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24/02/10 - Rampage "done with the UFC"
Shortly before leaving for Australia to corner Wolfslair team mate Michael Bisping at UFC 110, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson sat down for an exclusive interview with Fighters Only. Always one to speak his mind and never afraid of speaking directly about things, he talked frankly about the fallout with the UFC that followed his acceptance of a part in The A-Team movie, which recently finished filming.
Rampage was unable to take part in UFC 107 in his home city of Memphis because of taking the role, which the UFC top brass were livid about. He believes the company will ultimately benefit from the exposure he receives through the movie, but says that relations between him and the UFC have broken down completely.
“They’ve said some things and done some things that I don’t agree with. That’s not the way I do business. I am a loyal person, people take care of me and I take care of them. So I am done with the UFC, they cant ask any more favours from me, nothing. I just want to finish my contract and get out if there, do my own thing,” he told us.
One of the favours that Rampage is referring to was agreeing to take a coaching spot on season ten of The Ultimate Fighter, opposite Rashad Evans. He reluctantly agreed, but says he really wanted Lyoto Machida to be his next opponent.
“Honestly, Dana lied to me. He said I didn’t have to fight Rashad, I could fight Machida after the show. After [TUF 10] he told me I’m going to have to fight Rashad, so all the fans were saying ‘oh he’s ducking Machida’ - and I didn’t say anything, because I was doing [the UFC] a favour! I was being loyal to them, I was being a team player. As soon as I want to do one thing for myself, I am the bad guy.”
“I don’t understand why someone would get mad at me for bringing so much exposure to their company. Yeah the UFC probably could have lost money in the short term by me not taking the fight at the time I was supposed to do it but I asked them at the time, I said ’Hey, can’t you just move the fight back a couple of months? I have to do this movie, I can’t turn it down.’”
Rampage’s full interview with Fighters Only can be read here or go to our homepage and watch the video
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