Props: Carmichael Dave show (Sports 1140)
Quoteworthy:
"Because I got so pissed off at him pulling out of the fight with Rashad, I'm speaking my mind -- he thinks I'm trying to ruin his movie career. It's crazy. Listen, I have nothing bad to say about Rampage, he's a grown man. If he decides he wants to walk away from guaranteed good money right now, he's a grown man, he can do whatever he wants to do. What did I do to Rampage? I talked to him as a friend and tried to talk him out of making a bad decision. He doesn't think it is, he thinks he's gonna have a movie career but there's so many fighters I've met over the years who thought they were gonna have movie careers. It's not like he was going after Machida because he wanted the belt -- he didn't want the belt! He said the belt causes too many problems and he just wanted to fight and make money and feed his family -- that's exactly what he told me. All he's been telling me since he got into the UFC is that he wants to fight in Memphis in front of his hometown. We make the fight in Memphis and then he pulls out of the fight because he wants to go make this movie because it has so much sentimental value to him. He's a fighter, that's what he does for a living. Now I'm going through all this crap where I got another fighter saying 'You know what, this isn't what I wanna do for the rest of my life, I wanna make movies, I wanna be a movie star, this is just a second career for me.' Like I haven't seen this one before. Rampage is a grown man. He's acting like a baby right now but he's a grown man. He wants to be in the movie business? Rampage, good luck to you man. I hope you make it big -- and I'm not being sarcastic because Rampage Jackson is a guy that I do like. But Rampage Jackson is a guy that doesn't always make the best decisions."
UFC President Dana White responds to a recent blog post from former light heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson, who abruptly decided to quit fighting to pursue a movie career. "Rampage" says he was mocked by White and got no support to fulfill the dream of playing B.A. Baracus in the new A-Team movie while Dana says he was just trying to help Jackson make the right decision by going with the guaranteed money in the fight game. What say you? Is there a right and a wrong side here -- or is it just a matter of irreconcilable differences?