UFC Rampage Greatest Hits DVD Review

Posted by Dan Plunkett on 06.01.2010

From his battles with Chuck Liddell and the iconic KO of Ricardo Arona, the UFC Rampage Greatest Hits DVD is here! 411's Dan Plunkett checks in with a full review!


DVD Release Date: 6/1/10
Blu-ray Release Date: 6/8/10
Running Time: 133 minutes
Buy It Here

Over the past decade Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has established himself as one of the greatest light heavyweights of all time. From vicious slams to brutal knockouts, Rampage’s skill set is a unique on that makes him stand out above the rest. This DVD is the story of Jackson’s journey from a powerful wrestler to the best fighter in his division, but it wasn’t without setbacks along the way. We won’t be seeing those setbacks however, as this DVD goes the ‘Happily Ever After’ route and shows ten of Jackson’s best wins. I’m not going to do a full blow-by-blow recap of every fight, since I already did that and I lost the review. It’s a bad omen. Instead, I’ll let you know what’s going on in the fight, how it affected Rampage’s career, and an enjoyment rating for the fight on the Korean Zombie scale. Got it? Let’s get to the review.

-A highlight reel of Rampage’s fights is shown. The narrator introduces us to Rampage, and calls him “one of the greatest entertainers in the history of mixed martial arts.” I believe this to be true….



Sadly, that clip isn’t on the DVD.

-Rampage’s first Pride fight against Kazushi Sakuraba is highlighted. Then we get to see Jackon’s first victory in Pride!

Fight 1: Rampage vs. Yuki Ishikawa from Pride 17
-This is Ishikawa’s first MMA fight in a stellar 0-2 career. I wonder who wins this one. Rampage is clearly the far stronger fighter as he lifts up Ishikawa and slams him early in the fight. About a minute into the round he almost piledrives him, but thankfully for Mr. Ishikawa’s health it doesn’t get completed. The end of the fight came on the feet, where Rampage landed a left hook that put Yuki down. It was a squash fight, as Rampage was completely dominant.

Winner: Rampage by KO (punches) at 1:52 of round 1.

Enjoyment Rating – 3 ½ Korean Zombie’s out of 5.

-The omniscient narrator tells us that Rampage wasn’t afraid to take on anyone – even heavyweights. That leads us to Rampage vs. Igor Vovchanchyn. No mention by Mr. Narrator that Igor was an undersized heavyweight.

Fight 2: Rampage vs. Igor Vovchanchyn from Pride 22
-Igor was at one time the #1 ranked heavyweight in the world. At this point he was still a top fighter but had fallen from his perch. One fight prior to this, Igor lost to Heath Herring and two fights following this one he’d be famously decapitated by Mirko Cro Cop. Lots of clinching early. Once they break the clinch Igor is very aggressive on the feet, but he gets overaggressive and gets slammed by Rampage. It’s interesting to hear Stephen Quadros read Quinton’s sponsors during the fight. Speaking of Quinton, he is showing good, methodical ground and pound here; using body shots very effectively. Igor escapes from being mounted, gets back to his feet and unleashes a barrage of punches on Rampage who just scoops him up and slams him again. Rampage is still working the body and one shot to the ribs makes Igor writhe in pain and the fight is stopped. This fight showed that Rampage could compete at the highest level with someone with as much experience as Igor.

Winner: Rampage by Submission (Injury) at 7:17 of round 1.

Enjoyment Rating – 4 Korean Zombie’s out of 5.

-The narrator calls Igor a “certified MMA legend,” which is nice of him. Next up is “The Monster,” Kevin Randleman.

Fight 3: Rampage vs. Kevin Randleman from Pride 25
-Randleman had won five straight at this point and was an insane athlete. That is exemplified when Rampage takes him down early in the fight and Kevin pops right back up. This is really just a glorified wrestling match for Randleman, who is only fighting for the takedown in the clinch. Rampage, meanwhile, is throwing knees at every chance he gets. Jackson shows his great takedown defense as Randleman seems really far in on a double leg but Rampage seems to defend with relative ease. The fighters are awarded yellow cards for inactivity. Finally, the finish comes after Rampage lands a knee to the face and follows up with punches that knock Randleman down. A few more punches from mount put Randleman out. Not a terrible fight, but it was hardly exciting. Randleman is such a good wrestler with equally as good credentials and Rampage nullified that part of “The Monster’s” game, which speaks volumes about his wrestling ability.

