In the ongoing saga of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. The UFC, many fans have become disgruntled with the former champion for blaming everyone but himself for his recent troubles.
Jackson spoke with Sherdog and finally took some accountability for his now-rough relationship with the UFC and Dana White.
“I know I messed up the relationship by doing the movie over fighting Rashad Evans,” Jackson said. “It was my fault. I’ve got to keep it real. I did that. I messed up. I should have honored my contract and fought Rashad after ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ … Before that Dana and I was really cool. I was really cool with the UFC, Lorenzo [Fertitta] and everybody. We were all cool, but I messed up the relationship by doing the movie and I’m aware of that.” (Sherdog.com)
“Rampage” was supposed to face Evans after their coaching stints on The Ultimate Fighter at an event that took place in Jackson’s hometown of Memphis, Tenn. Instead, Jackson pulled out of the bout midseason, which completely ruined the on-screen tension between the two superstars.
Not only did Jackson take time away from MMA to make and market the movie, he also ballooned up to around 250 pounds.
Cutting all of that weight clearly hindered his performance when Jackson finally met Evans at UFC 114, but Jackson would come back with two straight wins over Lyoto Machida and Matt Hamill.
Being in the greatest shape of his UFC career against Jon Jones couldn’t help him win the title, and “Rampage” was set to face off against Ryan Bader at UFC 144.
This is where the drama really picked up, as Jackson missed weight and looked like a shell of his former self as Bader easily dominated “Rampage.”
Jackson attributed the injury to a knee injury and repeatedly made mention of the fact of fighting hurt in pre and post-fight interviews. Jackson wasn’t looking for pity, but rather appreciation.
I just feel like the UFC knows when I’m injured, but at the same time, when I don’t pull out of a fight and I still fight, I think they should basically more than thank me,” Jackson said. “In my opinion, I feel like Dana kind of disrespected me a little bit by saying the three words that he did say. (Sherdog.com)
“Rampage” did say he understands the UFC’s business model by not putting a fighter above the brand of the UFC, but still said he needed to concern himself with his own “brand.”
I feel them on that because anything that happens to a fighter –and [a fighter] can just be gone, get hurt — and they put all this money into promoting this fighter, then they ain’t got no product no more,” Jackson said. “I understand that. I just want the UFC to understand that I have to promote my own brand.” (Sherdog.com)
Jackson will rematch with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in his final UFC bout after going through double knee surgery. So where will one of the most popular fighters in MMA history take his talents after his UFC contract is up?
According to Jackson, “whoever wants to promote me like I should be promoted.”
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