Fight Story: Howl at the Moon
Posted by Damian Sarcuni on 02.12.2007
The Tale of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
Welcome to Fight Story, the bi-weekly written history of Mixed Martial Arts. I'm Damian Sarcuni and my editor is Jose Chavez. Together, our goal with this column is to record the history of MMA while showing the epic stories behind each fighter that the record books don't always show. UFC 67: All or Nothing is now in the history books and fans are still debating the subtleties and nuances of the UFC's latest debuting fighters. Everyone was looking to make a buzz, but for now we'll focus on one fighter who never has trouble doing that, whether in a debut or a main event match.
Howl at the Moon - The Tale of Quinton "Rampage" Jackson
In any sport, there are many ways to get a fan following. Some athletes win our hearts through their conviction and efforts to push themselves to the limit. Others gain fans through dominating, as everyone loves to root for a winner. For some athletes, however, fans are gained long before they step foot on a field or into a ring. Some athletes just gain fans by opening their mouths.
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson is just such an athlete. If just one ounce of charisma brings in one fan, Jackson already has an army following him. Known as one of the most marketable fighters today, Jackson has already made waves in every promotion he's fought for. His pre-fight interviews are filled with humor as well as respect for most of his opponents. From his trademark ring entrance howls to his signature chain-covered fashion sense, this light heavyweight is one of a kind.
In the ring, the American Jackson is known both for vicious standup and incredible wrestling ability. Though he does not often use submission maneuvers, (of his 26 wins, 4 come from submission, the latest of which happened in the year 2001) Jackson is well rehearsed in all aspects of mixed martial arts and is dangerous anywhere in a fight. Like several other fighters, Jackson does have a signature move in his arsenal in that he is quick to pick people up off the ground and slam them back down. For the most part, Jackson's slam is considered unavoidable and his opponents have even shied away from applying submission holds to Jackson out of respect for his devastating counter.
Quinton Jackson was not always such a complete fighter however, and that is where this story truly begins…
Chapter 1 – Coming Up
Quinton Jackson was born on June 20th, 1978 in famous Memphis, Tennessee. It was there that Jackson was first introduced to his first career choice, that of amateur wrestling. While attending Releigh Egypt High School, Jackson received all state honors and placed 5th in the Tennessee State wrestling tournament for the 189 lbs division during his senior year. With constant exposure to the Deep South pro-wrestling territories, Jackson originally intended to start a career as a pro-wrestler, but instead continued his amateur career while attending junior college.
It was then that Quinton was first exposed to mixed martial arts, where he noticed that other amateur style wrestlers had some success. Jackson would later comment that he couldn't believe people could get paid to do that type of fighting, as this was something he already felt quite accustomed to doing. With nothing but wrestling training and freestyle street fighting skills, Jackson stepped into an MMA match for the first time on November 13th, 1999 at the International Sport Combat Federation in Memphis. Taking on the also debuting Mike Pyle (who has continued his career and faced named opponents such as Shonie Carter) Quinton Jackson won the fight via judges decision.
From there, Jackson bounced around from organization to organization, scoring another win in California's Huntington Beach Underground Pancrase and debuting in the popular King of the Cage organization just one month later. There, in his 3rd match, Quinton would face the debuting Marvin "The Beastman" Eastman in a two round brawl. Although it was Eastman's first MMA match, he had 15 years of wrestling and kickboxing experience under his belt as well. Although Eastman took the decision in this match, Jackson showed a lot of heart that drew roars from the crowd. Ken Shamrock happened to be commentating during this match, and even he felt that Jackson could be a special fighter with proper training. Jackson was disappointed in his lack of training and immediately asked for a rematch but it was not to be for some time.
Jackson continued to take fights in any organization he could find, racking up wins in the Continental Freefighting Alliance against Ron Rumpf and against Warren Owsley in the Dangerzone promotion. KOTC would be a mainstay in Jackson's career, however, as he returned in November of 2000 to best Rob Smith via a three round decision. From there, Jackson found a second home in the upstart Gladiator Challenge promotion, besting 3 more opponents in a span of about 4 months. Jackson finished the early portion his career with two more wins in April and June of 2001, both in KOTC and at the Gladiator Challenge. Although he had not faced much named competition, Jackson had racked up an impressive 11-1 record in just under 1 year.
Chapter 2 – Crossing an Ocean
It was his stellar record and a need for more American fighters that brought PRIDE FC to Quinton Jackson's doorstep. Although Jackson's previous fights had been impressive, he was still looked upon as a big strong street fighter whereas most PRIDE fighters were refined masters of technique. It is for this reason that when the much bigger Quinton Jackson was matched up against the legend Kazushi Sakuraba in his debut match, to say he was considered an underdog would be putting things lightly.
