Don’t expect a Rampage Jackson-Dana White reunion anytime soon.
It’s been over eight years since Jackson last fought for the UFC, but he hasn’t forgotten the disrespect that he claims formed a permanent rift between he and White.
Jackson’s beef with White stems from a February 2012 incident following his loss to Ryan Bader at UFC 144. He felt the UFC CEO made derogatory comments about him, and that not only soured their relationship, but also his relationship with MMA as a whole.
“I think I fell out with Dana when I lost to Ryan Bader in Japan,” Jackson said on his JAXXON podcast. “I got injured before that fight, and I called Dana right away. I said, ‘Man, I tore, I got a partial tear in my meniscus.’ He said ‘What are you gonna do?’ I said ‘S***, man, it’s Japan. I still want to fight. F*** it, I’m still going to fight. I want to fight.’ It was Japan. I love fighting in Japan.
“So when I went there and I fought, and I lost by decision, the first thing Dana did in the press conference is, like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on with Rampage. I don’t think he has it. I don’t think he wants it any more.’
“I was like ‘Man!’ ... After all that s*** Dana did to me, when he did that s***, that’s when I got kind of pissed at him. I lost my love for fighting right there.”
In his prime, Jackson was one of the UFC’s biggest stars and a marquee name in the halcyon days of the light heavyweight division. He ended the dominant run of rival Chuck Liddell at UFC 71 to become champion and shared the cage with several standouts and future Hall of Famers, including Jon Jones, Lyoto Machida, Dan Henderson, Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin, and Glover Teixeira.
Jackson, 45, was known for his ferocious knockout power, vicious slams, and outsized personality. But he was quick to take pride in his reliability, as well. He rarely pulled out of fights, and though he missed weight for the Bader fight, he blamed his injury for the lone miss of his 20-year career.
The way Jackson sees it, White took his availability for granted, and that’s another reason they aren’t likely to see eye to eye any time soon.
“Because I never pulled out of a fight,” Jackson continued. “I don’t pull out. I got four, five, six kids. I don’t pull out. I had never pulled out of a fight in my career. I never pulled out. And then after that when I got injured I started pulling out of fights.
“I said, ‘F*** this s***,’ because you don’t get no respect for fighting injured, and I let Dana know right away that I was injured. For him to say that, it kind of made me look at him sideways.”
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