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Former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has criticized the promotion for the way in which it handled his exit in 2013.
Having become a star in Japan, where he cemented himself as one of the greatest to compete under the banner of Pride Fighting Championships, Jackson crossed over to the UFC in 2007 when Zuffa LLC acquired the Asian organization.
Jackson’s success continued inside the Octagon, with the Tennessee native defeating Chuck Liddell to win the 205-pound gold in just his second appearance under the UFC banner. While he defended the belt against Dan Henderson to go 3-0 in the promotion, unifying it with the Pride middleweight title in the process, he went 4-5 across his next nine before leaving.
Prior to his departure, relations between Jackson and his employer appeared difficult, with “Rampage” even publicly requesting his release prior to fighting out his deal.
In his final outing, Jackson was outpointed by Glover Teixeira, a result that marked his third consecutive loss having followed setbacks against Jon Jones and Ryan Bader. While “Rampage” got his wish and secure a switch to Bellator MMA, the way in which the UFC explained his exit left a sour taste.
Jackson: ‘UFC Claimed I Was Retiring’
During a recent appearance on the No Jumper podcast, Jackson recalled his first time leaving the Octagon behind for Bellator, something he repeated a few years later following a victory over Fábio Maldonado in his brief UFC return in 2015.
“Rampage” explained that his decision to leave the MMA leader came as the result of his deal with Reebok being taken when the promotion secured its own. With that in mind, the 44-year-old believes the UFC wrongly painted his exit as being down to retirement, something that affected the viewership for his subsequent fights in the Bellator cage.
“The UFC, I’mma keep it real, they kinda like, zapped the love for the sport out of me. A couple things we just didn’t see eye to eye (on),” Jackson said. “And then, I left the UFC when they took my Reebok deal. Reebok was supposed to sponsor me first, and then the UFC took it and didn’t share anything with me. So, I was like, ‘Nah, I’m leaving.’ I had my last fight in the UFC, lost that fight, and the UFC painted a narrative like I was retiring.
“Normally, when you’ve had so many fights, when you reach a certain level in the UFC, even if you lose, they’ll interview you after the fight. ‘What happened? Blah, blah, blah.’ They didn’t interview me. So, they painted a narrative like I was retiring, so a lot of the UFC fans thought I retired. A lot of the UFC fans wasn’t watching Bellator and I’d gone over to Bellator… Fans would still walk up to me like, ‘I hate that you retired.’ I’m like, ‘Nah, I just fought two weeks ago.’ They didn’t know.”
Jackson won all of his first four fights under the Bellator banner, with a brief UFC return coming in-between the third and fourth. Since then, though, he’s gone 1-3, with his most recent outing in 2019 ending in a knockout loss to Fedor Emelianenko.
Image: Keith Mills/Sherdog
Interestingly, accusations of deceit following fighter exits is nothing new for the UFC. In fact, it’s a relevant topic of conversation currently.
Following the departure of Francis Ngannou last month, Dana White claimed that the Cameroonian is in search of more money for fighting lesser competition outside the UFC Octagon.
“The Predator” was quick to refute those claims, citing the UFC’s refusal to accommodate terms such as fighter healthcare and an athlete advocate in board meetings as factors that contributed to his decision to leave.
What do you make of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s claims about his UFC departure?
Please provide transcription credit with a link to this article if you use any of these quotes.
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has criticized the promotion for the way in which it handled his exit in 2013.
Having become a star in Japan, where he cemented himself as one of the greatest to compete under the banner of Pride Fighting Championships, Jackson crossed over to the UFC in 2007 when Zuffa LLC acquired the Asian organization.
Jackson’s success continued inside the Octagon, with the Tennessee native defeating Chuck Liddell to win the 205-pound gold in just his second appearance under the UFC banner. While he defended the belt against Dan Henderson to go 3-0 in the promotion, unifying it with the Pride middleweight title in the process, he went 4-5 across his next nine before leaving.
Prior to his departure, relations between Jackson and his employer appeared difficult, with “Rampage” even publicly requesting his release prior to fighting out his deal.
In his final outing, Jackson was outpointed by Glover Teixeira, a result that marked his third consecutive loss having followed setbacks against Jon Jones and Ryan Bader. While “Rampage” got his wish and secure a switch to Bellator MMA, the way in which the UFC explained his exit left a sour taste.
