While mixed martial arts and boxing aren’t scripted like professional wrestling, former UFC light-heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson claims that fighters taking dives for money isn’t an uncommon practice in either sport.
“I know that there’s been fake fights in MMA,” Jackson said in a sit down with Chris Van Vliet. “I know that… Say me and you fight and you say, ‘Listen Rampage, I’m gonna give you $10 million to take a dive. I gotta look good though. I gotta really hit you. I’m like, ‘I get hit all the time’. At the end you know that you’re gonna hit me, I know that you’re gonna hit me, but you know you’re gonna knock me the f*** out. I’m just thinking, ‘I’m gonna get hit then I gotta fall down’. Boxers do that shit all the time.”
Rampage specified that while he hasn’t seen fighters taking dives for money in the UFC, the practice was quite common in an organization like Pride, where a good portion of the roster consisted of pro wrestlers.
Ironically, Rampage faced some backlash following his fight with heavyweight legend Fedor Emilianenko (who retired following his second loss to Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader in January). Jackson, who lost the fight to Fedor two minutes and forty-four seconds in the first round by TKO, had not lost by TKO since 2005. The loss spurred some fans to believe that the fight was fixed, a claim that Rampage refuted on his Instagram. “I’ll never do a fixed fight,” Jackson replied.
Jackson added, “Sorry guys we didn’t get the outcome we wanted, but you know what, I knew one of us was going to get knocked out. But I didn’t know it was going to be (expletive) me. But you know what? I ain’t mad, though. You win some, you lose some. You get paid for all. Y’all remember that.”
While it’s been 4 years since his loss to Fedor, Jackson has said in the past that he wants to return to action in the octagon for another fight. “No, man. I ain’t done,” Jackson said in an interview with TMZ. “I’m not happy with my performance in my last fight. I can’t leave MMA fans like that. … Yeah, I’m going to leave this sport a little better. … Like I said, I’m in talks with fighting Shannon (Briggs), finally. That fight has been almost a year in the making. I want to do some boxing before I retire. … I might do MMA, but I want to do boxing. I’m getting up there. I’m 44, man. I’m getting up there. My knees (hurt) from wrestling. When you’re doing MMA, a lot of people want to take you down.”
What do you think of the comments made by Rampage Jackson on fighters taking dives for money? Do you believe that some fights in MMA and boxing are fixed? Let us know in the comments.
