Dana White has a reputation for saying some crazy shit. He’s also known for being a tough and shrewd business man, and sometimes unforgiving. If he’s pissed off at you, right or wrong, you will know it. And he will make sure you feel the pain that comes with it. It’s a terrible position to be in. Ask people like Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Loretta Hunt, Matt Linland, Tom Atencio, Josh Gross, Frank Shamrock or Jeff Sherwood. Hell, even old pro’s like Gary Shaw have felt his sting. I’m not saying some haven’t deserved it, I’m just saying they’ve all been there in some form or fashion. I would say Dana’s like the Fedor of the business side of MMA but, Fedor is a soft spoken bad ass. Dana is anything but soft spoken. So maybe an accurate description would be more like being in the cage with Brock Lesnar if Brock had the record Fedor had. That’s a scary place to be.
Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson has a history of freaking out when he’s under a lot of pressure. He doesn’t seem to handle it well outside of the ring. Sometimes he just goes all monster truck on your ass because god told him to. That’s not the first time he heard god either, that happened back in his Pride days after his fight with Ricardo Arona in Japan. At least he didn’t dry hump god. Well, not yet anyways.
So, how can Rampage freak out and piss off Dana White at the same time? Well, by backing out of his current UFC contract, a contract he signed, because he feels he’s being disrespected. He feels disrespected? Dana put him on TV in the biggest possible way MMA could. Dana and the UFC put him on the map outside of Japan. Then a couple of years later, they put him on the biggest season of TUF and put up all kinds of money promoting him and Rashad in a fight in his hometown that he had been asking for. They have done a lot for him. Hollywood hasn’t. Shit, the UFC stood by him after he struck a pregnant woman’s car with his big ass truck and may or may not have had something to do with her miscarriage. That’s a huge fucking PR nightmare that Dana and the UFC could of distanced themselves from and left Rampage out in the cold, but boldly did not. And Rampage pulls out of a fight that he agreed to with Rashad Evans, a fight the UFC has spent a lot of money on with TUF 10 publicity, and he feels disrespected? He should ask Randy Couture how well that worked out.
Dana has every right here, whether Rampage fans like it or not, to be pissed off. And even though Dana says they’re talking, I don’t think this will end good for Rampage at all. Even if Rampage decides to fight in the UFC again, you can absolutely bet that it’s going to be very difficult for him. The UFC will be looking for some Lesnar/Couture style payback and I’m sure it will eventually be just as ugly. The pain will be felt.
Look, I am a Rampage fan. I have been for years, long before he was ever with the UFC. I was so excited to finally see him (and Crocop) arrive at UFC 67 that I actually paid to go to the event in Las Vegas. I’m a fight fan. But I would just like to say, I don’t have that same excitement to see Rampage doing anything else. Seeing him decide to start acting is about as exciting as Shaq doing his own rap albums. I bet it’s just as bad too. As a fight fan, I cannot describe enough how much I absolutely do not care to see him in the Scorpion King 3 A-Team movie. If anything, him being in the movie might actually mean the movie is going to suck. Think about it. Fighters are shitty actors. Most athletes and… well… most people in general suck at acting. If they had picked an actor and not a fighter, I wouldn’t be so quick to suspect a pile of dung here. If Rampage is out of fighting, then he will be missed, but I’m not following his new career. And I bet most of his fight fans wont either. Hell, I don’t even follow the careers of good actors I like, much less shitty actors. I was excited to see him on this season of TUF and even more excited to see him fight Rashad at the end. I’m a fight fan.
MMA, Boxing, K-1, Fight Sports | Kevin September 30, 2009 | 
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