Rampage: ‘I will gladly meet [Rashad Evans] at any gym & fight him just to shut his mouth up’
Quinton Jackson has been involved in countless battles throughout his life but perhaps none as important as his ongoing feud with UFC President Dana White and Rashad Evans. On the heels of comments from both White and Evans, who were in turn responding to Jackson’s recent decision to leave Mixed Martial Arts for acting, “Rampage” once again took to his blog to fire back some criticism of his own.
In his most recent posting, Jackson again referred to a feeling of gross disrespect on the part of White and made it clear that, in reference to Evans’ statement about fighting for free, he would “gladly meet him at any gym and fight him just to shut his mouth up.” The following is the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion’s word-for-word take:
Make no mistake the UFC treated me a lot better than Pride. If you get hurt in training in a UFC fight then will send you to the best doctors. If you get hurt in a Pride fight most of the time they will tell me “oh you better take care of that!” The UFC will always let you know in a timely matter who you will be fighting & give you enough time to train but with Pride if I knew 4 weeks ahead I would be happy cause most times they just give you a 2 weeks notice. Pride will rip you off on your merchandising but the UFC would find someway to hook you up on merchandising deals. Pride will make fights easier for certain fighters inside the ring (like standing up fights early). With the UFC whatever happens, happens. The only thing I see the UFC needs to fix in this area is to get better judges. Ones who know about MMA & not from the boxing world.
The reason why I’m talking about all this is that I feel like this whole situation could have been avoided if UFC would have respected me more & rescheduled the fight about a month or more in my hometown, which I know fights can be rescheduled because of the Matt Hughes & Matt Serra was postponed due to injuries. Instead, Dana went on the internet and started talking bad about my decision. All we had to do was come to a certain type of agreement or understanding, which later came after a lot of trash talk from Dana. My manager flew to Vegas and talked to them and tried to work things out like a MAN. And still I keep quiet and I didn’t talk trash back on the internet. The only reason why I’m even talking now is because I feel like I owe my fans an explanation because I am a MAN…a real MAN. Yeah, I made good money with the UFC – more than Pride – but I made both shows more money than they made me. I didn’t care too much about Pride treating me like crap cause I was an American in a Japanese company. Now in my own country, I feel like I’m being disrespected. Everything is not about how much money you make. You could be the richest man in the world but if nobody respects you then it don’t mean shit. You can’t buy respect. It should be earned. And that’s what I’m all about.
Now Rashad wanna put his two cents in. Rashad remains to be a boy under me. He wins a few fights, and some of them I thought the judges fell asleep during the fight and woke up and saw him playing with his nipples and guessed he won. He knocked Chuck Liddell out when Chuck wasn’t even the same man anymore. And now he thinks he’s on my level. Yeah he talks about how he beat Forrest and I lost. But when I fought Forrest that was the worst Rampage I had ever seen. And I still know in my heart I won that fight. So now he’s Mr. All Cocky and says I got a big mouth and talk a lot of smack. If my memory serves me correctly, he’s the one that got into my face after the Jardine fight and started talking trash when he was the one that was originally supposed to fight me that night, but he told Dana on the phone he didn’t want to fight. He wanted to keep his belt longer. Now, I’m not saying whether or not I would have beaten Machida, but I wouldn’t have went out like a bitch like the way he did. So I’m the one that was looking forward to the Rashad fight the most. I have always been a fighter my whole life. As a kid my family treated me like shit which made me the person who I am today. This is why when I meet people I treat people the way I want to be treated (unless they approach me wrong or piss me off). I grew up thinking that I wasn’t even important to my family which made me not even care about myself. That’s why I can get knee-ed in the face fifteen times and come back for more. That’s why I can get my legs seriously hurt in a fight and still try to win. That’s why I can get my ribs broken in a fight &andnot tap out because my whole life I never thought I mattered to anybody or anybody cared about me. But now I have kids that love me and care about me and I’m not used to people caring about me but it feels good! I’m a very loyal person. Wolves are the most loyal animals on the planet. I was very loyal to the UFC, but now I owe all my loyalty to my kids… the ones who really care for me. The majority of my fights on the street I fought for free and they all were with emotion. I am a fighter, I will always be a fighter but my professional fights that were fought with emotion, I ended them all in devastating fashion. I am the wrong fighter that should fight pissed off professionally. I don’t even consider it fair. So Rashad says he will fight me for free. I will gladly meet him at any gym & fight him just to shut his mouth up. And I mean that for real!
