Issue 086

March 2012

Will the Land of the Rising Sun see the twilight of a great career?

If this is the beginning of the end, if this is to be the final stage on which one of the greatest careers in the history of mixed martial arts will be played out, then one man, at least, will walk from the cage at UFC 144 with a huge smile on his face. Quinton Jackson is heading back to Japan, where it all began, and he’s ready to put on a show for those he holds so dear.

Just minutes after he failed in his attempt to dethrone the latest man to follow in his footsteps and conquer the UFC’s light heavyweight division, lying on the surgeon’s table having a facial laceration stitched after Jon Jones became the first man in a decade to submit him, the former champion’s mind was only on one thing: UFC 144 in Japan.

It’s been almost a decade since ‘Rampage’ first stepped through the ropes at the Pride Fighting Championships, and he readily admits that it’s been a 10-year romance between himself and the Japanese people ever since. For him it is where it all began and, in an exclusive interview with Fighters Only, he admits it may well be the perfect place to finish.

“I am very excited to be going back to Japan. I actually can’t explain just how excited I am either,” he says, after he admitted that his training camp is going like clockwork too. “I love it. It seems to me like everyone in Japan is excited that the UFC is coming too. That’s where it all started for me. It’s where I got my big break. And now I wanna go back and represent the UFC in Japan. 

“As soon as I found out the UFC was going to Japan I was very excited. Even before my fight with Jon Jones, I asked Dana [White], ‘Hey, man, win or lose this fight, I want to go over to Japan and fight.’ I miss the fans over there. So even if I had won my fight with Jones, I would have been happy to defend the title in Japan. That’s where I got my big break.”

Likewise, Japanese fans fell in love with the Memphis-born powerhouse during his days in Pride, when Rampage – complete with trademark silver chain – would smash and slam his opponents practically through the canvas. He admits that it’s a love affair that goes both ways.

“I miss the Pride days a lot, and the thing I miss most about them is the fans,” Rampage admits. “I miss the energy of the Japanese fans inside the arena, but you gotta understand that things were a little different. MMA was a little more hardcore in the Pride days and I guess the fans were that little bit more hardcore too. There are a lot of new fans at shows today and they don’t know what the f**k they be talking about, they just be talking. That’s what made the old days that little bit different.

“Don’t get me wrong, new fans are very welcome. But I just wish they would shut the f**k up and learn MMA first, so they know exactly what’s going on.”

Martial arts life

Growing up training martial arts as children, as part of their daily lives, is what separates fans in the East from the West, and Rampage believes it’s this martial arts lifestyle that is the difference when Japanese fans sit ringside to watch an event. Their knowledge of fight sports ensures that only the very best technique is applauded while, perhaps most importantly, every fighter that is brave enough to step into combat gets the respect he or she deserves.

“That’s the main reason I love the fans in Japan, they have respect for us, as fighters,” he says. “They appreciate that it takes a lot of preparation, a lot of work, moving away from home for training and stuff. I don’t think that the American fans quite understand about the training and the dedication.

“For instance, sometimes American fans will say s**t like, ‘What are you doing tweeting? You should be training.’ Even though there are 24 hours in a day. But the Japanese fans are a lot more supportive and win or lose they don’t care. As long as you put on a good, entertaining show, you put up a good fight. Then they’re happy. They are respectful.”

It’s that respect and support of all who step into battle, Rampage says, that makes fighting in Japan so much more appealing. “A lot of times American fans will be cheering for one guy and, even if he’s putting up a good fight, if he starts losing and the other guy gets on top, then they’ll start cheering for the guy who’s winning. They’ll even start booing the first guy.

“In one of my first fights in the UFC, when I beat Chuck Liddell, a lot of American fans booed me. And I lost a lot of love for American fans that night. They booed me for knocking a guy out. Whether they like me or not, I did my job just like he did his job. We both stepped into the cage and put it on the line, and put on a good show.

“In Japan I’ve never been booed once, ever. Through my whole career in Japan, regardless of who I was fighting. They just appreciate who you are, where you’ve been and what you are trying to do. That’s all we can ask for.”

Love and respect

Western fight fans often find it peculiar that such a quiet and conservative society as Japan should be so knowledgeable and fascinated with prizefighting. To have witnessed 50,000 Japanese fans packed inside an arena, with another 55 million glued to their TV sets at home must have been a remarkable experience, and that whole larger-than-life Pride experience seems almost unrealistic today.

Yet Rampage maintains it’s this affinity with fighting sports that makes the fans in the Far East the very best on the planet, and that, when the time is right, even the most sedate Japanese geisha can transform into a hollering NFL cheerleader.

