Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson is undoubtedly the most interesting man in all of MMA. Every superstar of this sport — even Conor McGregor or Jon Jones needs the UFC, not the other way around. After all, there is a reason ‘Mac’ keeps promising his UFC return, even though most fans, and perhaps even Dana White, suspect otherwise. If the Irishman does come out and say he is never coming back to the UFC again, he will just not be as relevant or newsworthy anymore. But that was not the case for the incredibly charismatic Jackson, who was one of the biggest MMA superstars even before he came to the UFC.
In fact, the famously stingy Dana White and co. wanted ‘Rampage’ so much that they even bit the bullet of a pretty bad contract for them, which was and still is unprecedented for any UFC fighter. And Jackson feels that it was precisely this independent standing and star power that led to his acrimonious relationship with the UFC bosses, who apparently tried their best to clip his wings.
“I’mma tell y’all something else f–k it, I don’t give a f–k. I’mma tell ya, I did a Nike commercial years ago. I did a Nike commercial, and they call up Dana White to ask for, like, some footage so they can use some footage. No MMA fighter had done a Nike commercial. I think it was called, like, the human chain, you guys can look it up on YouTube,” Jackson told Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson on his ‘JAXXON’ podcast.
“First MMA fighter a Nike commercial, they they call Dana up and then they come back, and they tell me like, ‘what’s up with this Dana guy? He’s trying to talk us [into] putting Forrest Griffin in instead of you.’ Dana asked them to take me out and put Forrest Griffin in the f—ing commercial. And then I heard a couple other stories, right. They just, they just didn’t want me to be the guy. ‘Cuz I don’t know, I’m a loose cannon, or they didn’t want me. I’m out. I’m an outsider coming to the UFC, I came from Pride,” ‘Rampage further added.
Forrest Griffin, of course, literally saved the UFC. The promotion was losing money hand over fist and was perilously close to being shut down, until Griffin’s historic and electrifying ‘The Ultimate Fighter 1’ clash with Stephan Bonnar back in 2005 led to an explosion in the UFC’s popularity. And the ever-loyal Dana White seemed to try his best to take care of Griffin by getting him into the Nike commercial instead of Jackson.
That was a low for Jackson, but most fans would say something like this is totally in character for the UFC CEO. However, that apparently wasn’t even the most egregious thing the promotion did to Jackson.
Rampage Jackson explains how Dana White and co. ‘stole’ his Reebok deal
The infamous Reebok deal is one of the most famous events in UFC history. After the Las Vegas-based promotion inked an exclusive apparel deal with the sportswear giant, fighters were prohibited from representing their personal sponsors on their apparel in the Octagon. That was a big deal for many fighters, who lost out on not insignificant amounts of money at a time when UFC fighters were not very well paid.
According to ‘Rampage’, Reebok and the UFC got the idea of the deal only after the apparel company saw the benefits of sponsoring him.
“I left the UFC because they stole my Reebok deal. That was my motherf—ing deal. Reebok sponsored me, and I was gonna wear them on my shorts. And Dana White said you can’t wear Reebok. We don’t have a relationship with Reebok. I said, ‘I’m an independent contractor, you don’t need a relationship with my sponsor. What the f–k you mean… The UFC and Reebok teamed up and cut me out and they tried to give me one of them kits,” Jackson told Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo on their ‘Pound 4 Pound’ podcast.
And that apparently was the last straw for Jackson, who left the UFC shortly after and went to Bellator, where he ended his MMA career. “I was like, ‘Man f–k you. I’m leaving.’ They tried to make it look like I retired,” he added.
For any other fighter, this would have been a death knell to their relevance. But not Jackson, who is still one of the biggest, most popular names in the entire MMA world. What do you think about ‘Rampage’ Jackson’s claims about Dana White trying to stiff him out of a Nike commercial?
The post “Dana Asked Them to Take Me Out” – Ex-UFC Champ Exposes Dana White for Allegedly Trying to Steal Historical Nike Commercial appeared first on EssentiallySports.