Sakuraba had a reputation for out-wrestling the best wrestlers and winning out over the most dangerous Jiu Jitsu masters in the sport. When asked about what his strategy would be against the legend, Jackson said planned to bring his trademark chain into the fight with him. When the commentators were confused by this, Quinton replied "Hell yeah, Sakuraba tapped out four Gracies!" Jackson was referring to the fact that Sakuraba was most known for his victories over four fighters from the very family that invented the art of Jiu Jitsu, the Gracie family.
Although it was clear Quinton was a charismatic gold mine on the microphone, he still had a lot to prove against Sakuraba. Nobody really knew who the American was or what he was capable of, but Sakuraba already had an established legacy. Indeed, Sakuraba did manage to finish Jackson nearly six minutes into the first round. However, those 6 minutes changed Jackson's career forever. Every time Sakuraba would attempt a submission, Jackson would power out of it or slam Sakuraba to the ground. Several times during the match, the commentators and spectators were certain Sakuraba had Quinton beat, but he kept managing to get out of all Sakuraba's attempts. Although Sakuraba did eventually secure a rear naked choke for the win, everyone became impressed by Jackson's intensity both in and outside of the ring. A PRIDE star was born.
Rampage quickly became just as fond of the Japanese public as they did of him, and his fame in the land of the rising sun grew quickly. Jackson had another high profile fight against pro-wrestler and mixed martial artist Alexander Otsuka in the Battlarts wrestling promotion. Although the fight was offered to Jackson on just two weeks notice, he managed to win via doctor stoppage at the end of the second round. Less than a month later, PRIDE brought Jackson back in to face Otsuka's teammate Yuki Ishikawa, who sought revenge for Jackson's bloody win over Otsuka. At this point, it surfaced that Jackson had actually been training with former UFC champion Tito Ortiz, though Quinton joked that Tito went easy on him.
Ishikawa came out swinging and paid dearly for it. Jackson swung just as wildly, connecting with Ishikawa several times, setting Jackson up to slam Ishikawa to the mat. After actually attempting a piledriver, Jackson began throwing big knees into Ishikawa's head and body. Eventually Jackson stood the fight up again, and threw a simple left hook with Ishikawa against the ropes for his first KO win at 1:52 in the first round. By the sound of the crowd, it was clear that the charismatic Rampage was gaining a huge fan base in Japan.
Jackson did hit a wall in his next fight however, as he faced Sakuraba's teammate Daijiro Matsui. At just 14 seconds into the first round, Jackson threw a Thai knee that accidentally hit Matsui's groin. Matsui was unable to recover and rather than declare the match a no contest, Matsui was given the win via disqualification. This would be the first time Jackson voiced some dissatisfaction with PRIDE, and it didn't stop there. PRIDE seemed fit to turn Jackson into an underdog yet again as his next two fights were against heavyweight kickboxers Masaaki Satake and Igor Vovchanchyn. Despite the weight disadvantage, Rampage pulled out the win in both matches, injuring both men for the victory.
Chapter 3 – In the Hunt
Up until this point, Jackson had managed to show off impressive ability and pull out some amazing wins, but his fighting techniques were still unrefined. To fix this, Quinton began training at team Oyama's Midwest training center, focusing on his striking ability. Quinton was quick to debut his new slogan for the team, "Team Oyama got somethin' for yo' momma."
Though he had kept his charismatic personality, it was clear that Jackson was growing as a fighter. Not only had he dominated the MMA undercards in both Japan and the United States, but he had also twice defeated top kickboxer Cyril Abidi in the K-1 kickboxing organization. In lieu of all this gained experience, Jackson announced that he had set a new goal for himself: to win the PRIDE middleweight championship by defeating famed Chute Box representative Wanderlei Silva. Having already linked together a string of impressive victories and no serious losses, Jackson was quickly placed in a match against fellow American Kevin "The Monster" Randleman, with the victor gaining a shot a Wanderlei's belt.
