How good was Quinton "Rampage" Jackson?

I loved him when he used to slam guys.
 
When he was motivated, He was something else in terms of Power. Not only in MMA, Look at his K-1 Kickboxing fights.
 
People underrate Rampage because the way he devastated Liddell twice was one of the clearest example that Pride had overall a deeper and better roster than the UFC at the time. It's easier to cast him away as just some funny character and inconsistent fighter, rather than a UFC champion who defended his title, but who still wasn't the top dog a few years earlier in Pride.

mkt said:
Nope, Machida won.
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jsbx45 said:
Ok. Even Rampage thought he had lost though.
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It was one of these bad situations where someone clearly won the overall fight, but didn't necessarily win round by round. I remember that Rampage barely won two razor close rounds, while Machida won the clearest round, but not enough to get a 10-8.
 
Average.....him in his Prime now - he wouldnt be top 15
 
UWPguy said:
With proper training and motivation we could be talking about near GOAT status at LHW. Many of his "training camps" were simply getting him to lose 30 lbs so he could make 205 with a reasonable 12-15 lb water cut. Had he actually stayed in shape inbetween fights he would have been able to work on gameplans for fights and his cardio would have been better.

His sub defense was iffy early in his career but he shored that up. He destroyed Liddell twice and this was when Chuck seemed invincible. The only guys to put him away with strikes in his prime, Wandy and Rua, looked invincible in Pride yet very average and smaller in the UFC. Jones always would have given him problems but prime Rampage vs a green Jones could have gone Rampage's way.

He wasn't the best for long because he didn't want to be the best for long. His coaches had to search his pockets after he'd go into a store to make sure he wasn't sneaking out chocolate bars!
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I absolutely agree. With discipline, imo, he could have been one of the best to ever do it in his weight class right behind Jones. I still think he's up there but man he wasted a lot of natural talent. But it's his life and he lived it the way he wanted to and became a world champ.

He's a legend in the sport and one of my favorite fighters ever. That slam on Arona is what really got me into the sport. I had previously seen a few of the early UFC's on VHS as a teenager but that Pride event is what drew me in
 
I think rampage had some of the best raw talent in MMA, but I think he had some mental blocks and motivation issues. Great boxing when he was on.
 
Top 3 LHW champion of all time for me, in terms of accomplishments. Unified the PRIDE and UFC belts. He's got wins over Liddell x2, Wandy x2, Hendo, Igor, Randleman and Machida. Not to mention powerbombing Arona into Bolivia. His resume stacks up with the best at LHW. Honestly maybe only Hendo has a more impressive resume at LHW than Rampage. If we're talking pure talent I think he definitely ranks in the top 5 at LHW.
 
BFoe said:
If we rank LHWs based on resume and accomplishments, he’s in the Top 3-4 imo.
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Along with who else? Machida and several others have resumes that are just as good. Jones and Cormier are definitely above him. Chuck is hard to say as Rampage beat him twice but Chuck had a bunch of title defenses. Rampage never had much consistency, though. He had lapses both in Pride and UFC in his younger prime years.
 
Koimpact said:
Top 3 LHW champion of all time for me, in terms of accomplishments. Unified the PRIDE and UFC belts. He's got wins over Liddell x2, Wandy x2, Hendo, Igor, Randleman and Machida. Not to mention powerbombing Arona into Bolivia. His resume stacks up with the best at LHW. Honestly maybe only Hendo has a more impressive resume at LHW than Rampage. If we're talking pure talent I think he definitely ranks in the top 5 at LHW.
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Yeah, look at your profile pic. Rampage isn't top 3 once you remove your biases.
 
mkt said:
Yeah, look at your profile pic. Rampage isn't top 3 once you remove your biases.
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Not gonna lie I'm pretty biased. Rampage was the first fighter that really got me into MMA as a fan. That being said I think we'll have to agree to disagree on his resume. At LHW I think he is easily top 3 in terms of accomplishments and legacy
 
Koimpact said:
Top 3 LHW champion of all time for me, in terms of accomplishments. Unified the PRIDE and UFC belts. He's got wins over Liddell x2, Wandy x2, Hendo, Igor, Randleman and Machida. Not to mention powerbombing Arona into Bolivia. His resume stacks up with the best at LHW. Honestly maybe only Hendo has a more impressive resume at LHW than Rampage. If we're talking pure talent I think he definitely ranks in the top 5 at LHW.
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While I don't disagree with you post...its BOLIVIAN.
 
Rampage and BJ Penn were both great natural talents who didn't train like they should. I place him above Chuck due to the ko before Chuck's UFC run and ko that ended it.
 
Brodie said:
idk but its a shame he went out like this



048_Fedor_Emelianenko_x_Rampage_Jackson.jpg
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He has mentioned that he's suffered with thyroid issues which affected his weight of course and therefore he will have had to have worked harder to stay in good shape and at his age at the end of his career it just wasn't doable.
 
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RustyShacleford said:
He was a legit champ, one of the most physical forces in the division. He could have been way more dominant in the pre-jones era if he had focused on his game more. It also didn't help that he was one of those guys who went from a dynamic wrestle-boxer to a one-dimensional head-hunter.

Still, he won me some good high school bets (against guys who hadn't done their research) when he beat Liddell

edit: oh, and I forgot about the A-Team movie. That really hindered his career. Though to be fair, I think was fully down put mma behind him if he could make it in Hollywood. And that probably didn't seem like such a pipe dream considering he got the highest profile role in a movie that also starred Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper, which is easily the biggest role an mma fighter has landed. Unfortunately it was a real turd of a film. GSP got more milage out of his 5 min in Captain America lol
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I felt he could have won the fight against Rashad if it wasn't for the movie at that time Dale.
 
Heavy-handed front-runner who abandoned his wrestling and surrounded himself with yes-men, wasting a real raw talent in the process. He was briefly a champion, but he could have been a legend. And his career highlight "KO Slam" is actually a headbutt.
 
UWPguy said:
I agree that a well rounded version of Jones beats even prime Rampage 9 out of 10 times. Unfortunately we didn't get to see that due to their age difference. When they did fight Rampage was 33 and no longer had the hunger he did earlier in his career, whereas Jones started his pro fighting career about the time Rampage lost his title to Griffin.
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Yeah it was an overlap of different eras, so not a fair comparison anyway
 
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