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By Zach Arnold

We’re used to seeing our favorite celebrities pulling off wild stunts in the tabloids. Fake marriages, painful divorces, drug rehab stints…

And, oh yeah, car chases. A favorite pasttime of Southern California residents.

How does it feel to be a fan of a sport that’s hit the big time? Well, you take the good with the bad, and in the case of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, he went on quite an ugly rampage in Orange County.

You’ve seen the reports on sites like TMZ & Yahoo Sports. Rampage was arrested in Costa Mesa, CA. after a wild police chase, caused allegedly in part because of a traffic accident. When the phrase “felony hit-and-run” crosses the news wire, generally it’s not good news at all for the person behind the wheel of such an incident.

UFC President Dana White has long wanted the mainstream media to glowingly cover MMA. He has his wish now, and the coverage is not-so-glowing for his former UFC Light Heavyweight champion.

When Quinton Jackson defeated Chuck Liddell in May of 2007 to win the Light Heavyweight title, it seemed as if UFC was ready to drag Liddell onto the Career Rehabilitation Tour circuit. Rampage, meanwhile, found himself largely promoting himself on sites like TMZ and sites covering the party scene in Las Vegas. TMZ sure is more than happy to give Rampage all the digital ink they possibly can.

What made the showdown between officers and Rampage so bizarre is the fact that Jackson was riding around in a truck that UFC gave him, featuring an image of Rampage wearing his chain on the side of his truck. How could anyone possible drive a truck with their own likeness and the logo of Toyo Tires (a big UFC sponsor) and expect to escape an alleged hit-and-run incident? To top off the wacky happenings, UFC President Dana White reportedly flew to Orange County to post the bail to get Rampage out of jail.

What tabloid wouldn’t love this story? And, to think, what timing for UFC!

Here we were, getting ready for the UFC/Affliction weekend showdown of events, and both are being upstaged by a charismatic UFC superstar whose most famous tagline is “respect the black man!”

You think Dana White’s looking forward to answering all sorts of media inquiries at this Saturday’s event in Las Vegas? You remember Anderson Silva, the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world? There may be more action outside the ring for Dana White this week than in it.

Despite the fact that Rampage likely won’t serve a big jail sentence if he’s found guilty or pleads out his case, the reality is that this story is exactly the kind of nightmare scenario that someone like Dana White desperately wants no part of. What’s his defense going to be for Rampage?

How do you think Toyo Tires feels now about all sorts of photos of their logo on a big truck that was involved in a high-profile hit-and-run accident?

The traffic accident allegedly involving Rampage Jackson serves right into the hands of MMA critics like Thomas Hauser who think the sport is barbaric and encourages anti-social behavior. Sure, boxing has had a litany of troublemakers and rabble-rousers (like Mike Tyson & James Toney), but name me a case where an MMA star as high-profile as Quinton Jackson got into a standoff with police. There isn’t one.

Which makes what is happening a very delicate balancing act for both Dana White & Lorenzo Fertitta. You can hire all the public relations firms you want to, but the reality is that a man who was a former champion in your promotion and headlined your last PPV just got himself into hot water with the law. How do you spin this to corporate America?

As one astute MMA fan online pointed out, traffic offenses rarely generate major buzz. Unfortunately for UFC, this story has generated buzz and TMZ is the barometer to use to judge what kind of interest there is with the mainstream American audience about this incident. Judging from the boatload of comments and web site traffic, there’s plenty of interest in what happened on Tuesday in Costa Mesa with Rampage Jackson.

What an ironic and perfect name for a man who has found himself in a world of trouble. He lost a controversial decision to Forrest Griffin on July 5th, lost his UFC Light Heavyweight title, and now finds himself plastered all over the major tabloid sheets for being in trouble with the law. You want to root for Rampage because he always seemed to be a good guy, always seemed to be a cool character, but the operative word is ’seemed.’

The story of Rampage’s personal life, his entry into MMA, and his trials & tribulations in the sport are the stuff of legend. I should know; I was part of a radio interview several years ago when Rampage announced that he had found God, telling the radio show about an exorcist-type incident involving his son and how his life was soon changing. There never seems to be a dull moment with Rampage, but Tuesday’s event in Costa Mesa may be an unfortunate turning point in both his career and his personal life.

We all should be thankful that no one was killed in the incident.