Winner: Rampage by TKO (Strikes) at 6:58 of round 1.

Enjoyment Rating – 2 ½ Korean Zombie’s out of 5.

-The 2003 MWGP is touched on. We see some of the participants and move to Jackson’s second round bout.

Fight 4: Rampage vs. Chuck Liddell from Pride Final Conflict 2003
-Liddell took part in the tournament after losing an interim title bout to Randy Couture at UFC 43. The big fight everyone wanted to see was Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva, but it just wasn’t meant to be at the time. Both fighters trade hard shots at a good pace, no matter what Dana White (who’s providing commentary from the year 2003) and Stephen Quadros would lead you to believe. At the time, Liddell had one hell of a chin and took Rampage’s best shots. Dana says Chuck practiced a lot of leg kicks for this fight, and is scolding him for not using them. I seem to remember a fighter using that strategy against Rampage and bringing home a large belt…maybe Chuck should’ve followed through on the game plan. Chuck is tired by the end of round 1, and he sucking for air by the second round. In that second round, Rampage takes him down and lands ferocious ground and pound until Chuck’s corner throws in the towel. Very good fight that proved Rampage is in the elite of the division.

Winner: Rampage by TKO (Corner Stoppage) at 3:10 of round 2.

Enjoyment Rating – 4 Korean Zombie’s out of 5.

-The narrator tells us about how Rampage fared in the finals of the tournament. Next up, we fast forward a year to take on Brazilian Top Team’s Ricardo Arona.

Fight 5: Rampage vs. Ricardo Arona from Pride Critical Countdown 2004
-At this point Arona had only lost to Fedor while holding wins over Jeremy Horn, Guy Mezger, Dan Henderson and “Ninja” Rua. In a cool spot, Ricardo tries to pull guard but Quinton just carries him around. This fight is really just Arona trying to take the fight to the ground, but it’s more exciting than that reads. Arona is very aggressive off his back with submissions and hurts Rampage with up-kicks to the point that he thinks Rampage is out. Another cool moment comes when Arona is looking for an Americana from the bottom and asks Rampage if he gives up, to which Rampage calmly looks up and shakes his head “no.” At one point Arona comes close to sweeping Rampage but Quinton shows he has good control and stays on top. Now Arona throws up a triangle and this isn’t going to end well. Rampage lifts Arona up, slams him back down and knocks Arona out. Great, highlight reel KO in a fight that showed Rampage can last on the ground with even the best submission artists.

Winner: Rampage by KO (Slam) at 7:32 at round 1.

Enjoyment Rating – 4 Korean Zombie’s out of 5.

-Interestingly, they skip over Rampage’s loss to Wanderlei. They could have at least shown a highlight of one of the best fights of all time. Instead, we go right to Rampage’s UFC debut against Marvin Eastman.

Fight 6: Rampage vs. Marvin Eastman from UFC 67
-Rampage made his UFC debut on the same night as Mirko Cro Cop, and both guys got warm-up opponents for their first bout inside the Octagon. In both cases, the end result was fairly underwhelming. Cro Cop was unimpressive in his finish of Eddie Sanchez, and it was later realized he simply wasn’t the fighter he used to be. Rampage’s performance, however, can be excused as first-time jitters. There’s a lot of feeling out by both fighters and then we move to the clinching. At the end of the first round, Rampage hurts Marvin badly but can’t finish before the end of the round. Round 2 isn’t terribly exciting either until the finish, which sees Rampage knock “The Beastman” out with uppercuts in the clinch. Not a horrible fight, but it doesn’t quite fit in with fights like Rampage vs. Arona, Liddell and Vovchanchyn. It served its purpose though, as the fight was really just a bridge to Liddell for Rampage.

Winner: Rampage by KO (punches) at 1:53 of round 1.

Enjoyment Rating – 2 ½ Korean Zombie’s out of 5.

-We get to see some of the build to Liddell-Rampage II, which is nice.

