Yesterday we reported that Quinton “Rampage” Jackson had announced his retirement from the sport of mixed martial arts. He felt betrayed and unappreciated by the UFC brass, namely Dana white, and had enough. He wants to make movies.
Tuesday, on Northern California’s Sports 1140 KHTK-AM Carmichael Dave Radio Show, UFC President Dana White responded to the comments Jackson posted on his blog announcing his departure from MMA and the UFC.
PROMMA.INFO is providing a complete transcript of Dana White’s comments and what he had to say about the situation below:
“First and foremost, Rampage has been a friend of ours and we really like Rampage and I’m not going to get into the battle of who’s done who for what and all that stuff. We’ve done a lot for him and yes, he’s been there and fought. The guys come in here, they’re fighters, that’s what they do. We give them fights and they fight and they make money. And we make money. That’s the way it works.”
“Believe me, if you think this is the first time I’ve dealt with people who think they want to become actors and that they’re going to make millions and millions of dollars off making movies and acting… I got so pissed off about him pulling out of the fight with Rashad… I’m speaking my mind. He thinks I’m trying to ruin his movie career. You know, it’s crazy. I have nothing bad to say about Rampage.”
“He’s a grown man. This guy decides he wants to walk away from guaranteed good money right now, money he will never have the opportunity to make for the rest of his life because he wants to go make movies… He’s a grown man he can go do what he wants to do. What I do with Rampage is I talk to Rampage as a friend and tried to talk him out of making a bad decision. And he doesn’t think it is. He thinks he’s going to have a movie career. But there’s been so many fighters over the years that thought they were going to have movie careers man.”
“I didn’t say anything bad about him doing the movie other than I thought it was a bad idea, because I do think it’s a bad idea. And that’s not true about Rashad. I offered him the Rashad fight, and yes I talked him into the Rashad fight the first time, and then I tried to get Rashad and Rashad turned the fight down. That was when we made the Keith Jardine fight. I mean, that’s what I do, call these guys and offer them fights.”
“Rampage Jackson told me he wasn’t interested in the belt, the belt caused him too many problems. It’s not like he was going after Machida cause he wanted the belt. He didn’t want the belt. He said the belt brought too many problems into his life. He said he just wanted to fight and make money and feed his family, is exactly what he told me.”
“All he’s been telling me since he got in the UFC is that he wants to fight in Memphis in front of his home town. We make the fight in Memphis and then he pulls out of the fight and is going to do a movie instead because it has so much sentimental value to him. Come on man. He’s a fighter, that’s what he does for a living.”
“And now I’m going through all this crap again where I got another fighter going, ‘You know what, I don’t know if this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I wanna make movies, I wanna me a movie star. This is my second career. Like I haven’t seen this one before.”
“We’ve got no problems. We’re in the fight business. We make fights. That’s what we do. There’s always guys that are injured, guys that have conflicting dates, things that are going to pop up, movie roles. All this stuff comes at you every day. I say this every day. Every interview I ever do. I’ve been saying this for years. Every morning when I get out of bed, there’s one thing guaranteed. Bad stuff is going to happen today. It happens every day. And my job is to deal with it. You know.”
“Rampage is a grown man. He’s acting like a baby right now. But he’s a grown man. If he wants to be in the movie business, Rampage, good luck to ya’ man. I hope he makes it big, and I’m not being sarcastic. Rampage Jackson is a guy I actually do like. And Rampage Jackson is a guy I know that doesn’t always make the best decisions, and I hope the movie thing works out for him. If that’s what he truly wants to do and that’s what he feels he thinks his career is, I wish him all the luck in the world. I do like Rampage. I have no ill will toward him whatsoever.”
Editor’s Note: It is recommended you listen to the interview to get the full context of White’s statements. It is roughly six minutes long. Dana White interview on The Carmichael Dave Show 9.22.09