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« | Home | »

Rampage’s exquisite timing in making his ‘final stand’ against UFC

By Zach Arnold | March 9, 2012

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Rampage Jackson decided that today, of all days, he would make a final stand on Twitter about the UFC. He wants out of his contract. So, he naturally decided the best day to wage his PR campaign on Twitter would be during Bellator airing on MTV2, Smackdown airing on SyFy, and UFC having live Ultimate Fighter qualifying fights on FX.

Rampage started his day by showing positive energy. That seems to be his trademark before he flips the switch 180 degrees.

An hour later…

So, Rampage says UFC has allegedly told him that he’s lost his appeal with the fans. For him, respect = money. Of course, he’s made quite a bit of coin since fighting in the UFC.

No one can figure out who ‘they’ is exactly. The judges? Or your bosses at UFC who bailed your ass out after you went all Monster Truck in So. Cal?

For someone who constantly portrays himself as a victim, he’s made a lot of money in the UFC — way more than he did in PRIDE. Plus, this is a guy who did The Ultimate Fighter with Rashad Evans and, when push came to shove, decided to not fight on home turf in Memphis so that he could do the A-Team movie instead.

Someone should tell Rampage that Bellator’s not on PPV, DREAM’s in hibernation (now a booking agency), and One FC’s the only one running shows in Asia.

It’s time for UFC to call his bluff. Release him. He doesn’t have any great career options open to make the same kind of money that he is right now in the UFC.

So… is there a reason why UFC won’t call his bluff? Hmm…

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 26 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

26 Responses to “Rampage’s exquisite timing in making his ‘final stand’ against UFC”

  1. EJ says:

    You had me up until the end, the fact is Rampage has zero credibility with anyone who knowns his history. The reason they won’t release him yet is that they can still make money and get over fighters by having them beat Rampage who still has a name and fans. I fully expect his next fight to be against Shogun which he will lose badly then he’ll get cut and he can go and see if anyone else will be willing to pay him big bucks to dissapoint.

  2. 45 Huddle says:

    What a mental midget Rampage is. Even his fans are not supporting him on this one.

    The guy has had the world handed to him, despite his shady behavior…. and all he does is complain about how he was treated poorly?

    Just goes to show you some people just have that natural self destruct button inside them no matter how good their lives get.

    He will be filing for bankruptcy within 10 years. That is easy to see coming….

  3. BuddyRowe says:

    Rampage is a dummy. He says “they took” his love of fighting after the Forrest fight. Besides how ridiculous that is, it definitely shows. He hasn’t had the fire in him since then.

    He has definitely lost his appeal. It was nice to see him finally break out a slam in his last fight (part of the reason I think he came in heavy). But other than that, he hasn’t been knocking people out or looking impressive at all. Might as well cut him, if not I wouldn’t mind watching him take a beating.

  4. edub says:

    You know what’s really sad about this? Its that whenever somebody actually comes out and speaks up against the UFC they are either past their prime, not a draw anymore, or completely psychotic (all three in Rampage’s case).

    Rampage has nothing to complain about. The UFC could have easily released him after his “rampage”, but the didn’t. He would have had few places to go, and wouldn’t have gotten paid anywhere close to what he did with the UFC.

    Fail Rampage, fail.

  5. The Gaijin says:

    There is quite literally no one that I can think of that curries less sympathy for their complaints about “poor treatment” from Zuffa than Quinton Jackson. Not even close – they haven’t treated anyone better or stuck by anyone who did and said so much damaging things outside the cage. I bet the reason for the renewed whining is that he was docked 20% of his purse for coming in overweight (and the ppv cut wasn’t as big as his last couple fights either).

    Where the hell is he going to go, who the hell is he going to fight now and how on earth does he think he will get paid more? Maaaybe he can get a one fight payday with Fedor, but that means M-1 will need to find a MARK to seriously overpay TWO guys. If SF was still independent and still had Diaz, HWGP, etc. and King Mo was healthy/not suspended that might be a somewhat decent opportunity – so he would never be released – but now…they should just release him.

    Dude is just becoming a liability and an expensive non-title picture, non-draw. And will come back with his tail between his legs with his cap in hand.

  6. david m says:

    I’m a big Rampage fan, and I can understand how/why he thinks he is underpaid compared to Floyd or Pacman or the Klitschkos, but what other boxers are getting paid as much as Rampage is? I’m not asking rhetorically, but asking seriously. Does anyone know?

    As far as talking about going to another promotion, that is silly. Is he going to fight for 25k in Bellator? Dana has effectively killed all competition, so it is the UFC or nothing for people who want to be able to train full time and have a retirement fund.

