‘Rampage’ lands body blows to UFC before final fight with company

CHICAGO - It comes as no surprise that a fighter who once took a hiatus for a starring role in the big-screen version of "The A-Team" is so adept at burning a bridge.

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, one of the most accomplished light heavyweights in mixed martial arts history, said he is finished with the Ultimate Fighting Championship after fulfilling the last fight on his contract tonight. And the 34-year-old Jackson hasn't been shy about trashing his soon-to-be-former employer on his way out.

"I haven't been happy with the UFC for a long time, and they turned me into a very negative person," the former light heavyweight champion said. "I just want to be a positive person. I've got to get all the negativity out of life, and the UFC is a negative output to me."

Jackson insists his MMA career is not over, just that he will go in a different direction, perhaps signing with a smaller organization or trying his hand at professional boxing. He also might seek more acting roles.

"It's not my last fight. It's my last fight in the UFC," he said. "It's time I move on."

Jackson, who fights Glover Teixeira on the UFC on Fox 6 card at the United Center, has made $15.2 million for his 11 fights in the UFC, according to the organization.

Compensation is only a small part of Jackson's dissatisfaction. He often has complained that UFC matchmaker Joe Silva sets him up against opponents who only want to wrestle and take him down. He recently complained about the organization's policy of allowing only certain sponsors, precluding Jackson from wearing Reebok gear into the cage despite his endorsement deal with the company.

"I think that the UFC doesn't know how to treat their athletes," he said. "I feel like us fighters do a lot for this sport, and I just feel like we're not taken care of well enough. I feel like they're getting rich off all of us. I want to go somewhere where they take care of their fighters and treat us like human beings. I've been fighting for a long time, and I'm standing up for myself."

The statements by Jackson came from a conference call with the media last week. During Thursday's news conference at United Center, he didn't have much to say.

Instead, he sat on the dais and concentrated on his PlayStation Vita. He looked up occasionally to give brief answers to a few questions, then sparred verbally with a reporter whose question Jackson apparently didn't like.

It was Jackson's behavior at the news conference that finally annoyed UFC president Dana White, who has been uncharacteristically quiet about Jackson's various criticisms. White glared red-faced at Jackson across the dais and blasted the fighter afterward.

"If you're going to go out and you want to say this stuff about the UFC, whatever, we know who we are. OK, you made $15.2 million, but you wanted $100 (million). That's always going to be the case," White said. "But to come up here and treat the media the way he did, it's just unprofessional.

"The guy has the potential to do anything. But when he gets in these moods, he shoots himself in the foot."

Still, White refused to say he wouldn't take Jackson back down the road. That doesn't sound plausible to Jackson.

"I'm kind of over it," he said. "I gave them time and time again to try to keep me happy. And, honestly, I think the UFC is happy with me leaving as well, so I think it's a mutual thing. I don't think there's anything they can do to keep me at this point. I just don't agree with the way they treat the fighters, and I just think like we are taken advantage of and I just don't want to be a part of an organization like that."

Jackson, who is on a two-fight losing streak, hopes the last impression he leaves in the UFC is to end Teixeira's 17-fight winning stretch and derail one of the top contenders in the division.

Then, it's on to free agency.

The fight is part of a card that airs live on Fox at 5 p.m. Demetrious Johnson will defend the flyweight title against John Dodson in the main event. Also, Donald Cerrone and Anthony Pettis meet in a battle of two of the most exciting strikers in the lightweight division.

The preliminary card airs live on FX at 2 p.m.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.