UFC hall-of-famer Randy Couture may have retired from the sport of mixed martial arts earlier this year after a long and decorated career, but apparently that hasn’t stopped current light-heavyweight No.1 contender Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson from taking some verbal jabs at him.
The first indication that something might be a little off between them occured at Tuesday’s UFC 135: Jones Vs Rampage press conference in Colorado when Jackson balked at a suggestion that he was representing the ‘old school’ by stating, “You all act like I’m Randy Couture’s decrepit old ass!”
On it’s own it seemed like a somewhat humorous, if a little unkind, quip, but just a day later Rampage started to aim fire at the veteran campaigner via Twitter.
“@Randy_Couture is the has been,check his last fight b*ch! Hahahaha…” he wrote.
So what exactly is his problem? Couture responded later in the day and revealed that it was the fact that he had backed Matt Hamill to defeat Rampage that was at the root of the problem.
“It sucks that rampage would take an objective pick on a fight personally,” wrote Couture. “He’s a great guy and a friend . All the best to him! …Yes the hamill pick . I thought hamill would eek out a Decision In that fight and rampage took it personal . They’re objective and I’m wrong [a lot]”
So, a typically humble response from Couture, but apparently Rampage didn’t see it that way, responding with two more messages continuing to attack him.
“F*ck @Randy_Couture I used 2 rep his line, and he always picked my opponents over me. At first it was cool till hamill #has been…”
“@Randy_Couture f*ck u dude,u a fake a** has been. I was a real friend and kept my mouth shut when I didn’t know if u would win or lose”
It’s not the first time Rampage has reacted in this manner. In fact just a few months ago he targeted another one of the perceived ‘good guys’ of the sport, Kenny Florian, in much the same manner, calling him out for comments made about Rampage’s weight during his regular gig co-hosting on ESPN’s MMA Live show.
After watching Jackson in good spirits just a few days ago and having put in a star performance at the UFC 135 presser it’s a shame to see him drag himself down with this kind of immature and unreasonable behaviour.
