Former UFC light heavyweight champ and current Bellator fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is hinting at retirement. The news comes hot on the heels of Bellator’s announcement that Viacom and founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney are parting ways.
Jackson took t…
Former UFC light heavyweight champ and current Bellator fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is hinting at retirement. The news comes hot on the heels of Bellator’s announcement that Viacom and founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney are parting ways.
Jackson took to Instagram to reflect on his time with the long-defunct Pride FC and possibly send a warning shot off Viacom’s bow:
The1st time Chuck and I fought was in Japan. Pride reps asked me 2 give him a good beating even tho I had 2 fights that night. I lost my 2nd fight that night cause I did what they asked,and they stood up the fight with Wand to soon,in my opinion.. MMA hasn’t had my back they way I had it’s back. Time for me to think about retirement. Or fighting 4 myself..
Jackson is referencing his bouts at Pride Final Conflict 2003. The card featured the semifinals and finals to the 2003 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix, which saw Jackson face fellow MMA legend Chuck Liddell and score a win via corner stoppage. Not long after, he took on Wanderlei Silva in the finals.
As Jackson referenced, the bout saw Jackson take Silva down, only to be stood back up due to inactivity. The stand-up has long been referenced as an example of Pride attempting to steer the outcome of fights and has been repeatedly pointed to by Jackson as evidence of this. After the stand-up, Silva would get Jackson in a muay thai clinch and knock him out with knees.
While Jackson is still sore about events from 11 years ago, as stated, this turn is likely rooted in Rebney’s removal from Bellator. Jackson has praised Rebney throughout his time with Bellator, a surprising development which came after a career spent feuding with promotional brass in the UFC and Pride.
Whether Jackson is seriously mulling retirement or this is simply a knee-jerk reaction is unknown at this time. However, while many are anticipating Rebney’s departure to be well-received by most Bellator fighters, it seems like the promotion’s biggest star might not be on board.
Stick with Bleacher Report for more details as they become available.
Being in the Quinton “Rampage” Jackson business has never been easy.
So far, Bellator MMA appears to be full-fistedly embracing Jackson as its biggest star, what with Bjorn Rebney going on MMA Junkie Radio on Monday to trumpet the former UF…
Being in the Quinton “Rampage” Jackson business has never been easy.
So far, Bellator MMA appears to be full-fistedly embracing Jackson as its biggest star, what with Bjorn Rebney going on MMA Junkie Radio on Monday to trumpet the former UFC champion’s return to greatness.
“‘Rampage’ is back,” the Bellator CEO proclaimed, despite the fact Jackson failed to look the part against Muhammed Lawal on Saturday. “The knees are back. He didn’t just get off the ground (after being taken down). He got off the ground with King Mo Lawal on top of him. Questions answered.”
Rebney is right about that last part, at least. Some of our questions have indeed been answered. Perhaps most pertinent among them was how Bellator was going to paint having Jackson as its standard-bearer. Now we know: with a broad brush and a bucketful of white wash.
What we don’t yet know—and frankly, this question feels a lot more important and a lot more difficult to answer—is what the fight company plans to do next with its brightest pay-per-view star.
If Bellator aims to maintain its momentum, as the MMA media continue to puzzle over its first PPV effort, much of the task will likely fall on Jackson. How the company next positions him will no doubt send a message about where this relationship is headed.
For his part, Rebney seems committed to pretending there was no controversy in Jackson’s win over Lawal, despite the fact nearly everyone besides the hometown judges scored the fight the opposite way.
He even appears cool with Jackson’s declarations that he doesn’t want the Bellator title and that he has no interest in fighting champion Emanuel Newton, even though the whole point of the Lawal bout was to determine Newton’s next challenger.
“The reason ‘Rampage’ and I have had such a good relationship is we’ve approached things as guys working together, not me mandating what’s going to happen,” Rebney said. “I’m going to talk to him about [fighting Newton], but I’m not going to disrespect a guy who’s been nothing but standup with us. He’s rocked and rolled as a promoter for us, so I’m not going to say we’re making this fight and plant this flag in the sand.”
With no Newton fight in the offing, there appear to be very few compelling matchups for Jackson in Bellator. Moments after his win over Lawal was announced, Jackson called incongruously for a rematch, effectively tipping his hand as a guy who is seeking to land lucrative fights against opponents he doesn’t believe can physically harm him.
But to book that fight would be to undermine Rebney’s position that there was nothing wrong with the first one. It also bears mentioning that after all their pre-fight screaming, Jackson and Lawal didn’t necessarily turn in a grudge match that was overflowing with action.
Bellator can’t very well go on booking Rampage against low-profile opponents like Joey Beltran and Christian M’Pumbu, and that leaves perhaps only one real option: Tito Ortiz.