Fight 7: Rampage vs. Chuck Liddell II for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship from UFC 71
-Liddell had won seven straight fights since losing to Rampage the first time, all by KO or TKO. Both fighters are tentative to start out. Rampage throws his arms up at Liddell, who is constantly circling. Liddell throws a left hook to the body, Rampage answers with a right hook to the face and it’s over. This was a changing of the guard moment. Liddell defended the belt four times, and since he lost the belt there have been five different light heavyweight champions.

Winner: Rampage by TKO (Punches) at 1:53 of round 1.


Enjoyment Rating – 3 ½ Korean Zombie’s out of 5.

-The narrator introduces the title unification bout, saying Rampage would finally get a shot at the ever elusive Pride title. It would have made more sense if they actually acknowledged earlier that he fought for the Pride belt.

Fight 8: Rampage vs. Dan Henderson for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship from UFC 75
-Henderson had won the Pride welterweight title and fought Wanderlei Silva for the middleweight belt. He won. So we end up with Rampage vs. Hendo for the undisputed title. Rampage is quick out of the gate, but it’s Henderson who takes him down and wins the round. Round two is close, as Henderson is on top for most of the round but Rampage did more damage when he was on top. As he does best, a lot of that damage was done to the body, which helped break down Henderson for the later rounds. Round three was another close one, but Rampage seemed to have pulled it out. Sadly, they bleeped out Matt Lindland’s curses in Henderson’s corner. Round four is the game changer, as Rampage knocked Dan down, though Dan is uncharacteristically active off his back throughout the fight. Henderson is gasping for air by round five, but he did manage to take Rampage down and keep him there for a short time. Rampage ends the fight with a flurry that seals him the fight and the round. His performance here left no doubt he was the top light heavyweight in the world, especially after Shogun loses to Forrest Griffin later in the month.

Winner: Rampage by unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 49-46)

Enjoyment Rating – 4 Korean Zombie’s out of 5.

-The narrator tells us how Rampage lost his title with a few highlights of the fight to go along with it. He then takes us through Jackson’s rivalry with Wanderlei Silva.

Fight 9: Rampage vs. Wanderlei Silva from UFC 92
-I hate watching this fight because of how badly Wanderlei gets knocked out, but I’ll watch it just for you, the loyal reader. Wanderlei had just beaten Keith Jardine, but the notion that he was still at the top of his game was wishful thinking. “The Axe Murder” is throwing a lot of kicks in light of Forrest Griffin’s win over Rampage. In what may be the first punch Rampage landed all night, he knocks out Wanderlei with a left hook. It still saddens me to watch.

Winner: Rampage by KO (Punch) at 3:21 of round 1.

-Rampage wants his belt back, but he has to go through “The Dean of Mean” first.

Fight 10: Rampage vs. Keith Jardine from UFC 96
-This fight features the completely unbiased commentary of then-champion Rashad Evans. Jardine had just beaten Brandon Vera but prior to that was knocked out by Wanderlei Silva quickly. Keith is circling a lot and Rampage is just following him. The first round is close but I’d give it to Quinton. In the second round, Rampage dropped Jardine but was unable to finish. Jardine rattled Quinton in the round too, but Rampage won the round on the knockdown. The third round sees Rampage take Jardine down and he knocks him down in the last ten seconds to seal the win. Rampage should have gotten a title shot after this, but unfortunate circumstances prevented that. On the bright side, those unfortunate circumstances lead to UFC 100 getting a huge buyrate and Rampage and Rashad coaching TUF and squaring off at UFC 114.

Winner: Rampage by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

Enjoyment Rating – 3 ½ Korean Zombie’s out of 5.

-The DVD ends on a cliffhanger, as the narrator doesn’t know whether or not Rampage will fight again, which completely contradicts me labeling him omniscient in the beginning of this review.

Extras: There aren’t really any. Just three advertisements for UFC DVD’s. They didn’t even show the Rampage-Rashad showdown after the Jardine fight. That’s disappointing.

The 411: This DVD had a lot of potential and it fell short. I would have loved to see a documentary for one, and I felt the fight selection could have been better. Three of Rampage's best fights (Silva x2 and Griffin) were left off the feature because he lost. It wasn't a bad DVD, as I learned more about Rampage's evolution by watching all these fights in order, but it could have been better. Let's hope the UFC gets better at DVD's for single fighters, because its something that can work very well if done right.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]