Unfocused Rampage: The End of the Quinton Jackson Era

I am kinda over Rampage. Too much talk not enough fight.

Completely agree!!

And for the record, let’s blame Kid Nate as it’s a Friday afternoon!

Great job!

And I have to ask (I’m sure everyone wants to know, and since you brought it up), what did your father say to you and your brother at the McDonald’s?

Moving and heartfelt, the best kind of writing out there.

Thanks for sharing your perspective.

This is a really special article. Heartfelt, eloquent and cut right to the bone of the issue.

Fagan, I normally enjoy everything you write, but this is by far the best piece you’ve ever done (that I can remember). It’s spot on, to the point, introspective, and relevant. Good job.

Jackson’s career took the rocky course of the teacher embarking on the Oregon Trail.

Pure gold. As long as his chin isn’t snakebitten, he could still make some noise. Machida is quite possibly the worst match up on Earth for him.

I hope you’re wrong. Love him and Machida both, I just don’t want to see Quinton check out unceremoniously.

Well done sir.

I truley believe.. Rampage’s fall from the top was the worsed ever! Worse than BJ and Brock. In a two week span he went from being on top of the world.. UFC LHW Champ.. to spread out on the street with cops guns drawn on TMZ.. WTF! Then he loses, his mind.. I really hope in this next fight.. he can be vintage Page.. I miss that animal.

Religion bashing is like nudity – as long as it’s tastefully done.

There are still fights for Jackson even out of the title picture (Vera, Couture, Ortiz, a UFC-bound Arona?), the question is how many fights he has left on his contract?

Finally, a good article not written to piss everyone off.

My last bit of hope is that Rampage has always been emotionally up and donw. This could just be a momentary lull in his character.

Very well thought out and well-written article, not to mention right on the money. Congrats.

I was rooting for Cro Cop like crazy leading into the Mir fight, I was convinced that getting the win in a hard fought battle against Barry would spur him, ignite the flame again, and maybe he’d shed his more tentative ways and just start letting things go a bit more right off that bat. I wanted to see the killer that I knew only from archive footage, and never from live fights that I’d seen him in.

But in the Mir fight, one piece of Joe Rogan commentary put it best, and I’m expecting a variation of it to be uttered at one point during the Machida fight

‘This is not the Rampage that won the title by knocking out Chuck Liddell, this isn’t the Rampage that knocked out Wanderlei Silva’

 seems easy to claim someones the next big thing (or era) and just as easy to write someone off, theres no shades of grey for mma apparently, they are/going to be the best, or they’re done.
 in some ways a agree as i see the icons of the sport that caught my attention and made mma what it is for me today slowly dissapearing and no new faces with such stature replacing them, but on the other hand, i can see why people like rampage and brock dont wanna listen to this crap every time they win or lose.

I have never read anything I agreed with so wholeheartedly

So I know what Jackson means when he says, “At the end of the day, me, I really don’t care if I win or lose, my main thing is a good fight.” It’s MMA’s version of the Watergate non-denial denial. It’s a death rattle – not of one’s fighting spirit, but of one’s drive to inch the boulder up the hill. It’s an acknowledgement that one’s best days have been lost to the spectre of Time.

I’d love to be wrong. I’d love for Quinton Jackson to regain the drive and focus he had in 2007. But that’s a fire that can’t be rekindled with movie scripts and a world-weary soul.

& as much as I wish it wasn’t, this is entirely true…

This is great Mike.

this is a well written piece that’s full of feeling, but its also kind of unfortunate in how it concretises a perception of Rampage, becoming a part of one more thing that he will need to fight. When you summarily pronounce the end of something, and all the well wishers start doffing their caps and throwing their flowers onto the coffin… do me a favour and check if the corpse is still alive!
I’m still with you Rampage. I know they mean well, but I’m not sure they see exactly how they nicely do gravity’s work for it…
i should say at the same time that the writing of the piece is very good, you uniquely conjure some of Quinton Jackson’s qualities, but i just think the pronouncement is a dangerous reality-maker and I for one, opt out of being part of it.
thanks.

Naturally talented guys gifted with ability and gifts like great chins show a lack of interest and questionable work ethic, like BJ Penn and Rampage

While guys that want nothing more to get in the cage in the hopes of putting on a great show and knocking someone out, like Chuck Liddell or Jardine, find themselves physically incapable of taking shots and pulling out victories.

“When one’s physical movements betray the struggle to mask one’s emotions” It’s true. it’s easy took watch recent Rampage interviews and fights for that matter and say, he’s lost something – or that he’s trying hard not to say that he is fed up with the fight game..

I dont know if there’s a definite conclusion to draw from that though.

It’s the tone of someone being TOLD to do something, like by a parent or a boss.

So i’m not sure if it’s a career ending attitude, his years in pride showed different levels of effort fight to fight.

He looked absolutely ripped in his fights with henderson and liddel. He was so motivated then, hungry…
I’m surprised he doesnt seem more committed at redemption with Shogun, But I have hope for his future fights.

I think where CROCOP stalking aggressive which made him the fighter that he was changed after vicious losses. He’s not the same fighter he was because of that lost nature.

But it’s not hesitation (of being KO’d) which has changed the way he performs, it’s the way he trains that changes the way he now performs, He doesnt train as well tech. or physically like he did as champ, made a Hollywood movie and now talks about fighting without his trademark passion or humor. But perhaps it can get reignited like it did when he entered the UFC.

again man, great read.

Machida deff looks like the more motivated, relaxed fighter going in. That aside..

If Shogun never slips that strain left from Machida, countering it with a right hook, Machida wins that round and who knows… Perhaps Joe Rogans “Machida Era” still seems like a long one, maybe he is still is considered striking magician/god.

The backing up, baiting, “drawing in” style of Machida seems tailor made for the plodding flat footedness of Rampage.

At the Same time, the slipping and countering with a KO ability of Rampage (see: Liddell, Silva) for the “chin up” telegraphed punching style of Machida (the way he go stopped his last fight) seems to show hope for Rampage.

I wouldnt be surprised if an unmotivated Rampage KO’s Machida, but I think Lyoto gets the win :(

THX for the great write-up. I can only hope to see a return to form for Quinton, although I believe the movie industry is his new “passion.” Still ranked in the top 5-10 in the world and doesn’t seem to want it anymore. Damn… like THE REEM’s shirt says, “Wasted Talent” “What A Shame.”

For 20k you can get Chris Rock to curse her out.

But if Page lands a big right hand on the Dragon and wins… what will we say about him then?

Good article though.

way back in the day when he gave out his fan line number.

He WAS a really cool guy.

as his ring attire in WWE once his UFC contract expires?

he was just the first to expose liddel, and that bought instant fame when did did it second time around

I share your concern about Rampage. Of recent, he seems rather dejected or unmotivated. I hope that I’m just reading too much into it.

Nevertheless, tell us more about:-

A girlfriend stumbling home with whiskey on the breath and a sloppy explanation on the lips

He was a monster when he wanted to be. But I don’t think he has it anymore. I think Machida is going to clown him in the cage. He is going to look slow, sluggish. That doesn’t mean he won’t try to make it a fight; I think he’ll have his moments, but I think Machida is the far superior fighter, in both skill and will.