MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani joined Quinton "Rampage" Jackson for a stroll through Tokyo in advance of Rampage's UFC 144 bout with Ryan Bader. Ariel gets Rampage to talk about his first trip to Japan to face the legendary Kazushi Sakuraba in 2001.
Rampage tells Ariel that he knew that fight was a bit of a set up -- Quinton got barely two weeks notice, had to lose 26 pounds in 2 weeks, etc etc -- but he didn't mind because the money was good. Rampage went on to give Sakuraba everything he could handle before getting submitted after almost 6 minutes.
Rampage also talks about how the cultural differences in Japan affect him. He discusses the difference between being a "gaijin" (non-Japanese) in Japan as opposed to being a black man in America. Rampage enjoys the friendly and helpful culture of Japan and tells numerous anecdotes about his experiences in the Land of the Rising Sun and the experience of fighting in front of 70,000 fans in Pride.
It's a very novel video for MMA. Enjoy!
SBN coverage of UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson