General

Rampage Jackson Quits MMA

Sep 23, 2009, 3:15 PM UTC

The Rumbleâ†µis SportingNews.com’s new fight blog covering the worlds of boxing andâ†µMMA. This post was written by Stephen Douglas.
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â†µFedâ†µup with the way Dana White has been treating him, Rampage Jacksonâ†µannounced via blog yesterday that he would be walking away from theâ†µUFC. Dana and Rampage have been going back and forth in recent monthsâ†µconcerning Jackson’s immediate future.
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â†µRampage pulled out of a fight with Rashad Evans after he landed theâ†µrole of B.A. Baracus in The A-Team movie. White had some harsh wordsâ†µfor Jackson, but in the last few weeks it seemed like they had madeâ†µamends. There was also a rumor recently that the fight would go on inâ†µMarch – well after the end of the current TUF season which featuresâ†µJackson and Evans as opposing coaches.
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â†µThen prior to UFC 103 last weekend, White had this to say, via the Las Vegas Sun: â†µ
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â†µ“Guys (expletive) do ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and then want to go playâ†µB.A. Baracus on the ‘The A-Team.’ This is my life dude, this is theâ†µ(expletive) I got to deal with. You got to pick and choose your battlesâ†µwith these guys.”â†µ
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Apparently,â†µRampage finally grew tired of the problems with his boss. In a lengthyâ†µblog post on Rampage Jackson.com he told his side of the story.
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â†µ“I reinjured my jaw in the fight with Vanderlei & Jardine. Frankâ†µMir gets hurt so they wanted to switch my fight from UFC 100 to theâ†µfight Frank couldn’t make it to but I couldn’t fight cause I needed jawâ†µsurgury. So they give Machida the fight against Rashad & they toldâ†µme they want me to coach TUF season 10 against Rashad. That’s why Iâ†µwanted Rashad to win so bad but when Rashad got knocked out I told themâ†µI wanted to fight Machida for the belt but Dana told me if I coach TUFâ†µagainst Rashad that I could fight Machida afterwards cause this was aâ†µdifferent type of ultimate fighter show they were doing. After I signedâ†µthe contract Dana then changes his mind & says I have to fightâ†µRashad & even told me what to say in the press & so my fansâ†µthink I was scared to fight Machida. After all that I still neverâ†µcomplained & I did it all.”â†µ
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â†µRampage then explained why The A-Team move in particular is so important to him. â†µ
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â†µ“I told him what this movie role meant to me. I told him that Iâ†µused to bond with my father watching the tv show as a kid when myâ†µparents where still married & it represents the memories I had withâ†µmy father when we lived together. My dad became an alcohalic &â†µaddicted to drugs & we grew apart. But after my dad got his lifeâ†µback together, I was so proud of my dad & I told him I would alwaysâ†µtake care of him in the future & make him proud of me. My dad &â†µI are still very big fans of the show & I am basically doing thisâ†µfor the childhood memories I had spending time in front of the tv withâ†µmy dad.”â†µ
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â†µOf course, Rampage doesn’t have all bad things to say about the UFC:â†µ
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â†µ“I still feel the UFC is a great organization and I felt like I wasâ†µvery loyal to them but they didn’t respect my loyalty but I wish theâ†µUFC the best. I did a lot of things for them. I wish no bad bloodâ†µbetween us but I have kids & a family back in Memphis to provideâ†µfor & thats all that matters to me!”â†µ
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â†µI assume Rampage will be back. Fighters almost always are. Thisâ†µcould just be a final attempt to get Dana to leave him alone. The UFCâ†µis the NFL of MMA and fighters hardly ever call the bluff of theâ†µorganization.
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â†µThe UFC has a lot to lose by Jackson walking away. They’ve built theâ†µentire season of The Ultimate Fighter on Kimbo Slice and the rivalryâ†µbetween Jackson and Evans. If Kimbo Slice loses during the course ofâ†µthe season, they’d be leaning heavily on the trash talk and lead up toâ†µthe Evans-Jackson fight which as of right now doesn’t exist.
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â†µDana White talked about the situation to Carmichael Dave on the radio.â†µ
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â†µ“Rampage is a grown man. He’s acting like a baby right now, but he’s aâ†µgrown man. If he wants to be in the movie business, Rampage, good luckâ†µto you, man. I hope he makes it big, and I’m not being sarcastic. ... Iâ†µhope the movie thing works out for him. If that’s what he truly wantsâ†µto do, and that’s what he feels and that’s what he thinks his careerâ†µis, I wish him all the luck in the world.”â†µ
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â†µCall me crazy, but I think these two kids will work it outâ†µeventually. Just based on the fact that Dana didn’t completelyâ†µobliterate Rampage, I’d say he’s already working on getting him back.
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â†µNow, should Rampage actually be done, he’ll leave the UFC as one of theâ†µfew PRIDE guys who came over and had great success. The decision lossâ†µto Forrest Griffin was his only loss in 6 UFC bouts. He won andâ†µdefended the Light Heavyweight belt and was the first person to unifyâ†µthe UFC and PRIDE belts. Hopefully, we haven’t seen the last of Rampageâ†µin the octagon.â†µ