Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has had one of the greatest careers in MMA history.
He burst on to the Pride scene and took it by storm, starting his career with an impressive 19-3 record. Rampage is best known for his “powerbomb” slam against Ricardo Arona at Pride Critical Countdown 2004.
Rampage defeated Chuck Liddell at UFC 71 for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. He has posted a 6-2 record inside the UFC.
However, to many observers, Jackson hasn’t been “Rampage” since defeating The Iceman.
In the past couple of years, Rampage has been a very marketable person. His personality is very likable and this has led to endorsement and movie deals.
As his showbiz career was taking off, Rampage faced Rashad Evans and put on arguably the worst performance of his career in a decision loss.
Weeks after that, it was announced that he would face Lyoto Machida at UFC 123. Leading up to that fight, Rampage stated that he was going to be the old Rampage. When it came time for the fight, he walked out to the Pride promotion’s old theme song, and you could see the hunger in his eyes. For the first two rounds, Rampage controlled the pace and out-struck Machida, as well as scoring a couple of takedowns. In the end, Rampage received the split-decision win.
At UFC 130, Rampage will meet up-and-coming Matt “The Hammer” Hamill. This fight has a lot riding on it. With a win, Rampage will be one step closer to facing Jon Jones for the light heavyweight championship. If he loses, Hamill would move into that role, and Rampage might never receive another title shot under the UFC banner.
Hamill has the opportunity to not only defeat a legend, but break into the top 10 and be taken seriously as a title contender. With a loss, Rampage would start to take the path of many Pride veterans, but a win will keep him going.
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