By Raul Rangel (Twitter)
SAN ANTONIO, TX, March 21, 2012 – How quickly kings can rise and fall within a few short years in the sport of MMA…. All while blaming everyone else but themselves. Such is the cage with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. After his loss to Ryan Bader and specifically in the last week or so, the once uber-popular fan favorite and Pride FC star has been increasingly complaining about the UFC and how they and those not-so-diehard Rampage fans have abandoned him and are showing him less respect than he deserves.
Have fans lost their taste for Rampage Jackson as a fighter? Or has lost the luster that once made fans love him so much?
Looking at popular opinion and the buzz around the web, it seems that many fans of the sport do not have the same affinity for Jackson nowadays as they did in his heyday when he was slamming all comers in Pride. Perhaps this has to do with his recent performances as much as anything else said on Twitter and otherwise, like in the case with his subpar performance against Rashad Evans. Considering his record in his last four fights (Rampage beat Lyoto Machida in a squeeker and got past a fading Matt Hamill while being outclassed by Bader and Jon Jones), Rampage may still be competitive in the ultra-crowded light heavyweight division but it stands clear that he’s still the same fighter as he always was, wanting to stand and punch (exciting) but refusing to evolve as a fighter in a time where you have to win fights by an means necessary, exciting or not. Rampage’s PRIDE days are legendary and when he first came to the UFC he had that aurora of devastation, just like Mike Tyson in his prime. But lately his aurora has diminished and he is started to look more like Mike Tyson 2005. And it does not look like he is really willing to do anything to change his training or style of fighting.
Considering all that history and all his past contributions to the sport, does Rampage get the respect he deserves or is not getting his just due, giving him fair reason to complain?
As outsiders, we’re not privy to everything that goes on behind closed doors business-wise but it seems like he’s getting most of it. Rampage asked to fight in Japan and he got ultimately got granted that request. He was also ultimately able to take time off to film the A-Team and come back no matter how upset the UFC brass was at that deal. And we can’t discount that whole bizarre incident in Malibu where he really lived up his nickname and went on a Rampage. They accepted him back with open arms after that too. Is the UFC really being that unfair to him?
One of Jackson’s main griped is how the UFC intimated that his fight against Bader was his “worst performance ever.” Guess what, they are right and they were right to say it because they are his bosses and should be able to speak frankly when evaluating employee performance. This sport isn’t about feelings nearly as much as it is about the brutal honesty of how one athlete does against another in competition. Yes we all know he had an injury and battle through adversity to try and make weight and go through with the fight, but he along with countless others before him have openly admitted that injuries are a part of this sport and doesn’t validate performances one way or another. Call it an occupational hazard.
In the end with all due respect to everything he has accomplished, the UFC does not need him anymore. His rivalry and subsequent fight with Rashad Evans drew high numbers but that may also have been the peak of his stardom in this sport. What has he done since then but draw the kind of attention that isn’t really all that endearing to either his bosses or the fans? Does he really want to go somewhere else and if so, where will he go and will they cater to his sensitive ego? Will he get the appreciation he thinks he deserves elsewhere? Either way, he may have the proverbial target on his back due to his recent comments lashing out.
Perhaps Zuffa should grant him his wish let him go to make room for more stars that are up and coming in the light-heavy weight division; Young, hungry guys like Alexander Gustafsson, James Te Huna, Aaron Rosa; fighters with a chip on their shoulders for an entirely different reason – of wanting to get to where Rampage has already been way up that mountain. In the end the UFC will somehow make it without Rampage. They did it before without some of his contemporaries in guys when guys like Brock Lesnar, Randy Couture, and Chuck Liddell left the game. They’ll make it without him too.