    • edub says:

      My guess would be Canelo Alvarez, Miguel cotto, Margarito, Berto, Ortiz, Gamboa, Rios, JuanMa Lopez, JMM, Nonito Donaire, JCC jr., Ward (maybe), Bute, Froch, Hopkins, Dawson, Danny Green, RJJ (yes still, sad), Tarver, Wlodarczyk (maybe), Lebedev, besides the three you mentioned.

      • edub says:

        Also a few more guys could definitely be possibilities…

        • Fluyid says:

          I think so too. I bet that there are still 10+ more than the ones you listed and the 4 (yes, 4) that David M listed.

        • The Gaijin says:

          Amir Khan, David Haye and Tim Bradley for sure.

          If I was to hazard a guess – Alexander, Sergio Martinez, Abraham, Pavlik (when he fights/has his ish together), Paul Williams? Adamek? Darch? There’s probably a bunch of Euro guys that have a big following that make more as well…but tough to say for sure – like say Kessler, Sturm, Helenius, Ricky Burns.

  7. kobashi says:

    Quinton Jackson will have a fight in IGF if he leaves UFC. Yeah I just called it! 🙂

    • Steve4192 says:

      Wouldn’t surprise me in the least. Inoki loves booking over-the-hill combat athletes for his pro wrasslin’ shows.

  8. edub says:

    Just thought about something; Rampage jackson is admittedly on dosages of Testosterone for TRT right now. Adding that to your system is noted to have impacts on emotions (this is definitely true, I have used PED’s before and I was literally angry all the time…).

    What’s to say him finally going crazy was just brought on by his recent usage of Testosterone?

  9. Fluyid says:

    It is always interesting to see how some people twist things to where they’ve convinced themselves that they’re victims. Just crazy.

    The UFC went above and beyond with this guy.

  10. Megatherium says:

    So it’s contract renegotiation time for Quinton I gather?

  11. bluerosekiller says:

    Where the hell does he think he’s going to go & earn as much ( or, in his dreams, MORE… ) as he does in the UFC?
    I mean, seriously, where in the blazes does he get his whacky ideas?

    I mean, I’m not one who pays a whole lot of attention to the financial details of the sport, but I sure as hell know for sure that Zuffa pays the biggest purses. Maybe they should spread the wealth a bit more equally with their fighters, but, that’s an argument for another day…
    The pertinent point right now is that Jackson appears about ready to shoot himself in the foot career-wise. Hell, forget that, he’s seems on course to shooting his career in the FACE!

    Where’s he going to fight if/when he bolts the UFC?
    Obviously, Strikeforce isn’t an option & their purses aren’t exactly stellar even if it were.
    Bellator can’t approach Zuffa-level purses.
    Japan?
    Last I knew, no one there was paying big $$$.

    Hollywood?
    Big screen stardom doesn’t appear to be in his future.
    Oh, I’m sure that he could make a decent living doing character rolls & such, but, Duane Johnson-type super stardom & salaries are well out of his reach IMO.

  12. Dave says:

    The only thing I can really sympathize with him on is when he beat Chuck for the title the UFC was still marketing Chuck pretty hard.

    From monster truck rally on, no dice.

  13. kutti says:

    rampage is just full…he´s got no more fire inside to perform good fights….and now talks the talk. its just absurd..let´em go and make some movies or sell rampage-shirts…

  14. RST says:

    Lets all pray for the Japanese on this day!

    I’m a Catholic!

  15. RST says:

    I have no sympathy for either of them.

    Those nitwits dana and joel have enabled this dude way to long, and jackson should have been put out to pasture years ago.

    They deserve each other.

  16. Jonathan says:

    You know that the world is bonkers when Rampage is screaming for someone to THINK!

  17. fd2 says:

    http://www.usatoday.com/sports/mma/post/2012-03-12/rampage-jackson-seeks-exit-from-ufc/646279/


    “”I think what happened was, I did an interview with this one guy and he recorded it. I thought he was going to put it up just like you’re doing.

    But no, he took some of it and typed it, and the guy who typed it was a British guy. He didn’t understand my English. He didn’t understand my accent. He just typed some stuff that he thought I said, which is wrong.

    “I think they tried to say that I had like a UFC doctor give it to me or something like that, which is wrong. I had my personal doctor. He gets paid by the UFC. He’s my personal doctor but I don’t have to pay him; he just sends the bill to UFC, basically is what I said.

    “So that’s why I said the UFC knew I was hurt. I don’t know if the UFC knew what I was doing. But the UFC paid (for) me to see him.

    He sent me to another doctor. The doctor that he sent me to, I pay him. The UFC don’t pay the doctor who did the TRT; I pay that TRT. But the doctor who takes care of me, the UFC pays him”

  18. RST says:

    Dana is overloaded!

    But there is nobody else to help!

    joel silva?

    Thats even worse!

    What Dana needs to do, and that he can finally afford to do, is set up the next 6 months in advance, and disappear to the Bahamas!

    Dana worked hard!

    He deserves, and NEEDS a break!

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