Both men came from similar backgrounds as wrestlers who had no problem standing and trading strikes as well. Although there was nothing but respect between Quinton and Kevin, the two contenders promised an exciting fight that would likely not reach the 20 minute time limit. At the sound of the bell Randleman rushed out, pumped and excited, but did not make the mistake of rushing into Quinton's reach. For most of the first round, Randleman did land several good strikes standing up, his takedown attempts wound up in a clinch where Jackson landed several good strikes as well and the two men appeared to be at a stalemate. Eventually both men were given yellow cards (point and prize purse deductions under Japanese PRIDE rules) for inactivity, which Jackson took great exception to since he was penalized while defending Randleman's takedown attempt. The two were stood in the middle once again and this time when Randleman shot for the takedown, Quinton landed a big knee to the monster's chest. This popped Randleman's head up in a daze and Rampage seized the opportunity to throw a powerful uppercut followed by a left and right combo that knocked Kevin to the mat. Rampage immediately mounted the weakened Randleman and began raining down strikes to the head, knocking the monster out at 7:17 into the first round, earning his title shot.
Or so he thought.
Jackson got on the microphone after the match to say thank you to Kevin Randleman, and to reassure his despondent that the match was indeed competitive and challenging. However, as soon as Jackson brought up his now rightful matchup against Wanderlei Silva, the Brazilian champion hit ran out of the audience and hit the ring, getting right into Jackson's face to jaw with him. "It's my belt!" Silva repeated in English several times, before shoving Jackson as hard as he could. The two men nearly had a fight right there, but everyone surrounding the ring held both of them back against each other. Jackson was escorted from the ring while being held, whereas Wanderlei grabbed a microphone of his own and repeatedly challenged Jackson to get back in. After awhile, Rampage realized he had to be the better man in this instance, and in response to Silva's challenge, he simply started slapping hands with several fans in the crowd while smiling as if the champion wasn't even there.
Yet even though Quinton was repeatedly guaranteed a title shot against Wanderlei. Jackson did not get a title shot for his next fight. Instead, while Silva had knee surgery, Rampage instead was paired off against Russian Top Team's Mikhail Illoukhine at PRIDE 26 – Bad to the Bone to secure his entry. As Rampage came to the ring, it was clear from the crowd reaction that he had hit a new high in fan popularity. When Jackson stepped up to the center of the ring to hear the referee's instructions, however, his popularity increased even more. From his trunks, Jackson suddenly produced a yellow card similar to the one he had received in the fight against Randleman, handing it to the referee while holding his nose as a joke.
The fight began with Illoukhine attempting a takedown on Jackson, which Quinton managed to stuff by sprawling immediately. Jackson quickly worked into Mikhail's guard, much to the confusion of those watching. His intentions were made clear when he attempted to lift and slam Mikhail down to the mat, but Mikhail caught himself and the two stood back up. Mikhail was reluctant to strike with Quinton, so when Jackson shot in for a takedown instead, Mikhail secured a guillotine choke on him in the corner. Jackson managed to power out and throw Mikhail to the ground however, once again going into his guard. Mikhail managed to get a hold of Quinton's left arm but could not secure a hold while Jackson repeatedly landed shots to the Russian's body. When Mikhail finally moved to secure the armbar, Jackson rolled through and pulled out of the attempt.
The two stood again but Mikhail held onto Jackson, hoping to secure a takedown. It was not to be as the two wound up in a clinch, which Jackson utilized to throw another powerful Thai knee into the Russian's head and body. Quinton followed with a combo similar to the strikes that helped him beat Kevin Randleman, but Illoukhine ducked through the ropes to escape further punishment. This earned him a yellow card point deduction and the match continued in the ring's center. It did not matter to Quinton as he began to dominate Illoukhine with strikes, both standing and on the ground. Prior to the match, Jackson commented that he intended to finish this fight in the first round. He did just that with a big knee to Illoukhine's body, which forced the Russian to tap in submission in just 6 minutes and 26 seconds.
Yet Jackson still was not given his due title shot, because PRIDE decided to hold a Total Elimination middleweight tournament at this time. Jackson managed to beat famed Brazilian Jiu Jitsu master Murilo Bastamante by split decision to secure his entry into the tournament. From there, Jackson went on to face foreign entry Chuck Liddell, who was already considered one of the most dangerous 205 lb fighters in the world. Jackson not only won against Liddell, but he did so by outstriking the top kickboxer in the second round. This loss not only eliminated Liddell from the tournament, but it remains the only loss he has yet to avenge to this day.
Chapter 4 – Wanderlized
His victory against Liddell took its toll on Jackson, however. Though Quinton did finally get his wish to face Silva in the next round of the tournament, he did so having taken much more damage from the previous round than Silva had against Hidehiko Yoshida. Although Jackson and Silva both brought a lot into their striking game, Silva overwhelmed Jackson with blows against the ropes. Silva didn't knock Jackson down but at the same time Jackson clearly was unable to fight back or defend properly and the referee called a stop to the match at 6 and a half minutes in the first round, awarding Silva the match and the tournament.
