Bellator isn’t letting Quinton “Rampage” Jackson go without a fight.
A statement was released to Bleacher Report on Monday detailing a lawsuit that has been filed against the MMA legend for signing with the UFC and breaching his exclusive six-fight contract with Bellator:
Today, Bellator MMA was compelled to go to court to stop Quinton “Rampage” Jackson from fighting in an April 25th bout promoted by Bellator’s competitor, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Jackson, who has completed only three fights of his exclusive six-fight contract with Bellator, is barred by contract from fighting for any promoter other than Bellator. Our lawsuit for an injunction and related relief – filed in the Chancery Division of the Superior Court in Burlington County, New Jersey – will compel Jackson to honor his contractual agreement. We look forward to having one of our MMA stars fighting for Bellator again.
A growing rift between Rampage and UFC management resulted in the former light heavyweight champ leaving and signing with Bellator in 2013.
Along with competing in MMA, Rampage’s new contract also gave him the opportunity to moonlight as a professional wrestler in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). The decision seemed like a no-brainer for Rampage to join forces with the Viacom-owned promotion.
But the honeymoon was short-lived.
After defeating Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in May 2014, Rampage complained that Bellator wasn’t holding up its end of the contract. According to MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani, Bellator refused to provide the pay-per-view numbers for the Lawal fight, which they were contractually obligated to do.
After spending 45 days attempting to fix the issue, Rampage terminated his contract and re-signed with the UFC. Despite walking out on his Bellator contract, Rampage was convinced no legal ramifications would come from his actions. He told Fox Sports in an interview in January that he could counter-sue Bellator for $10-20 million.
Bellator President Scott Coker sent fair warning out in December that the promotion would fight to protect its contractual rights.
Rampage was slated to fight Fabio Maldonado on April 25 at UFC 186, but legal action by Bellator now puts that fight in jeopardy. There are definitely some similarities between this situation and the one that unfolded between the UFC and Randy Couture several years ago.
While still under contract with the UFC, Couture attempted to sign a contract with a different promotion to set the wheels in motion for a superfight with Fedor Emelianenko. However, the UFC filed a lawsuit against Couture for breaching his initial contract, thus sending Couture back to the UFC and ending any hopes of Couture vs. Emelianenko ever happening.
Rampage may not want to unpack his bags just yet.
Jordy McElroy is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon and FanRag Sports.
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