Brendhan Conlan is IS A VETERAN WRITER AND EDITOR AT FIVEOUNCESOFPAIN.COM BRINGING NEWS, INSIGHT, AND OPINION TO READERS ON A REGULAR BASIS. MAKE SURE TO CHECK HIM OUT ON TWITTER AT BRENCONLANMMA!
| All posts by Brendhan Conlan
rampage is turning out to be a punk bitch thats unfortunate i use to like watching him fight and now he is a scared little girl screw him and his stupid movie.
All you RAMPAGE HATERS need to go away already. The man makes very valid points.
#1 Dana did trash him about playing Mr. T (((Thats just Dana)))
#2 Rashad does play with his nipples
#3 Rampage got shafted on a rematch with Forrest and a fight against Rashad TWICE
I personally think this is all a stunt to get press.. Rampage Jackson was the #2 most searched item on Yahoo yesterday… Kimbo vs Nelson next week all leading up to Rampage vs Rashad in early 2010
Rampage is the man at marketing a fight
Random thought of the week:
I wanna see Rampage and Din Thomas fight Yves Edwards and Rashad in a tag team fight. Only stipulation is the men from the certain weightclasses have to be in the ring at the same time, and Fighters must talk shit continuously throughout the entire fight.
In this format I also wanna see the Diaz’s vs the Lauzon’s.
I said yesterday in another post that fighters need to resist the urge to purge on their blogs because the things they write aren’t always helpful. This is another example. Even if he’s right about everything–and I’m not saying he is–Rampage stills comes of as childish, challenging Rashad to a fight in a gym rather than stepping into the Octagon, which was part of his agreement for TUF. Do yourself a favor and STFU, dude.
Guaranteed, even if Rashad said “show up here in New Mexico”, the next response would be “no way, not with all your boys there”. It’s just bullshit posturing. Anyone watching TUF can see that Rashad knows how to push Rampage’s buttons. In the first episode, when Rashad was raking him over the coals for “quitting” in the Shogun fight, I swear Rampage was about to have an emotional breakdown. I don’t know Mr. Jackson personally, but he appears to have skin that’s as thin as his skull is thick.
Rampage seems like he’s acting like he has to have “the last word”, in all circumstances. And his “I’ll fight you in any gym for free” nonsense is just laughable. You don’t want to fight for money, what makes anyone think he’d fight for free. Rampage, just STFU, do your movie, calm the Hell down, and then come back when you’re ready to act like an adult. You’re “retired” now; you can drop the tough-buy complex.
Have been huge MMA fan for long time. Started with Militech and all the other past and current fighters from my home state of Iowa. Over the years I have watched Rampage and at first I was not a big fan. That man has grown on me as a fighter and a person. I can honestly say that I am a huge Rampage fan and even more after reading his latest blog.
Dude has mass personality as a fighter and the man is REAL. That is all I want to say
Hope we see him again and I think we will. Maybe he just wants to get some stuff off his chest. I understand he feels disrespected but I do not believe he really wants to retire.
i’m a rampage fan but god this guy is really emotional.I hope everything is resolved so that we ALL can see the rampage-evans fight in the OCTAGON instead of YOUTUBE.Hopefully they can all come to som sort of agreement.
+1
Damn no way they should fight for free now. With this kind of hype (I think he’s telling the truth though), this is the fight I really want to see this year or next… except for maybe Pacman vs. Mayweather.
Instead of ‘gym’, how about FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee, let’s say December 12 around 10pm ET / 7PM PT. We’ll have a couple of fighters fight first before you and Rashad duke it out.
antone3x7:
Plus 1 to you my friend . That was pretty funny.
