that the UFC is making more money than boxing pay-per-views, and if I’m the main event or co-main event, I should be making four times as much money as I’m making.”
Despite his comments about not being compensated as much as he should, he insisted that money isn’t the only reason he fights. He said that he would fight for $5 in another promotion just to prove that.
He won’t have to settle for that little, though, because when he’s no longer with the UFC, other organizations will surely be willing to pay a pretty penny for his services.
I was thinking…
— Rampage should do an action movie with Adam Sandler and during a fight scene “accidently” hit him as a form of payback for the movie Jack & Jill. Come on Sand Man, you can do better.
— The UFC should have a 64-man tournament just so MMA fans can fill out a bracket, college basketball style.
— Bob Sapp shouldn’t be allowed to fight anymore. Sure, when he fights it’s a spectacle, but this is getting embarrassing.
— Mark Hominick, movie star has a nice ring to it.
— About the UFC Octagon girls, but that’s beside the point.