He says: “They go crazy when something spectacular happens or if you land a really good punch or something. They cheer like most other fans, but they also go quiet too. In Japan you can hear your corner team during the fight, never mind between rounds. In the West, not only in America, the fans are usually screaming and shouting throughout the whole fight. But it’s now like that in Japan. They’re kind of reserved a little more, until you do something cool. Then they cheer.

“The great thing is you don’t get s**t like, ‘Kick his ass Seabass!’ They don’t act like that. They wait until they feel like it is an appropriate time to cheer, and most of the time everybody does it simultaneously too. They’ll all suddenly cheer at exactly the same time and I guess that also comes back to the hardcore thing. The Japanese fans always seemed to have knowledge of what they were watching.”

And it’s the same outside of the ring too. “It’s just a different energy, a different mentality. Even after the fight they politely wait and then ask if they can take a picture. They will always ask if they can touch you or put their arm around you. They’ll be like, ‘May I touch you?’ and I’ll bite back, ‘Hell no!” And they’ll be all, ‘Oh I’m so sorry.’ I act all funny and they like it… Then after they get their picture they’ll bow and say thank you. They’re just so polite.

“But in America and in the West the fans ain’t like that. They kind of feel like you owe them. You owe them a picture or an autograph. Me, I don’t ever mind signing autographs or posing for pictures, just as long as they’re polite. Don’t get me wrong there are times, like if I’m in a hurry or I’m with my kids, then it’s a little different. But manners don’t cost anything. I guess that’s why in Japan I’ll go that extra mile with the fans out there, I’ll take a few more chances in a fight and will try even harder to put on a show for them because I know that I won’t get booed.

“When I fight back in the West I feel like I can’t take risks as I have to win every fight. I take way less chances than I used to in Pride. That’s half the reason why I’ve been doing so much stand-up lately, when I fight in the UFC. I’ve not been kicking as much or slamming people and that’s because I’m under more pressure to win in America. But in Japan I don’t feel that pressure. The only pressure in Japan is to put on a good show. Over there I feel like I can just cut loose and do whatever I want.”

UFC 144

Although, that was when he was pitched in against fellow Pride legends like Kazushi Sakuraba, Wanderlei Silva, Chuck Liddell and ‘Shogun’ Rua. And despite the hopes of many Japanese fans, Rampage won’t be fighting a star from MMA’s past on February 26th, but rather one from it’s future in the form of TUF season eight winner Ryan Bader. Rampage admits he was a little surprised by the announcement, but also aware many of his old Pride counterparts were already engaged.

He says: “I already knew that ‘Shogun’ and Dan Henderson where fighting one another, I heard about that after the Jon Jones fight so I knew that wouldn’t happen. I knew that if he fought Henderson, win or lose, he was going to be in a tough fight. I’ve fought Dan Henderson and he’s one of the toughest guys in the business. So I knew Shogun would be out. Henderson too.

“I didn’t expect them to give me Ryan Bader either, if I’m honest. But I’m just happy to be fighting. I wanted to be on this Japan card real bad and that was my main goal.”

And he’s also quick to point out there is little chance of him underestimating the former Xtreme Couture standout, who, prior to consecutive defeats to Jon Jones and Tito Ortiz, was riding a convincing 12-0 fight win streak. Whether this is his last fight or his first on the road to a fresh title assault, one thing that’s for sure is that Bader will face the very best Rampage possible.

“I was doing three-a-days from pre-camp, I guess that best tells you how seriously and how pumped I was for this fight,” he states. “Ryan Bader is a very tough opponent. He’s a really tough wrestler and is definitely one of those guys that if you are not careful you’ll be in big trouble. So I’m just getting fully prepared. I feel like that, for my last fight, my training camp went so well that if I had fought anybody other than Jon Jones I would of f**king murdered them, almost. So I’m just trying to get back to that same level, to have the same things in place.

“If I can get in the same shape I was both mentally and physically for the Jon Jones fight for this fight then I know I’ll be all good.”

Retirement

Undoubtedly still one of the biggest draws on Planet MMA, is the career of one of the true greats of the sport really coming to an end? Rampage thinks so. “I have to be honest, man, and despite how the fans feel and some other people feel, my fighting career is coming to an end, and it’ll come to an end pretty soon. I always said I won’t fight on past 35. I’m going to miss MMA when I’m gone that’s for sure. But I won’t be fighting for too much longer.

“I say that for a lot of reasons, you know. When I fight and I get beat up it takes a lot longer for me to heal these days, I’m getting old. After all, I’m just a human being. Plus, I have lots of other things going on too. 

“Right now I’m developing video games, as well as the movie stuff. I have new passions now. One time it was just fighting, but now I have a passion for many others things.