Oh yeah I forgot to say Rashad Evans looked appauling against Machida. He was too worried about trying to look good dancing around the ring. Got all caught up in his new found stardom and fame. As far as I am concerned neither he nor Forrest are legit belt holders. Forrest did nothing to get a W over Rampage. Evans beat up an over hyped mythical warrior in Forrest and then got his ass STOMPED by Machida. Evans should be embarrassed to talk any smack after the ass whooping he took and how bad he looked. All the fame went to his head!
This whole situation is starting to feel like some contrived publicity stunt cooked up by DW and carried out by Rampage.
bigguy, for sure machida is in another league altogether. however, rampage vs evans would be better than seeing machida smoke either of them.
antone, another plus one
Well said Rampage!! Well said!! I have a lot more respect for Rampage after reading this + also just hearing him talk on TUF!
Rock On Dude!!
as this story progresses i don’t see Rampage coming back to the UFC
maybe StrikeForce where he would get everything he wants including Musasi and Fedor
Man Ramp you have to learn to not show your emotions so easily. That’s why Rashad loves fuc&ing with ya. I would also say, man don’t kid yourself that you’ll have an acting carrier where you’ll make more money then you are now. You keep repeating I’m a fighter, I’m a fighter in one breath and the next you want to leave fighting and pursue a acting career. Just STFU and fight while you still can and make as much as you can then you can fantasize OH! sorry I meant to say go into acting.
What if the reason this season of the ultimate fighter really did have something no other season had, What if rampage left mid season? This could all be a way to play it off as not to give away the season. Wouldn’t it be cool if there really was something other than just Kimbo? Wouldn’t it be more fun if Rashad really got under his skin, I mean he did kick the shit out of that door. I am pretty sure the door didn’t get him half as mad as Rashad does. We could have someone else to point our fingers Dana wouldn’t have to be the bad guy / good guy all the time wouldn’t that be a wonderful fiction?
hey fintster
this is NOT the WWE
Rampage Jackson. A poorly parented, attention-needing, irrational 14 year old little brat living inside of a giant.
These pissing contests between pro athletes and promoters is just mind blowing. I am at a complete lose for words.
finster I am a bit of a cynic like you and you may be right. “Reality”** TV has been getting credit for making MMA mainstream but I reckon it is destroying MMA and making it MMAE. How about if a fighter is good enough to make it, he does, like a NORMAL or SERIOUS sport.
Dana white managed to get MMA sanctioned which was great but for everything else he has done I wish he would fade away to be a bad memory. I guess I shouldn’t blame him so much, the fans who buy into the hype are as much at fault and you can’t help but buy into it every so often but it is getting more than a little old now.
** Reality is not always interesting so these shows “spice things up”. So fake reality or non-reality is more accurate. Sometimes it has as much to do with reality as a day-time soap opera.
Rampage would definitely “go out like a bitch”
no stank bref jokes? im disappointed.
this is getting better and better. Cant wait for the fight to happen. TRUST ME it will. there is too much $$$$ for all parties not to do it.
Wouldn’t it be a riot if the fight eventually does happen? Rashad could walk to the Octagon with a “Mr. T” wig and a heavy gold chain with the word “wah” hanging from it. Talk about getting under Rampage’s skin. If Rashad handled the pre-fight pr properly, Rampage would have an incapcitating stroke before the stare down.
that would be a sight to see angry mike but i don’t think that rashad would do something that disrespectful but hey you never know.
He could get his whole team to dress up as the A team and play the theme music as entrance music! That would be soo fun to see rampage have a stroke on PPV!
I like Quinton and agree with how he feels. I wish him the best and hope he’ll return to the Octagon soon.
Most people have a superior or boss that acts like a dick. Unfortunately most of us don’t have the means to just pick up and say F you to our boss. I’m happy Quinton finally said F you to Dana.
I like Dana too but sometimes he can be a dick.
Most of the times he needs to be a dick to keep this guys in line, but not in these case.
Remember, these guys are professional athletes so don’t hate on the fact they make a lot of money. In comparison to other “professional athletes” they aren’t making a ton of money.