Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson has extended an apology to UFC fans for what he calls a “boring fight” between himself and Rashad Evans. The bout headlined UFC 114 and looks likely to have set PPV records, but Jackson was unhappy with how it panned out – and not just because he lost a decision.
“I apologise for the fight not so much because I lost but because of how it went down. I always like to put on exciting fights for the fans but Rashad came out to use that ‘Greg Jackson’ plan: be boring and squeak out a victory. So that bothers me more than the loss.”
Jackson says he struggled with Evans’ takedown-based gameplan and that fear of the takedown made him wary of letting his hands go. But when he did land a potentially fight-finishing punch and had Evans staggered he inexplicably allowed him to recover instead of going in for the kill – why?
“The reason why is because I thought he wanted me to rush in so he could take me down again. That’s the worst time to rush in and take somebody out. So the whole time I was walking on eggshells and trying to keep him from taking me down because Rashad is an awesome wrestler and I was having trouble getting up off the floor. So I figured if I rushed in he was gonna take me down,” Jackson recalls.
“I remember one other thing he was doing – he was punching me in my knee! It was weird because I had suffered a real bad knee injury in camp but we kept it secret, we didn’t say anything about it and we didn’t even tell the UFC.
“I told my doctor and that was it, he helped me out but I was going to back out of the fight. The only reason I didn’t back out was the fight had been so hyped and I didn’t want to disappoint the fans. Why was he punching me in the knee though? That’s kind of weird – did he find out about the injury? I don’t know. Its weird.”
Having finished with the Evans fight and the endless questions he had to answer before it (“I’m so glad that part is over”), Jackson is now out touring the US in support of The A-Team movie, his first major acting role.
The movie opened last weekend and has been warmly received by the MMA community. Even UFC president Dana White, initially furious that Jackson backed out of UFC 107 to take the BA Baracus role, has congratulated the former light-heavyweight champion on his performance.
Thanks to FightersOnly