“I’m still passionate about fighting, but I certainly ain’t as passionate as I used to be. It’s easy to take this the wrong way, but it’s just not worth it for me anymore. Don’t get me wrong, MMA is getting bigger and bigger and with it my popularity and notoriety is getting bigger, but I ain’t earning the money I was earning before. And there are plenty of other ways I can get paid without getting beat up. I get less privacy now too, you know.

“Don’t get me wrong, this is the career I chose. But people get mad at me for choosing a career fighting, but they don’t get mad at a doctor or a lawyer for choosing their careers. They’re living the American dream, in those professions and having plenty of money, but I’m just a fighter. I don’t fight to be famous, I fight to pay the bills. It’s just not fair that I get hassled for doing my job and other people don’t, and I guess I’ve just grown tired of that. I want my privacy back.”

And while starring in another Hollywood action movie would obviously only enhance his celebrity status, Rampage maintains that the positives of a big movie role come with extra benefits. “I’m sure another movie would just make me more of a celebrity, but then another movie comes with bigger benefits,” he offers.

“Let me explain it like this; if I was making money like the top boxers like Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao then it would be worth it. If I was earning the kind of money where I could just jump on a private jet and live on a private island for a few weeks and get away, then I would be happy to keep fighting. Fans need to understand that we ain’t earning that crazy top-end boxing money. I’m being paid to entertain people in the cage, so just let me do that.” 

Life on 'Planet Rampage'

Somewhere, somehow, in some never-to-be-seen episode of Star Trek perhaps, Rampage Jackson has just announced his retirement to the world and is the happiest man on Earth. After regaining his beloved UFC 205lb belt from Jon Jones at UFC 135, he’s just successfully defended it at UFC 144 in Japan, in front of an adoring local crowd. For him life is perfect. 

“To retire as UFC champion and to have defended the belt in Japan, oh man, that would have been perfect,” Jackson admits.

“Believe me, I still want to retire as champion. I want to hold the belt once more. I guess if I had won that Jon Jones fight, and if the Japan show wasn’t next, then there’d have been a very good chance I’d have retired already. It would have been a great time to bow out. But I almost certainly would have stayed around to fight in Japan anyway, to defend the belt. Then if I would have successfully defended it, on this show (UFC 144), I definitely would be retiring. Retiring a very happy man too.”

‘It's Jon Jones' time now... my time has passed'

Undoubtedly still one of the top-five marquee names in the sport Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson is also a realist. He understands that time waits for no man and accepts that, in his last outing challenging Jon Jones at UFC 135 in September, the metaphorical passing of the torch went from one generation to the next.

It hurt such a proud warrior to get stopped in his tracks so efficiently by a guy who was still in high school when he was dominating the Pride ring. But he’s adamant that now, with the sun setting on the horizon, he’s going to go out with a bang.

Rocking back in his chair, he tells Fighters Only: “I’ve lost before. Losing sucks. I hate losing. And I felt like I could have done more against Jon Jones. That result was a big disappointment to me, and my team were real upset. They wanted me to do more, especially as my camp had gone so good. But I didn’t get depressed. I knew Jon was the best in my weight class and I’m a realist. I keep it real. I’m not going to sit here and lie. 

“One time I was the best in my weight class, but now it’s him. He’s the guy now. My time has passed. He’s the best in the world at 205lb and I feel nobody out there can beat Jon Jones. I think Jon Jones is the type of guy you would need to fight twice, like Machida, so you can figure him out a little. But I ain’t gonna lie. I got my ass whupped. I ain’t been tapped out since Sakuraba. But this guy choked me out. 

“But what can you do when the fight is finished? You get knocked out or you get tapped out. And yeah it hurt. But straight after that fight was done I was like, ‘Right so my next opponent is gonna get his ass kicked.’ S**t rolls downhill, remember that, and Ryan Bader is the guy standing at the bottom.

“I’ve trained my ass off, just like I did for Jon Jones, in fact I may have even trained have a little bit harder – which I thought was impossible – and it’s all to beat Bader. That’s just me, it’s the type of fighter I am.”

Pride rules ruled! 

You went 13-5 in the ring over in Japan, so clearly the Pride rules suited your style of fighting. Would you like to see some of them incorporated into the Unified Rules of MMA used by the UFC?

“Man, I really liked the Pride rules. You could knee somebody in the head on the ground, where now you get elbowed to the face and stuff, those blows last forever. When you get kneed to the head on the ground that’s gonna knock you out but it’s not going to cut you up. I don’t know, I guess other people may say different, but I’d rather get kneed in the head and knocked out than get a scar on my face for the rest of my life.

“I liked the Pride rules, I liked all the kicking to the head. I guess it’s what you get used to. But then the UFC rules are cool too. To me this is a job. So I just abide by the rules and get on with my job to the best of my ability. But speaking personally I dig the Pride rules. They were cool.”