Dana White Thinks Rampage 'Could Have Been So Much Better'

[No More Sorrow]

Apr 26, 2012 - WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Many words have been used to describe Quinton "Rampage" Jackson over the years: Controversial, outspoken, hard hitting, and perhaps a few that aren’t fit to print.


But when UFC president Dana White looks back on the career of the former light heavyweight champion, two words come to his mind: Wasted potential.


"I think he could have been so much better if he applied himself," White said Tuesday. "He had all the tools. Incredible chin, knockout power in both hands, incredible charisma and personality.


"Tell me Rampage Jackson wasn’t born to fight. Not only in his power, but his attributes, his wrestling, his chin, the list goes on and on."


So why wasn't Jackson's career, which included unifying the UFC and PRIDE 205-pound titles, all it could be? White wouldn’t call Rampage’s Hollywood dalliances a distraction and even complemented him on his acting career.


"If you look at the only movie he ever acted in, "The A-Team," he did a great job in that movie," White said. "If you look at all the guys who have tried to cross over into acting, Rampage is the only one who has ever done a good job at it. He’s actually a really good actor."


Rather, it’s been the periods in which Jackson has gone off the rails which, well, caused him to go off the rails: The infamous Orange County car chase; the various times he’s quit; and his recent series of Twitter outbursts after his UFC 144 loss to Ryan Bader.


"He’s crazy," said White. "Rampage takes losses really hard, and, I don’t know, we’ll just see what happens, see how this thing plays out."


"His potential could have been so much more. This is a crazy business, you always have these guys who think they’re getting screwed and this and that and everything else that’s happening. ‘Rampage’ wants to fight one more fight on his contract, and his last fight, and he’ll never make that money ever again for the rest of his life. A lot of those guys in the UFC don’t realize that until its too late."

He was talented when he was in PRIDE, If he only had stuck with his boxing, had more motivation, and trained with better coaches. Dana is dead on though with what he's said about him

 

[Ben]

Think over the last few years it was more about a paycheck for him, not winning titles. Guy just wanted to get paid, and work on being a movie star.

 

[No More Sorrow]

Pretty much, although he complained all the time about how much he got paid. Which I'm pretty sure was 300-450K per fight.

 

[Slim]

He is wasted potential. he was too one dimensional. If he could have worked in leg kicks... if only he could have worked those in it could have opened a lot more doors for his hands, for his wrestling, for everything. He... just wasted it.

 

[Deezy]

Juanita was the only reason he was succesful.

Should've learned how to do math before he signed anything with him tho.