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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
When Quinton "Rampage" Jackson signed with Bellator, Spike TV, and TNA Wrestling earlier this week in a joint venture with the three entities under Viacom, it seemed like a very odd pairing for Bellator in particular. Hearing Jackson speak about the deal on Wednesday ingrained that feeling, and it really seems like it flies in the face of everything Bellator has represented itself as since they came on the scene.
Backing up a little bit, Jackson's reasons for signing with the three are clear, and in an oftentimes rambling press conference on Wednesday he continually came back to the point: it's all about him. Jackson got increasingly disgruntled as his UFC career wound to a close, not understanding why the organization wouldn't cater to his every whim, and he let that bleed into his comments on Wednesday.
"I'm very excited to be a part of this family. You have no idea," Rampage said during Wednesday's conference call (transcribed by BJPenn.com). "This is something I've been dreaming about and waiting for years. I've been fighting for 12 years. I have a promoter that 'gets it.' He's like one of the fighters. We put our life on the line and we entertain the fans.
"Sometimes, in the past with promoters, I just felt like I wasn't appreciated. But, you guys get it. I've always wanted to be a pro wrestler. That's why I got started in this, that's why I started wrestling in high school. That's why I used to fight the way I used to fight when I was younger, I used to slam people, power bombs and stuff like that. My dream has come true. I get to go to TNA and do some pro wrestling. I felt I could do this, be in front of cameras and not be shy. Like the 'A-Team' movie, I want to be an action guy, I want to be a big kid and you guys are making my dreams come true."
"It makes me feel like all the hard work and all the things I did to my body in the past is all paying off now. I lost a lot of love for MMA when I was in the UFC. Honestly they just killed it, they drained it, but this new deal got me so excited and instantly brought the love back. It's hard to explain the way I feel now. I'm happy to be a part of the team."
It's fitting that his role on the A-Team came up, as that was the real turning point in his relationship with the UFC. But what Jackson to this day has failed to come to terms with is the fact that it was he who turned the tide against himself. Even as he talked about that shift in the relationship, he missed the mark again in his criticisms.
"I remember being with Dana the first time, I was really excited. In Pride, I was disappointed at the way they treated me. I tell it like it is. I kept some of it to myself. It's like a new relationship with a girlfriend. It's all great at first," he said (transcribed by MMAMania.com). "UFC, ever since I did the A-Team movie, it was like I cheated on them. Over here, I don't see that happening with Bellator. They're with Viacom and they got me all set up. These guys treat me really good. You guys would be surprised."
What Rampage still fails to understand is that him taking the role in the A-Team soured things for a reason. He'd filmed a season of The Ultimate Fighter and was supposed to fight Rashad Evans in his hometown of Memphis, a town the UFC booked specifically for Rampage. But that's convenient to ignore when his is a narrative of the constant victim.
"Bjorn gets it, man. He understands. I've been looking for a promoter like this for a long time," Rampage continued. "Some people think fans only care about their logos. I did a lot of favors for the UFC and I didn't feel like I got my favors back to me. I fought Keith Jardine right after Wanderlei and that was a favor for UFC. It took me years to get a title shot again."
Following that Jardine fight, there were only three bouts in there before he wound up fighting Jon Jones. That it took two and a half years to get there had more to do with him delaying the Evans fight with the A-Team - then losing - and barely edging past Lyoto Machida his next time out. He got the Jones fight less than a year after fighting Machida, but that won't stop him seeing things his own way.
On top of that, injury issues, his desire to do pro wrestling, and his comments about just wanting to entertain the fines again bring into question the benefit for Bellator.
"Bjorn knows that I'm rehabbing my knee, he don't care. In the UFC they don't care [if you're hurt], you go out there and fight," Jackson said (transcribed by Jonathan Snowden at BleacherReport.com). "When you have surgery, you should come back and have a warm up fight. The UFC don't care about you like that. Bjorn cares more about my long term. Before, I was talking about retiring at like 35, which is in a couple of days. Now with what we're talking about, I've got at least four or five more years in me. Because if I'm injured and stuff like that, it's okay, heal up, take your time, he's not rushing me to fight at all. He wants me to rehab my knees."
After much more of this on Wednesday's call, the basic message from Rampage, as far as his MMA career is concerned, was this: I'm here to entertain, that's it. He's not looking to be a champion, he's not trying to raise Bellator's profile, he's there because Viacom has given him a seemingly large amount of money off past accomplishments.
That simply runs contrary to what Bellator has been as a fight company from the start. Bjorn Rebney's continuously drove home the point that they're about giving an opportunity to fighters to make their way through tournaments and earn their spots for titles. They've wanted to bring the sporting aspect to the sport of MMA, and have heavily criticized the UFC for the arbitrary nature of their title fight selections.
Bringing in Rampage, especially when he's simply talking about being an entertainer, doesn't make sense. He doesn't fit in to Bellator's fight model, and he's less interested in being a fighter than he is in being an entertainer. That's fine for him, and also good on him for finding someone willing to pay him for being him. But the deal doesn't have much upside for Bellator. He's not set to for a fight yet as he's still rehabbing an injury, he's lost three straight fights as it is, and again, he's more excited for his movie opportunities through Spike and working with TNA.
Bellator's the odd-man out here, and this is the type of move that makes it seem like string pulling from Viacom rather than Bellator having much of a say. Rampage might draw some extra eyeballs when he fights in Bellator, at first, and if he's actually going to compete at heavyweight there's not much there in the way of challenges to stop him. But this deal ultimately represents three organizations enabling a self-unaware fighter who has a history of attitude shifts throughout his career.
All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again. It's in Rampage's nature, and while he's happy now, it's because he's being treated like a star beyond what he's been in the last couple of years. Stars fade, they die out, and while no one can fault Rampage for getting the deal and attention he feels he deserves, it's still not something that promises long-term promise for Bellator itself.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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