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Former UFC champion Quinton Jackson says he knows fighters have taken dives for money: “There’s been

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Quinton Jackson says rigging MMA fights has happened, and he knows of a few.Many fans and conspiracy theorists have often said MMA fights are fixed, and those claims have only furthered with the rise of Jake Paul and his boxing matches. Although Jackson says he hasn’t heard of UFC fights being fixed, he hints at former PRIDE fights that featured pro wrestlers being fixed, as well as pro boxers.“I know that there’s been fake fights in MMA. I know that… Say me and you fight and you say, ‘Listen Rampage, I’m gonna give you $10 million to take a dive. I gotta look good though,” Jackson said to Chris Van Vliet (via Sportskeeda). “I gotta really hit you. I’m like, ‘I get hit all the time’. At the end you know that you’re gonna hit me, I know that you’re gonna hit me, but you know you’re gonna knock me the f*** out. I’m just thinking, ‘I’m gonna get hit then I gotta fall down’. Boxers do that shit all the time.”Although Quinton Jackson says he knows of fake fights in MMA, he didn’t give any proof so it is just hearsay right now. But, given how many fights have taken place, the odds are likely that at least one has been fixed, as boxers have been proven to have fixed fights on multiple occasions.As for Jackson, he has not fought since December 2019 when he suffered a TKO loss to Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 237 in Japan. Jackson is the former UFC light heavyweight champion and holds notable wins over Lyoto Machida, Chuck Liddell, Kevin Randleman, Keith Jardine, and Wanderlei Silva among others. In his career, he went 8-5 in the UFC, 12-5 in Pride, and 5-3 in Bellator.

What fights do you think were fixed?
 
Quinton-Jackson.png.webp

Quinton Jackson says rigging MMA fights has happened, and he knows of a few.Many fans and conspiracy theorists have often said MMA fights are fixed, and those claims have only furthered with the rise of Jake Paul and his boxing matches. Although Jackson says he hasn’t heard of UFC fights being fixed, he hints at former PRIDE fights that featured pro wrestlers being fixed, as well as pro boxers.“I know that there’s been fake fights in MMA. I know that… Say me and you fight and you say, ‘Listen Rampage, I’m gonna give you $10 million to take a dive. I gotta look good though,” Jackson said to Chris Van Vliet (via Sportskeeda). “I gotta really hit you. I’m like, ‘I get hit all the time’. At the end you know that you’re gonna hit me, I know that you’re gonna hit me, but you know you’re gonna knock me the f*** out. I’m just thinking, ‘I’m gonna get hit then I gotta fall down’. Boxers do that shit all the time.”Although Quinton Jackson says he knows of fake fights in MMA, he didn’t give any proof so it is just hearsay right now. But, given how many fights have taken place, the odds are likely that at least one has been fixed, as boxers have been proven to have fixed fights on multiple occasions.As for Jackson, he has not fought since December 2019 when he suffered a TKO loss to Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 237 in Japan. Jackson is the former UFC light heavyweight champion and holds notable wins over Lyoto Machida, Chuck Liddell, Kevin Randleman, Keith Jardine, and Wanderlei Silva among others. In his career, he went 8-5 in the UFC, 12-5 in Pride, and 5-3 in Bellator.

What fights do you think were fixed?

Mark Coleman’s first fight in Pride was a work, but since his opponent was Nobuhiko Takada it’s not a hideous example. Pride was building its early brand off of its connections to Japanese wrestling and of course, Rickson Gracie. Takada is interesting because his losses ARE legit, he took some beatings for the love of the game, but his two wins are works and his draws equally dubious. He was and still is a much beloved figure in Japan. It’s a bit hard to pinpoint true examples of match fixing-although it sounds fairly straightforward in principle, there are levels to it. One issue was that UFC propaganda created the illusion that match fixing was utterly rampant in Pride during all eras, and of course lifers like Gary Goodridge and Rampage have said many times already that it was (although Gary indicated they began mostly fixing but moved to the inverse of fixing as they grew) which does not help clear the waters. There’s also the issue of what we consider “fixing” (ie winner predetermined Vs toying with rules). Pride officials would allegedly offer bonuses to fighters who refused to tap while caught in submissions, or who went balls to the wall for pure spectacle. Fighters had some degree of autonomy as well, Newton Vs Sakuraba looked to have involved a gentleman’s agreement wherein both fighters would employ grapple heavy attacks, only occasionally punching, but then who could blame Sakuraba for not wanting to get lit up? There was also the issue that Pride could be a bit cheeky with matchups, being deliberately obtuse about certain opponents or even what weight would be acceptable fight night. (Rampage claims Pride demanded he cut more weight RIGHT before fighting Saku, which gassed him) As I recall, Herring was not expecting to face Cro Cop.
Ultimately, It’s likely that plenty of shady things occurred behind the scenes in Pride, given the Yakuza involvement (Enson Inou talked about this on Jre I believe) but on the record fixes are few and far between.
 