Signing up for a do-over on Jackson vs. Ortiz might be the best thing left on Rebney’s plate, but only if both principals can make it to the cage healthy on fight night. The last time the organization tried to make the match, it fell apart at the last possible moment, along with Ortiz’s neck and Bellator’s initial PPV dreams.
Going all-in on a redux seems like a risky proposition, though maybe one the promotion has no choice but to make.
What to do with Jackson is a quandary that Bellator will have to solve in short order or else run the risk of learning the lesson a few other MMA promoters already know all too well: Being in a “relationship” with Jackson rarely ends well.
Just ask the World Fighting Alliance, which hung hopes for its doomed 2006 “King of the Streets” pay-per-view around his modest celebrity, did less than 50,000 buys and folded six months later. Or ask Pride, after the fighter accused executives of conspiring against him at every turn.
For that matter, ask the UFC. Jackson fought 12 times for the world’s largest MMA promotion between 2007 and 2013. He became the light heavyweight champion, won five performance-based bonuses and participated in high-profile, big-money feuds against Rashad Evans and Jon Jones.
Yet when it was over, neither party came away issuing glowing reviews.
“I doubt (they’ll) miss me at all,” Jackson told MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani last June. “I think I was a thorn in UFC’s side for awhile. I did everything to fix the relationship … I wasn’t happy with UFC. I was trying to hustle and do movies. UFC took the love of MMA out me.”
How long will Jackson and Bellator continue to feel the love? The answer to that question depends entirely on what happens next.
MMAMayhemRadio‘s Ashley Luther caught up with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson following his Bellator 120 decision win against King Mo, and first off, I just want to congratulate Rampage for making it through a two-minute segment with a female reporter without getting his hump on. (Although he did give us a new quote to add to his interview highlight reel: “I don’t beat ladies…I just beat it up.” Quinton, you classy son of a bitch.)
With Rampage’s next fight in Bellator uncertain, Luther asked him who he’d like to fight next. Jackson’s answer time-warped us back to the MMA glory days of 2009-2010:
“Actually, to be honest, I want to fight somebody else that’s on my pissed-off list. I got two more guys. I got Titties, and I got James Toney. I want to fight one of those guys, honestly…I just want to beat up everybody who’s been pissing me off.”
MMAMayhemRadio‘s Ashley Luther caught up with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson following his Bellator 120 decision win against King Mo, and first off, I just want to congratulate Rampage for making it through a two-minute segment with a female reporter without getting his hump on. (Although he did give us a new quote to add to his interview highlight reel: “I don’t beat ladies…I just beat it up.” Quinton, you classy son of a bitch.)
With Rampage’s next fight in Bellator uncertain, Luther asked him who he’d like to fight next. Jackson’s answer time-warped us back to the MMA glory days of 2009-2010:
“Actually, to be honest, I want to fight somebody else that’s on my pissed-off list. I got two more guys. I got Titties, and I got James Toney. I want to fight one of those guys, honestly…I just want to beat up everybody who’s been pissing me off.”
“Titties” of course is Darrill Schoonover, the soft-spoken heavyweight who became a target of Rampage’s on TUF 10 simply because his body had developed earlier than the other boys. James Toney is the gibberish-speaking boxing champ who Randy Couture choked out at UFC 118, and who later called Rampage a “slave to the white man” who “got the Klu Klux Klan behind him.” I gotta be honest — I would happily pay money to see James Toney get humiliated in another MMA fight. And if any promotion is crazy/desperate enough to put it together on pay-per-view, it’s Bellator, right?
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson accomplished his goal of winning the light heavyweight tournament at Bellator 120, but his road to the title isn’t necessarily a clear-cut path.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion turned Bellator contender defeated Muha…
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson accomplished his goal of winning the light heavyweight tournament at Bellator 120, but his road to the title isn’t necessarily a clear-cut path.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion turned Bellator contender defeated Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal via split decision last Saturday night in the main event of Bellator 120 in Southaven, Mississippi. The card was the organization’s first step into the pay-per-view realm, and the grudge match between Jackson and Lawal was a highly anticipated affair.
Jackson emerged victorious from the tilt and earned the opportunity to face current title-holder Emanuel Newton later in the year for the 205-pound strap. While the former Pride veteran has been vocal about a world title being the motive behind his move to Bellator, the situation surrounding a potential fight with Newton will have a few hurdles to overcome before it materializes.
The biggest of those is the fact both Jackson and Newton share the same coach in Antonio McKee. The two fighters both work under the former MFC lightweight champion, and this has created situations in the past where they trained together and shared many of the same training partners. While that scenario wouldn’t happen in the lead-up to a fight between Jackson and Newton, it would put McKee and the rest of his athletes in a position where a tough decision would need to be made.
