Rampage Jackson’s message to UFC: I Pity fhe Fool
Published by Zach Arnold on September 8th, 2009 in Current Events

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Talk about the ultimate screwjob.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was set to get his second big push from UFC this month with the launch of the Kimbo Slice-flavored Ultimate Fighter reality show. Oh yeah, Rashad Evans is involved, too. Jackson and Evans have been ‘married’ in a program for the majority of the year and that program was set to reach a conclusion on December 12th at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis happens to be the old stomping grounds of Rampage, who grew up idolizing wrestlers as a kid in the area. The fight between Evans and Rampage was assuredly going to generate a huge buyrate and set the stage for Rampage to draw the most enthusiastic crowd he has ever fought in.

However, Quinton Jackson has now changed his mind. He’s decided that filiming a minor role in the upcoming A-Team remake movie is more important. Jackson may be saying “I Pity the Fool!” now to UFC management, but long term it’s Jackson who will end up looking like the fool here.

I’ve long accused UFC management of not giving Jackson a big enough push. When he was booked against Chuck Liddell a couple of years ago, it was clear that the UFC machine was pushing Liddell and that Rampage spoiled the party by winning the fact. From that point forward, UFC tried to figure out how to play off of Jackson’s talents but something was missing. Then came the vehicular Rampage incident where a pregnant woman ended up with a miscarriage of her child. Jackson is facing a civil lawsuit over that matter. Instead of laying down the hammer on Jackson for his reckless behavior, UFC protected him. They made sure that whatever his mental situation was at the time that it would be improved upon and that he would come back stronger than in the past. After the incident with the pregnant woman, Jackson ended up dumping his manager Juanito Ibarra and ended up signing with Wolfslair in the UK for his fight management. From the start of his UFC stint, something has not clicked between Jackson and Zuffa management. Something always felt missing. Was it UFC’s fault for not pushing him hard enough and putting him in the right positions? Or was it all on Jackson’s end in regards to his mental state and the career choices he has made?

We found out our answer last week.

After making a commitment to the UFC multi-million machine to be one of the faces on their reality show this Fall and having the wheels set in motion to culminate in a big-money PPV fight against Rashad Evans, Rampage Jackson decided to go to Vancouver to film a movie. The last time Jackson fought was in March against Keith Jardine. By not taking the fight against Evans, Jackson is screwing up the short-term booking for UFC. He’s also screwing over the Memphis fans who thought they were going to see their hometown hero fight and make it big at the FedEx Forum, which is much bigger than what the old Mid-South Coliseum used to be. Unfortunately, the biggest loser is Rashad Evans, who is trying to rebound off of a devastating loss to Lyoto Machida last May. A fight against Jackson was the perfect remedy, especially in Memphis where Evans could solidify his status as the #2 heel in Mixed Martial Arts behind Brock Lesnar.

Think about what Quinton Jackson is doing here. He agreed to be part of the biggest season of The Ultimate Fighter and get a substantial push on Spike TV with Kimbo Slice and Rashad Evans. Jackson tapes the season and instead of fighting Evans on December 12th for millions of dollars has decided to go to Vancouver instead to film a bit role in an A-Team movie remake. Listen, I get the fact that UFC fighters are independent contractors and don’t have insurance and that actor’s insurance is a pretty sweet thing to have for a year, but honoring a commitment to the only serious major promoter in your sport is a pretty sweet thing too when they are willing to put you in a position to make a couple of million dollars. After all of the turmoil that Jackson has gone through in his life, he turned his back on UFC when they are pushing him the hardest.

The reaction from fans defending Jackson’s behavior here is amusing to read. Nobody who is defending Jackson seems to be looking at the flip side of the coin here. Here we have UFC, the king of kings in the MMA business, giving prime real estate in the form of TV coverage to Jackson. Then they set him up in position to get a nice payoff in front of a hometown crowd. So, Jackson takes the TV offer and right before the TV push starts, he broadsides UFC management by stating that he’s going to film a movie. The message Jackson sent here is clear – UFC is secondary. There are plenty of Jackson defenders online who claim that the A-Team movie will be a smashing success and that Jackson will be able to take the rub and make more money for himself and UFC in the process. However, the odds of that happening are relatively small. Faced with a critical business decision, Jackson once again makes a questionable call in favor of doing a side project that takes away from his fighting career. Not everyone is Randy Couture and able to fight at age 46. The filming of the A-Team movie will mean Jackson has had one fight in 2009. One fight.

Jackson’s business decision really is a slap in the face to Dana White. White made a commitment to Jackson and put him a great business position, only for Rampage to get distracted onto something else. It’s also a slap in the face to the fans who were going to get to see whether or not Jackson would be able to improve off of his fight performance against Keith Jardine by facing a fighter from Jardine’s camp in Evans who has something big to prove.

Undoubtedly, UFC will be forced to spin this outcome in the only way possible — the disrespect card. Jackson disrespected Evans by filiming a movie. Jackson ‘went Hollywood’ and disrespected UFC fans. The problem with playing this card is that no matter what UFC does, Evans will always be viewed as a heel in the eyes of their general fan base. Rarely do heel vs. heel match-ups draw huge buyrates. For sure, the new spin coming out from Rampage supporters online is that his decision to film a movie and screw up UFC’s short-term matchmaking timetable won’t hurt business down the road for the Rampage/Evans fight, but that’s short-sighted thinking. What the Jackson/A-Team story illustrates is that when UFC decided to push him in a top slot and decided to make a commitment to him, he didn’t want to live up to it on his end of the deal. In the fight business, that kind of mentality can permanently cause promoters to hesitate from booking you in a prime slot again — even if you have shown that you can generate money in the past.