UFC
Dana White says he had to ask "Rampage" Jackson to honor the last fight on his contract
Jul 24, 2012 - 4:25:26 PM Dana White says he had to ask "Rampage" Jackson to honor the last fight on his contract

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"Me and Rampage had this conversation and he said, 'Cut me from my contract right now.' And I said, 'Dude, we've had your back every step of the way, we've honored every contract that we've ever had with you – honor yours.' He said, 'That's true. You're right. I will honor my contract.' Rampage loves us one minute and hates us the next, loves the sport one minute and hates it the next. I don't dislike or hate him. It's up to him. It's his life. It's not one of these things where I'm like, 'Oh, God, Rampage, don't do this.' It's Rampage's life. If you decide you don't want to be here anymore, we're not going to hold you down and keep you do it."

-Dana White talks about having to convince "Rampage" Jackson to take the last fight on his contract after the UFC 149 post-fight press conference (via MMAJunkie.com).

Penick's Analysis: That's the part of this entire "Rampage" saga that makes his side nonsensical; through all of the issues he's had outside of the cage, the UFC stood behind him. They defended him when he had his episode through the streets of Orange County; they dealt with him when he skipped out on his coaches fight with Rashad Evans to shoot the A-Team. Yet he wanted his release immediately because the UFC dared to point out to him that his star has taken a bit of a fall in the last year; and this still after they gave him another title fight last September. His last contracted fight will now come at UFC 153 in October, and if he doesn't change his mind about leaving the UFC, he'll be gone after that.

[Rampage Jackson art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]