Issue 098

February 2013

The history of mixed martial arts retold through the pages from FO’S archives

FEBRUARY 2007

Turn the Page

Today, ‘Rampage’ Jackson can’t exit the UFC fast enough. All change from when he spoke to Fighters Only prior to his UFC debut in 2007

Six years, it seems, has changed former UFC light heavyweight champion ‘Rampage’ Jackson. January 2013 has Jackson seemingly exiting the UFC under a cloud of bad feeling. In February 2007 he was entering with optimism. 

When Jackson spoke to Fighters Only back around the start of 2007 for our February issue that year, his services had recently been acquired by the UFC after the Las Vegas company absorbed short-lived promotion the World Fighting Alliance. The WFA had relaunched itself via a single ’06 event, after an early 2000s burst, with a “where the fight club meets the night club” ethos.

“I think everything happens for a reason and it might work out the best for me,” he told FO exclusively at the time. “The WFA, they had one show and it done crap, and the UFC is where it’s happening.” 

These days Jackson wants nothing more than to be rid of his UFC contract, feeling he’s undervalued by the promotion despite sacrifices he says he’s made, such as fighting injured. 

Jackson stated in a 2011 interview with a Chicago newspaper that he felt his status as an entertaining fighter, and man who unified the Pride and UFC 205lb belts, was “not really promoted much.” He even told an MMA entertainment site in 2012 that leaving the UFC would make him happy.

Back when he spoke to FO in ‘07, Jackson was little known in his native US, having fought over half of his career in Japan’s premier promotion, Pride FC. He told us: “I want to get the feel for the UFC, the vibe and everything. I don’t mind working my way up… I want the fans to know who I am.” And although Jackson stated recently he doesn’t mind the attention he gets from MMA followers, he added he wishes he could be better compensated for losing some privacy.

Privacy lost because soon after speaking to Fighters Only he knocked out longtime foe Marvin Eastman in his UFC debut in Las Vegas, cueing him up to challenge for the UFC light heavyweight title owned by the massively popular Chuck Liddell. Jackson being the only loss Liddell hadn’t avenged. 

But in May 2007, at UFC 71, Jackson flipped the script on the sprawl ‘n’ brawl KO king, stopping him with strikes less than two minutes into the opening round.

The win changed Jackson’s life forever. He’d next unify that belt with the Pride middleweight title he fought to win for five years, lose his UFC strap via a contentious decision to Forrest Griffin, and ultimately become loved by fans worldwide and even score a role in Hollywood blockbuster The A-Team.

These days, Jackson says, he’s disenchanted with mixed martial arts in its current state. But in 2007 he was looking ahead to a new chapter of his career with brighter eyes and a simple mission. “Whether they (the UFC) are gonna promote me or not, I gotta go out there and do my thing. 

I gotta kick some ass.”

ELSEWHERE IN THE FEBRUARY 2007 ISSUE

GIRL POWER

As women’s MMA prepares to make history and level the playing field with its 135lb induction into the UFC in early 2013, back in early 2007 FO was declaring an equal platform for fight sport females within its pages. In his regular column, then-editor Hywel Teague argued that ring girls and fight girls should enjoy as much respect as male competitors. And announced the magazine’s new ‘Ladies of MMA’ section where “we’ll feature women who fight and women who flaunt.” Promoting equal opportunity in MMA long before it was in vogue. 

CHAEL SONNEN VOTED FAN FAVOURITE

Polarising UFC light heavyweight Chael Sonnen was attracting attention years ago, as we reported in our February 2007 issue. Over three years before his name-making trash talk prior to his 2010 challenge for Anderson Silva’s 185lb UFC belt, Sonnen was voted by fans as their favourite BodogFight competitor. The trash-talking Oregonian received nearly four times the votes of his nearest rival for the title and pocketed $50,000. All these years later and Sonnen is still rallying fans and pulling in big numbers. 

GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE

Rounding up the best of the international action in the issue, we reviewed three UK cards staged in the closing weeks of 2006 in Nottingham, Liverpool and Swansea, featuring no less than six present Zuffa stars. Whilst Brad Pickett was enjoying an armbar submission in Wales, Terry Etim and Vaughan Lee were bagging submissions of their own on Merseyside, before Dennis Siver, Gegard Mousasi and Dan Hardy all hit the stoppage trail in Hardy’s hometown. Bellator regulars Ronnie Mann (winning in Liverpool) and Jimmy Wallhead (losing to Siver) also appeared.

ROGER GRACIE, FUTURE MMA STAR

In the same February 2007 issue we reported (this month’s cover star) ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira had remarked current Strikeforce middleweight, and future Nogueira teammate Roger Gracie had “a brilliant future” in MMA, we picked Roger out as one to watch. We published an interview with the BJJ ace and member of MMA’s most famous family after he’d won his 2006 MMA debut via armbar. We noted Roger, who entrenched his name in MMA’s rankings during his two-year Strikeforce stint, was a “real star in the making”. FO, bringing you the future early – yet again.