In light of that particular issue, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney is taking an open-minded approach to the light heavyweight title fight. He’s well aware of the circumstances that exist, and during an appearance on MMAJunkie Radio on Monday, Rebney expressed his respect for those involved and said he was looking to them for the decision.
The reason ‘Rampage’ and I have had such a good relationship is we’ve approached things as guys working together, not me mandating what’s going to happen. That’s the same way we’re approaching this. You’ve got a guy with a split allegiance (in McKee), but ‘Rampage’ has earned a world title shot. … I’m going to talk to him about it, but I’m not going to disrespect a guy who’s been nothing but standup with us. He’s rocked and rolled as a promoter for us, so I’m not going to say we’re making this fight and plant this flag in the sand.
Since making his Bellator debut in November 2013, Jackson has been on a tear. The Tennessee native earned first-round knockouts in his first two showings under his new promotional banner as he dispatched gritty veteran Joey Beltran and Christian M’Pumbu, respectively.
Those victories landed him in the finals for the light heavyweight tournament where he defeated Lawal by a razor-thin split-decision. As Rebney stated in his interview with MMAJunkie, Jackson has earned the title shot, and it will be interesting to see how this situation progresses.
As for Newton, the Orange County MMA staple has been on an equally impressive run through the Bellator ranks. Since joining the organization back in 2012, “The Hardcore Kid” has won six of his seven showings, with his only setback coming to Attila Vegh at Bellator 72. Following the loss, Newton stormed his way back up the ladder, where he collected five consecutive victories—two of which came over Lawal—on his way to defeating Vegh in their rematch to become the light heavyweight champion.
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
While the Bellator 120 headlining fight between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and “King” Mo Lawal was a complete dud, the build up to and fallout of the fight have been beyond entertaining. According to MMAFighting.com’s Luke Thomas, though, the fight actu…
While the Bellator 120 headlining fight between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and “King” Mo Lawal was a complete dud, the build up to and fallout of the fight have been beyond entertaining. According to MMAFighting.com’s Luke Thomas, though, the fight actually came dangerously close to not happening.
Talking to the Mississippi Athletic Commission’s Jon Lewis, he revealed that Jackson’s shove of Lawal at the event’s weigh-ins carried a $10,000 fine—something that Jackson did not take kindly to.
“He got very irate and at this point was f-bombing me pretty bad,” Lewis said. He went on to describe Jackson as an “out of control individual to the nth degree.”
Jackson’s behavior, Lewis said, had the Commission turning over the idea of denying Jackson the opportunity to fight at the event. He decided against the move, however, after a discussion with Bellator.
“Rampage” would go on to apologize off-camera following the fight. He is still on the hook for the fine, however.
For those who missed it, Jackson and Lawal had a heated rivalry entering their bout. They exchanged words early and often, culminating with Jackson giving Lawal a hearty shove at the event’s weigh-ins.
In spite of the vitriolic build-up to the fight, the bout was generally lethargic. Lawal attempted to wrestle Jackson, who defended competently. In the end, Jackson would get the better end of a relatively controversial unanimous decision.
Jackson hasn’t been the only one getting press since the fight, however. Lawal ripped Bellator President Bjorn Rebney for “d–k-riding” Jackson and giving him preferential treatment. Following the bout, both fighters expressed interest in a rematch, so it is very possible we may see the two of them face off again in the near future.
Stick with Bleacher Report for more details as they become available.
“Bjorn, you know what’s up, man — your dick-ridin’ ass. You know who won the fuckin’ fight, you smilin’ and shit. You know I won that fight. Nah, nah. Rampage, nothin’ against you, but I beat you…I won that fight. And [unintelligible] dick-ridin’ ass, ay…”
Mo was convinced that Bellator was favoring Jackson in this matchup, and was clearly cranky before the fight even started. When all three judges returned scores of 29-28 for Rampage — horseshit, by the way — Mo grabbed the mic and let ‘er rip. Unprofessional? Sure. The perfect end to an insane, absurd, entertaining night? Absolutely.
“Bjorn, you know what’s up, man — your dick-ridin’ ass. You know who won the fuckin’ fight, you smilin’ and shit. You know I won that fight. Nah, nah. Rampage, nothin’ against you, but I beat you…I won that fight. And [unintelligible] dick-ridin’ ass, ay…”
Mo was convinced that Bellator was favoring Jackson in this matchup, and was clearly cranky before the fight even started. When all three judges returned scores of 29-28 for Rampage — horseshit, by the way — Mo grabbed the mic and let ‘er rip. Unprofessional? Sure. The perfect end to an insane, absurd, entertaining night? Absolutely.
Being in the Quinton “Rampage” Jackson business has never been easy.
