Rampage: If I see Chael Sonnen, I may smack him in the face
It appears that, with his time in the limelight seemingly winding down, Quinton “Rampage’ Jackson has taken great offense to the man who has taken his spot as the trash-talking king, Chael P. Sonnen. Forced out of his bout with Glover Teixeira at UFC 153, Jackson has since campaigned to make that fight happen once again. However, many are doubting if Rampage can return to the once high level he competed at for several years, and Teixeira is a man with momentum on his side. Rampage appeared on “Inside MMA” to dish his severe dislike for Sonnen and his attitude recently:
“His mouth gets him his fights. He’s a great wrestler. That’s all I’m gonna say, ‘cuz everything else sucks. He can’t punch hard. Look what he did to Anderson Silva . He did a great job holding him down, making a boring fighter out of a decorated champion, for five rounds. After the fight, I see that Anderson Silva didn’t have a mark on him. Not a mark. I talk trash, but I talk trash about people I’m actually gonna fight — people in my weight class. This guy, he talks trash about ring girls. He talks trash about the President. Now, that’s a little bit too much. He’s very disrespectful. I don’t like the guy. For real. The stuff he says about me. I like to joke around as much as anybody, but, for real, if I see Chael Sonnen, and he says anything to my face, I don’t know if I’m gonna smack him or not. I don’t know. I don’t like the guy.”
Strong words from a former champion in Rampage, who is obviously mad that Sonnen’s mouth may have garnered him a title shot against Jon Jones next April, a man whom Rampage was already submitted by last year. Many will remember that Jones and Jackson had quite the back-and-forth trash talk war themselves. The fight was not as exciting, however. Still, Rampage presses on, with a claim of his newfound love for fighting and a desire to face Teixeira sooner than later:
“My main focus is to destroy Glover Teixeira. It’s the last fight on my contract, and I’m gonna destroy Glover, then I’m gonna put my deuces up. There’s no love lost with the UFC. They’re a great company. They’re doing great things for the sport, but I just don’t think they’re doing great things for me. Glover’s a tough guy. I like his fighting style. He’s a jiu jitsu guy, but he throws it. I respect fighters like him. I think the UFC and MMA needs more fighters like him. Fighters like Chael Sonnen are just ruining the sport, taking people down and just humping on them. Fighters like Glover can save MMA. I don’t understand why these guys are coming up with these elaborate game plans to win by decision. It’s like boxing.”
Rampage may have a point here, as the UFC has undergone much heat for the direction that the sport of MMA seems to be taking, with many wrestling-based fighters winning boring decisions after much pre-fight hype. Still, for those fighters, it is better than losing a flashy fight, and Rampage will always be ultra-opinionated. A fight between him and Teixeira would mostly likely be quite the entertaining brawl, so let’s hope that Dana White makes it happen soon. After all, Rampage has been known to change his mind from time to time.