Jackson: ‘UFC Claimed I Was Retiring’
During a recent appearance on the No Jumper podcast, Jackson recalled his first time leaving the Octagon behind for Bellator, something he repeated a few years later following a victory over Fábio Maldonado in his brief UFC return in 2015.
“Rampage” explained that his decision to leave the MMA leader came as the result of his deal with Reebok being taken when the promotion secured its own. With that in mind, the 44-year-old believes the UFC wrongly painted his exit as being down to retirement, something that affected the viewership for his subsequent fights in the Bellator cage.
“The UFC, I’mma keep it real, they kinda like, zapped the love for the sport out of me. A couple things we just didn’t see eye to eye (on),” Jackson said. “And then, I left the UFC when they took my Reebok deal. Reebok was supposed to sponsor me first, and then the UFC took it and didn’t share anything with me. So, I was like, ‘Nah, I’m leaving.’ I had my last fight in the UFC, lost that fight, and the UFC painted a narrative like I was retiring.
“Normally, when you’ve had so many fights, when you reach a certain level in the UFC, even if you lose, they’ll interview you after the fight. ‘What happened? Blah, blah, blah.’ They didn’t interview me. So, they painted a narrative like I was retiring, so a lot of the UFC fans thought I retired. A lot of the UFC fans wasn’t watching Bellator and I’d gone over to Bellator… Fans would still walk up to me like, ‘I hate that you retired.’ I’m like, ‘Nah, I just fought two weeks ago.’ They didn’t know.”
Jackson won all of his first four fights under the Bellator banner, with a brief UFC return coming in-between the third and fourth. Since then, though, he’s gone 1-3, with his most recent outing in 2019 ending in a knockout loss to Fedor Emelianenko.
Image: Keith Mills/Sherdog
Interestingly, accusations of deceit following fighter exits is nothing new for the UFC. In fact, it’s a relevant topic of conversation currently.
Following the departure of Francis Ngannou last month, Dana White claimed that the Cameroonian is in search of more money for fighting lesser competition outside the UFC Octagon.
“The Predator” was quick to refute those claims, citing the UFC’s refusal to accommodate terms such as fighter healthcare and an athlete advocate in board meetings as factors that contributed to his decision to leave.
What do you make of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s claims about his UFC departure?
Please provide transcription credit with a link to this article if you use any of these quotes.
Click here to view the article.
Having become a star in Japan, where he cemented himself as one of the greatest to compete under the banner of Pride Fighting Championships, Jackson crossed over to the UFC in 2007 when Zuffa LLC acquired the Asian organization.
Jackson’s success continued inside the Octagon, with the Tennessee native defeating Chuck Liddell to win the 205-pound gold in just his second appearance under the UFC banner. While he defended the belt against Dan Henderson to go 3-0 in the promotion, unifying it with the Pride middleweight title in the process, he went 4-5 across his next nine before leaving.
Prior to his departure, relations between Jackson and his employer appeared difficult, with “Rampage” even publicly requesting his release prior to fighting out his deal.
In his final outing, Jackson was outpointed by Glover Teixeira, a result that marked his third consecutive loss having followed setbacks against Jon Jones and Ryan Bader. While “Rampage” got his wish and secure a switch to Bellator MMA, the way in which the UFC explained his exit left a sour taste.
Jackson: ‘UFC Claimed I Was Retiring’
During a recent appearance on the No Jumper podcast, Jackson recalled his first time leaving the Octagon behind for Bellator, something he repeated a few years later following a victory over Fábio Maldonado in his brief UFC return in 2015.
“Rampage” explained that his decision to leave the MMA leader came as the result of his deal with Reebok being taken when the promotion secured its own. With that in mind, the 44-year-old believes the UFC wrongly painted his exit as being down to retirement, something that affected the viewership for his subsequent fights in the Bellator cage.
“The UFC, I’mma keep it real, they kinda like, zapped the love for the sport out of me. A couple things we just didn’t see eye to eye (on),” Jackson said. “And then, I left the UFC when they took my Reebok deal. Reebok was supposed to sponsor me first, and then the UFC took it and didn’t share anything with me. So, I was like, ‘Nah, I’m leaving.’ I had my last fight in the UFC, lost that fight, and the UFC painted a narrative like I was retiring.