Rampage was livid. He had already earned a shot against Silva, but had to go through an additional tournament of fighters just to claim it. When the time finally came to face Silva, Jackson was already heavily damaged and he felt this was extremely unfair. Jackson began to beg for a rematch, but first he had to get through several other title contenders to remain in the hunt. Jackson started his rebound by facing the smaller Ikuhisa Minowa, beating him in the second round via TKO despite breaking his hand in the first two minutes of the fight. Jackson would have to heal and wait half a year for another opponent. This turned out to be one of the most dominant middleweight's of all time, Ricardo Arona. Jackson would once again be considered the underdog despite his seemingly unstoppable forward momentum.
At this point, Arona had used a submission wrestling style to rack up wins against the biggest names in the sport including Guy Mezgar, Jeremy Horn, and Dan Henderson. In fact, Arona's only loss came from PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko, and even this loss was not without its controversy. This was the ever flow of Quinton Jackson's PRIDE career. Jackson was constantly given what seemed to be impossible opponents who were expected to dominate him, only to walk away with more and more impressive victories. Though Quinton's star had more than risen since his arrival in PRIDE, he was given the most difficult paths to get his chance at the championship.
Nevertheless, the winner of Jackson/Arona would indeed be named the #1 contender of the middleweight division with a fight against Wanderlei Silva soon to follow. Both men felt confident in the abilities to defeat not only each other, but the champion as well. Although Arona predicted a submission victory for himself, in his pre-fight interview Jackson debuted a more humorous strategy, lovingly entitled "Whoop dat' ass":
"The strategy is, when someone tries to come and force themselves upon you, you force yourself upon them, and in doing so, whoopin' they ass."
Arona started off the match with low kicks, while Jackson attempted to counter. When Jackson moved to grapple Arona quickly pulled guard but Quinton was too strong and held Arona up. Though many expected a slam, Jackson calmly walked Arona over to the corner of the ring and lowered himself to the mat while still in Arona's guard. However the match was restarted in the center of the ring, where Arona soon worked for an armbar attempt. Jackson immediately got back to his feet and the fight was stood up. While Arona attempted to use wild strikes to set up a takedown, Jackson was able to land in a few solitary hits while successfully avoiding Arona's attempts to take things to the ground. In Arona's guard, Jackson would throw light body strikes while Arona worked to set up an armbar. Whenever Arona would open up his defense slightly, Jackson fired big shots to the head. Another armbar attempt forced Jackson to posture up and Arona fired in a heavy heel strike to Jackson's head. Quinton moved back down, hurt, and Arona began to lay in heavy punches to Jackson's forehead.
However, Arona stopped. Jackson held his head and spoke to the referee to say he did not give up, but Arona thought Jackson was out. Rather than finish the fight, Arona looked up at the referee, requesting he end it. Instead, Jackson moved back into Arona's guard and the fight continued as before for several minutes. The finish came when Arona attempted a triangle choke, which Jackson managed to block with his right arm. As Arona passed his legs up around Quinton's left arm and head, Jackson found a vertical base hoisting Arona high up into the air. From over 7' in height, Jackson brought Arona's head crashing down to the mat. However, when both men landed, their heads collided. Whether Arona was knocked out due to the slam itself or the collision is still debated to this day, but one thing was clear: Arona was completely unconscious. Jackson laid in two quick strikes before the referee called for the bell, at 7:32 in the first round. The underdog no more, Jackson would be slated to face Wanderlei Silva once more in a main event title match.
Now it was Jackson's turn to do a little trash talking. At PRIDE Final Conflict 2004, after Silva knocked out Yuki Kondo, Jackson stood up from the English announcing table to enter the ring and "formally challenge" the champion for the belt. A staredown broke out between the two men once again, and it was clear that Jackson would not be pulling any punches in this fight.
Or would he? In September of 2004, Jackson and his son D'Angelo woke up at 4 a.m., apparently having the same dream. They were so unnerved that they had to leave their apartment. This event resulted in Jackson converting to born-again Christianity. Many fans questioned Jackson's new outlook on a life and how it would play into this championship bout. In interviews, Jackson would later claim it did indeed matter, as he began to feel that God owed him a victory over Silva, so much so that he even fasted prior to the bout.
