(Whenever Rampage grabs his nuts in public, there will always be at least one man in the background, staring at his ass with an intense mixture of sadness and longing.)
Not that he ever had real evidence of the UFC trying to sabotage him as he’s implied many times — in between saying that the organization and Dana White saved his life, of course — but it is now official that the UFC does just about all it can to promote and give Quinton “Rampage” Jackson opportunities.
Jackson has publicly maintained that he wants to fight just one more time for the UFC because he hasn’t received enough respect from them or gotten match-ups that he likes. Even as he apparently readies to leave the organization he was light heavyweight champion of, it turns out that the UFC offered Jackson a role as team coach on TUF 17, opposite of Chael Sonnen, before they offered current champ Jon Jones the job, which he accepted. Jackson, of course, turned down the chance to coach TUF for a second time and to fight Sonnen at the end of the season.
“Forget TUF,” Jackson told MMAFighting.com yesterday. “I’m not interested in that.”
What, exactly, is Jackson interested in these days? Evidently not money, big fights or increased exposure? Oh yeah, Jackson has continually said that he wants “exciting” fighters.
“I don’t want to fight Chael. He’s the kind of fighter that I don’t want to fight. He’s a boring fighter that just wants to hump people.”
Leaving aside the irony of Quinton criticizing somebody for humping people, you’d imagine that he’d be interested in building a rivalry with one of the UFC’s largest PPV draws and make money for himself in the process. If he turned down potentially millions of dollars to fight Chael Sonnen, it kind of makes Quinton’s recent claims on InsideMMA that “if I see Chael Sonnen, if he says anything to my face, I don’t know if I’m gonna smack him or not,” ring hollow.
I’m not sure the last time we saw Sonnen in a boring fight but Jackson apparently thinks that his own recent opponents were “boring” fighters just looking to score takedowns en route to decision wins. Guys like Ryan Bader — who has won 64% of all of his fights by either submission or KO — and Jon Jones (82% including his finish of Jackson). Jackson, in comparison, has a 66% figure in that category.
But, oh yeah, Quinton totally offered to fight Glover Teixeira and Forrest Griffin in a single night. “I would have done it two for one,” he said. “I would have fought Glover first, and I would have fought Forrest for free, basically,” he told MMA Fighting.
That’s great, because Glover is injured and Forrest already has a fight. Also, there isn’t an athletic commission that would ever sanction that. Still, we’re supposed to give Jackson credit for that supposed offer.
Quinton Jackson is a hall of fame-worthy fighter who has entertained millions of fans over the years, in addition to being very accessible to them. If he wants to retire, he’s more than earned the right. But if he wants to hang around, complaining about opportunity after opportunity to make money and fight the best in the world, he can’t really expect anyone’s sympathy.