“Normally, when you’ve had so many fights, when you reach a certain level in the UFC, even if you lose, they’ll interview you after the fight. ‘What happened? Blah, blah, blah.’ They didn’t interview me. So, they painted a narrative like I was retiring, so a lot of the UFC fans thought I retired. A lot of the UFC fans wasn’t watching Bellator and I’d gone over to Bellator… Fans would still walk up to me like, ‘I hate that you retired.’ I’m like, ‘Nah, I just fought two weeks ago.’ They didn’t know.”
Jackson won all of his first four fights under the Bellator banner, with a brief UFC return coming in-between the third and fourth. Since then, though, he’s gone 1-3, with his most recent outing in 2019 ending in a knockout loss to Fedor Emelianenko.
Image: Keith Mills/Sherdog
Interestingly, accusations of deceit following fighter exits is nothing new for the UFC. In fact, it’s a relevant topic of conversation currently.
Following the departure of Francis Ngannou last month, Dana White claimed that the Cameroonian is in search of more money for fighting lesser competition outside the UFC Octagon.
“The Predator” was quick to refute those claims, citing the UFC’s refusal to accommodate terms such as fighter healthcare and an athlete advocate in board meetings as factors that contributed to his decision to leave.
What do you make of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s claims about his UFC departure?
Please provide transcription credit with a link to this article if you use any of these quotes.
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has criticized the promotion for the way in which it handled his exit in 2013.
Having become a star in Japan, where he cemented himself as one of the greatest to compete under the banner of Pride Fighting Championships, Jackson crossed over to the UFC in 2007 when Zuffa LLC acquired the Asian organization.
Jackson’s success continued inside the Octagon, with the Tennessee native defeating Chuck Liddell to win the 205-pound gold in just his second appearance under the UFC banner. While he defended the belt against Dan Henderson to go 3-0 in the promotion, unifying it with the Pride middleweight title in the process, he went 4-5 across his next nine before leaving.
Prior to his departure, relations between Jackson and his employer appeared difficult, with “Rampage” even publicly requesting his release prior to fighting out his deal.
In his final outing, Jackson was outpointed by Glover Teixeira, a result that marked his third consecutive loss having followed setbacks against Jon Jones and Ryan Bader. While “Rampage” got his wish and secure a switch to Bellator MMA, the way in which the UFC explained his exit left a sour taste.
Jackson: ‘UFC Claimed I Was Retiring’
During a recent appearance on the No Jumper podcast, Jackson recalled his first time leaving the Octagon behind for Bellator, something he repeated a few years later following a victory over Fábio Maldonado in his brief UFC return in 2015.
“Rampage” explained that his decision to leave the MMA leader came as the result of his deal with Reebok being taken when the promotion secured its own. With that in mind, the 44-year-old believes the UFC wrongly painted his exit as being down to retirement, something that affected the viewership for his subsequent fights in the Bellator cage.
“The UFC, I’mma keep it real, they kinda like, zapped the love for the sport out of me. A couple things we just didn’t see eye to eye (on),” Jackson said. “And then, I left the UFC when they took my Reebok deal. Reebok was supposed to sponsor me first, and then the UFC took it and didn’t share anything with me. So, I was like, ‘Nah, I’m leaving.’ I had my last fight in the UFC, lost that fight, and the UFC painted a narrative like I was retiring.
“Normally, when you’ve had so many fights, when you reach a certain level in the UFC, even if you lose, they’ll interview you after the fight. ‘What happened? Blah, blah, blah.’ They didn’t interview me. So, they painted a narrative like I was retiring, so a lot of the UFC fans thought I retired. A lot of the UFC fans wasn’t watching Bellator and I’d gone over to Bellator… Fans would still walk up to me like, ‘I hate that you retired.’ I’m like, ‘Nah, I just fought two weeks ago.’ They didn’t know.”
Jackson won all of his first four fights under the Bellator banner, with a brief UFC return coming in-between the third and fourth. Since then, though, he’s gone 1-3, with his most recent outing in 2019 ending in a knockout loss to Fedor Emelianenko.
Interestingly, accusations of deceit following fighter exits is nothing new for the UFC. In fact, it’s a relevant topic of conversation currently.
Following the departure of Francis Ngannou last month, Dana White claimed that the Cameroonian is in search of more money for fighting lesser competition outside the UFC Octagon.
“The Predator” was quick to refute those claims, citing the UFC’s refusal to accommodate terms such as fighter healthcare and an athlete advocate in board meetings as factors that contributed to his decision to leave.
What do you make of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s claims about his UFC departure?
Please provide transcription credit with a link to this article if you use any of these quotes.
Click here to view the article.
