LAS VEGAS - In Japan, he was marketed as a crazy homeless brawler from the States. But the UFC has allowed Quinton (Rampage) Jackson to be himself - an entertainer inside and outside the cage.
The 30-year-old mixed martial arts fighter defends his light-heavyweight title against Forrest Griffin at UFC 86. So what is he expecting from Griffin on Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Centre (available on pay per view)?
"I'm expecting to whup his ass," Jackson replies.
Jackson is a powerfully built 205-pounder with knockout power who was a star on the now-defunct Pride Fighting Championships circuit. He beat Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell there and became an icon when he picked up Ricardo Arona, who had a triangle choke locked in, swung him over his head while standing up and slammed him on the canvas, knocking him out in the process.
But Jackson was young and in need of money. His training camps were poorly planned - he shakes his head, recalling training against a bunch of jiu-jitsu fighters in the leadup to one of his bouts with feared striker Wanderlei Silva - and fought injured because he had to.
"Back in those days I was young, making a lot of cash money and I was spending it as fast as I could get it," he acknowledged.
Times have changed. Rampage, a father of four, is a born-again Christian.
"Today, I'm more mature," he says proudly. "I've got God on my side, I give 10 per cent to the church and I prosper."
"Look at me, I'm the champion, undisputed," he added. "Making history, setting records, whupping ass. It's been working out for me pretty good."
Jackson, who has a black panther tattooed on his left arm and Rampage God's Street Soldier on his right, can also count on the guidance of veteran manager/trainer Juanito Ibarra.
"He's come full circle, as a person, mainly as a person. I think that really counts as an athlete," said Ibarra, famous for his training skills and omnipresent pork-pie hat. "You've got to be mentally stable, you've got to want to do something to get better and believe me, it's like his ability was in a box. He was fighting just out of rawness, anger maybe. Now he understands that he has a gift.
"He's actually an athlete and he's starting to understand his body more. I think he's come a long way."
In many ways, Jackson remains a man-child.
"I'm oblivious to everything, I don't watch the news, I don't read newspapers," he says. "All I do is play video games, kick with my kids, go to clubs, train hard and fight."
In college, his roommate kept count of Jackson's gaming and estimated he spent-- hours a day in front of his console.
Jackson is bad with dates and doesn't write things down. So his schedule is, let's say, loose. Forgetting he had agreed to a small movie role after this fight, he went ahead and made plans. Now he is cancelling them to fulfil the original commitment.
Fast with the one-liners and comfortable with holding court, he has attracted interest from movie-makers. He's currently up for the role of B.A. Baracus in John Singleton's "A-Team" movie.
"I don't know. After this fight I find out," he said of whether he had the role.
And his camp passed on another lucrative movie gig because he had committed to coaching on Season 7 of "The Ultimate Fighter" reality TV show.
"We actually turned down a million-dollar role for 'Wolverine' to do'The Ultimate Fighter' show," Ibarra said. "Was it good business? Financially no, but it was our integrity and our dedication to the UFC and we said we'd do the show, so we did it. We passed (on) the movie, did the show, got over the show and now we're ready to fight again."
Jackson left Pride to join the World Fighting Alliance, which was subsequently purchased by the UFC.
"I bought the WFA basically just to get Rampage Jackson's contract," White said.
"He's fought some of the biggest names in the business ... I always liked Rampage, I was always a fan of Rampage. And I felt he wasn't put in the right positions over in Pride. I thought he was a talented guy and had the potential to hold the title here some day."
It didn't take long. Two fights later, at UFC 71 in May 2007, Jackson was champion. Liddell threw a lazy body punch and Jackson sent him to la-la land with a well-aimed punch to the chin, notching his second career win over the Iceman.
Next time out, at UFC 82 in September 2007, Jackson won a unanimous decision over former Pride champion Dan Henderson, controlling the former Olympic wrestler for much of the bout.
This fight came about because Jackson (27-6) and Griffin (15-4) were rival coaches on "The Ultimate Fighter." There has been virtually no sparks between the two fighters, who are more jokesters than trash-talkers, but Jackson has suggested that he has faced fighters with better credentials.
"Dan Henderson and Chuck have been fighting for a long time, fought some really good guys. The toughest guys Forrest fought, he lost to a lot of them," Jackson said.
Built like a pocket NFL linebacker, Jackson is renowned as a puncher although he says he can't comment on his power.
"I've never been punched by me so I can't rate it at all," said Jackson, who got his nickname from a cousin at age eight because of his explosive temper.
Jackson brings more than his fists when he comes to fight. He brings raw excitement.
"I want my legacy to be that Rampage was one of the most entertaining fighter there ever was in the sport," he said.
He enters the arena wearing his trademark rumble chain - he put it on during high school at the suggestion of his brother while looking to end a losing streak in wrestling. It worked. "I brought the chain and I brought the pain." - and bays like a wolf.
His staredown is legendary.
"He's a nice enough guy, easy to get along," Griffin said. "The thing about Quinton is when you look across the cage and you see that scowl, you know what you're in for. You know he's not joking any more."
Jackson has a super-sized noggin, so the scowl is hard to miss.
"l'm a fighter, I'm not an ice skater," Jackson explains. "The fans get mad when I look mean in the pictures with them, but I fight for a living. I'm not a barbarian but I'm still a fighter. I'm not a basketball player, they can smile, pretty boys. Football players, they're kind of mean but they still smile.
"This is fighting, it's like the most full contact sport. I'm not only a fighter, I'm a UFC fighter. One of the best athletes on the planet. You've got to look mean, that's how I feel. I'm already ugly, why try to look better smiling, look mean."
A Memphis native, Jackson now lives in Orange County, Calif. He has three sons and a daughter, aged eight, eight, two and one.
He is fighting for them these days.
"I've got four kids I've got to put through college, so I've got to save up for tuition and possibly bail money. They're bad as hell as well."
Two of three boys have Rampage as their middle name. He plans to legally change the third boy's name to add Rampage as well.
His one-year-old daughter doesn't need the name to terrorize others, he suggested.
"I give her the mean look and she smacks me, real hard in the face ... I don't know what got into that girl. I think she's going to be the fighter in my family, I think she's got the fighting blood because she loves to fight already. Every kid she meets, when she first meets a kid, she's got to smack them."
Like father, like daughter.
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