Rampage Jackson’s time in the UFC is drawing to a close. He’ll fight one more time in the UFC, completing his contract and getting his wish of leaving the promotion. I still can’t understand what makes Jackson think he’ll be better off without the UFC, and I don’t think I ever will.
Dana White agrees with me. In talking to MMAFighting.com, White said he believed Jackson could have been so much more and that he’s never again going to make the kind of money he does while in the UFC:
“I think he could have been so much better if he applied himself,” White said Tuesday. “He had all the tools. Incredible chin, knockout power in both hands, incredible charisma and personality.
“His potential could have been so much more. This is a crazy business, you always have these guys who think they’re getting screwed and this and that and everything else that’s happening. ‘Rampage’ wants to fight one more fight on his contract, and his last fight, and he’ll never make that money ever again for the rest of his life. A lot of those guys in the UFC don’t realize that until its too late.”
We’ve gone through this time and again here at Caged In. Jackson is one of the most entertaining fighters in the history of the sport, and seeing him compete on the world’s biggest stages—especially in Japan, where he turns up the showmanship and drives fans into frenzies—has always been one of the highlights of my years covering the sport.
But White has a point. Jackson has never had the kind of desire of a guy like Jon Jones, Rashad Evans or Georges St-Pierre. You could probably count the amount of true, full camps he’s put in on one hand. He’s always been the guy who is content to coast along on talent alone, and that’s unfortunate, because he truly had the power, the skills and the charisma to be one of the absolute greatest of all-time.
He’ll always be one of my favorite fighters. It’s just a shame he couldn’t be more than he was.
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