With all of this going on, the fight became on of the most anticipated and debated in MMA history. Silva saw Jackson as nonsense; a weak man not worthy of even challenging for the title. Jackson, meanwhile, felt Silva was arrogant and overrated. To vocalize his feelings, Jackson entered the ring and sat down, producing a cell phone and making a call before the fight, seemingly unconcerned with his opponent at all. Silva, meanwhile, showed the same intensity as always. For most of the first round, Jackson was able to counter most of Silva's blows and wound up putting the champion in trouble towards the end. However, in the second round, Silva switched up his strategy and began to strike far more orthodox, eventually doing enough damage to bloody Jackson up severely, sending him through the ropes and knocking him out on his feet. Jackson had failed at his second attempt to capture the middleweight title, and it didn't look like he could make another claim to the PRIDE throne anytime soon.
Chapter 5 – Quinton the Commodity
Jackson was never the same after that fight. In his next match four months later against Silva's teammate Murilo "Ninja" Rua, Quinton barely managed to pull out a decision victory, looking slow and not doing too much damage at all. Quinton would then lose to Ninja's brother, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, getting knocked out nearly five minutes into the first round. Although he looked a bit better against Hiotaka Yokoi at PRIDE 30 – Fully Loaded, it was clear that Jackson was becoming frustrated both with himself and with the PRIDE organization.
His final match would be against the Korean Tae Kwan Do practitioner Dong Sik Yoon, who was desperately seeking a win in PRIDE. Willing to do anything to best Jackson, Yoon sought help from the man who had given him his first MMA lost, the legendary Sakuraba. Like the unorthodox master he was, Sakuraba gave Yoon a counter to avoid Rampage's infamous slam. When Quinton lifted Yoon into the air, Yoon countered by grabbing Quinton's leg, which left both men in a paralyzed, stalemate position. Despite this, Jackson did get the unanimous decision victory for his final match in PRIDE.
Quinton headed back to the United States, joining with the revamped World Fighting Alliance promotion. Jackson headlined a close but competitive match against Matt Lindland, grinding out a split decision that left fans far more satisfied with Jackson's fighting abilities. However, due to financial troubles, the WFA fell into turmoil and it seemed as though the promotion would sink long before it could even get out to sea.
It is here that Quinton Jackson's tale finds a surprisingly happy ending. With Jackson's contract on the line, the UFC seized the opportunity to buy out the failing WFA. To the surprise of many, UFC president Dana White was not at all secretive about why his organization had purchased the WFA: they wanted Quinton Jackson's contract.
Jackson debuted at UFC 67 – All or Nothing, facing off against the man who had dealt him the first loss of his career: none other than Marvin Eastman. Although Eastman never backed down and both men put up a great striking fight, Jackson eventually landed a solid combination that send Eastman to the canvas in round 2. Jackson went on to say that he had a lot of training and tuning to do, but he was also quick to announce his intention to face Chuck Liddell once more, this time to bring home the gold for certain. There is a lot of respect between these two, but more importantly, there is a hunger. Jackson still wants a championship belt around his waist, and Liddell wants to avenge the one loss he has not yet had revenge for. Jackson has found his home in the UFC, and the future is bright for him indeed.
On Record
Thank you for reading Howl at the Moon: The tale of Quinton Rampage Jackson. While Quinton's career has been an absolute roller coaster of ups and downs, his tale is truly just beginning as he works his way back up through the world's best middleweight fighters. Jackson seems far more self aware than ever before, and ready to make the sacrifices he need to become the champion. But will he actually do it? That's today's On Record question:
Will Quinton "Rampage" Jackson beat Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell to become the UFC light heavyweight champion of the world?
Damian: Everyone seems to have a clear visual in their mind's eye of just how this match is going to play out if it happens. I think you are all fools. Anyone who claims that either Jackson or Liddell is a sure bet to win isn't thinking clearly. Yes, Jackson did beat Liddell previously, but Liddell has only gotten better and Jackson has somehow managed to get worse. At the same time, Rampage seems aware of his problems now and does seem willing to work on them. I give the advantage to Liddell right now, but admittedly so does Jackson. We've got a long way to go before the match actually happens, and Jackson may change our minds long before then.
Jose: At this point, I would give Chuck Liddell the advantage simply because Chuck generally delivers. He has his weak points but no one has really been able to exploit them enough for a win. Jackson was at one time the most impressive 205er out there; The Quinton Jackson of old could beat ANYONE in this weight class. But he just doesn't appear to be the same fighter anymore. When his body sailed through the ropes at High Octane 2004 against Wanderlei Silva, he lost something he hasn't been able to get back yet. Can Quinton Jackson beat Chuck Liddell? Of course he can, but I haven't seen anything in 2 years that makes me confident enough to put my money down on it. Quinton really needs to take a couple of more fights before facing Liddell. In his fight with Eastman, Jackson never really attempted to slam him and that worries me. If Jackson can't take Liddell to the ground, it's going to be that much harder for him to win.
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