Quinton-Jackson.png.webp

Quinton Jackson says rigging MMA fights has happened, and he knows of a few.Many fans and conspiracy theorists have often said MMA fights are fixed, and those claims have only furthered with the rise of Jake Paul and his boxing matches. Although Jackson says he hasn’t heard of UFC fights being fixed, he hints at former PRIDE fights that featured pro wrestlers being fixed, as well as pro boxers.“I know that there’s been fake fights in MMA. I know that… Say me and you fight and you say, ‘Listen Rampage, I’m gonna give you $10 million to take a dive. I gotta look good though,” Jackson said to Chris Van Vliet (via Sportskeeda). “I gotta really hit you. I’m like, ‘I get hit all the time’. At the end you know that you’re gonna hit me, I know that you’re gonna hit me, but you know you’re gonna knock me the f*** out. I’m just thinking, ‘I’m gonna get hit then I gotta fall down’. Boxers do that shit all the time.”Although Quinton Jackson says he knows of fake fights in MMA, he didn’t give any proof so it is just hearsay right now. But, given how many fights have taken place, the odds are likely that at least one has been fixed, as boxers have been proven to have fixed fights on multiple occasions.As for Jackson, he has not fought since December 2019 when he suffered a TKO loss to Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 237 in Japan. Jackson is the former UFC light heavyweight champion and holds notable wins over Lyoto Machida, Chuck Liddell, Kevin Randleman, Keith Jardine, and Wanderlei Silva among others. In his career, he went 8-5 in the UFC, 12-5 in Pride, and 5-3 in Bellator.

What fights do you think were fixed?

Defame!
 
Really nothing new here.

We know the combat sport leagues in SE Asia area of the world back in the day had some work matches(I'm sure other parts of the world also, probably to this day even with some of these small time orgs). We know as time went on and it became more legit there was still some highly suggested to keep fight standing stuff going on over there.
 
That's why I can't weigh Pride accomplishments as heavy as UFC accomplishments. Way different circumstances.
 
Anyone that thinks fixed fights don't happen in every organization, every level, every combat sport for that matter is delusional.

Where there's a shit load of money to be made betting, there's a guy willing to get knocked the fuck out for it, choked out, submitted etc.
 
Anyone that thinks fixed fights don't happen in every organization, every level, every combat sport for that matter is delusional.

Where there's a shit load of money to be made betting, there's a guy willing to get knocked the fuck out for it, choked out, submitted etc.
This is spot on.
 
Anyone that thinks fixed fights don't happen in every organization, every level, every combat sport for that matter is delusional.

Where there's a shit load of money to be made betting, there's a guy willing to get knocked the fuck out for it, choked out, submitted etc.
100%. Like, some people want to pretend this would never happen in the USA (at least maybe until recently with Minner) but there were dudes in UFC making under 5k a fight 10,15 years ago and dudes on Bellator prelims making that today. When the financial incentive to throw a fight is a hell of a lot more then the incentive to actually win it you've got a real problem.

There should almost be a certain pay threshold for allowing betting. That's ridiculous to put into practice of course but it would certainly prevent situations like that.
 
100%. Like, some people want to pretend this would never happen in the USA (at least maybe until recently with Minner) but there were dudes in UFC making under 5k a fight 10,15 years ago and dudes on Bellator prelims making that today. When the financial incentive to throw a fight is a hell of a lot more then the incentive to actually win it you've got a real problem.

There should almost be a certain pay threshold for allowing betting. That's ridiculous to put into practice of course but it would certainly prevent situations like that.

Ignorance is bliss as they say sir.
 
Clowns like you must also question the results of MLB games , NBA games and NFL games since all 3 have been cooked in the past.

Then in the same breath morons like you also think UFC is the only sports organization which somehow never did such things.

Pathetic chump.

So you think Rampage is lying?
 
Sherdog only believes Rampage when what he says fits the narrative. He's insisted several times over the years that Bisping is a juice-head, but "that's just Quinton being salty, he's unreliable"
>"Some PRIDE fights were fixed!!! Why would Quinton lie??"

Anyway, aside from the obvious Takada vs Coleman & Sturgeon (that can be countered with UFC's Taktarov vs "Mad Dog" Macias, Don Frye vs Hall 2, and recently Darrick Minner vs Shayilan Nuerdanbieke) there aren't many obvious examples in PRIDE...
Not more than in the UFC of the same time period, at least.

One issue was that UFC propaganda created the illusion that match fixing was utterly rampant in Pride during all eras, and of course lifers like Gary Goodridge and Rampage have said many times already that it was (although Gary indicated they began mostly fixing but moved to the inverse of fixing as they grew) which does not help clear the waters.

There’s also the issue of what we consider “fixing” (ie winner predetermined Vs toying with rules). Pride officials would allegedly offer bonuses to fighters who refused to tap while caught in submissions, or who went balls to the wall for pure spectacle. Fighters had some degree of autonomy as well, Newton Vs Sakuraba looked to have involved a gentleman’s agreement wherein both fighters would employ grapple heavy attacks, only occasionally punching, but then

Gary Goodrige's theory of fights fixing in PRIDE doesn't make much sense though, since first few PRIDE events were full of super boring fights, and Japanese stars getting dunked on by Brazilians.
If they were really fixing fights, then why didn't they fix them so there would be some finishes and some Japanese winners in there?

Gono btw made a solid thread on that particular topic...

And about Saku vs Newton, just curious, why the "who could blame Sakuraba for not wanting to get lit up?"
There's never been any details about this fight released by either fighters, we don't know who proposed what, and when it comes to striking, I'd take prime Saku over prime Newton.

I love me some Carlos, don't get me wrong... but I just thought that it was a weird conclusion.
 
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