Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson’s MMA career is currently in a state of limbo due to a dispute with Bellator who believe he’s legally still under contract with them despite the fact that he’s packed up his bags and moved back to the UFC.
‘Rampage’ did actually make his UFC comeback back in April, defeating Fabio Maldonado, but only due to an injunction served by Bellator being overturned by a judge at the last minute.
Now he’s firmly entrenched in a protracted legal battle that has the 37 year-old facing up to the possibility that his career may be over.
“I really do think that I fought my last fight,” Rampage told Ariel Helwani on the 300th episode of the MMA Hour show. “Because, you guys weren’t in the mediation with me when Viacom said what they want for me to settle. I felt like it was lopsided and my attorney felt like it was lopsided. I don’t think I can tell you [what it was], but I could sue them for a lot of money. Because I lost a lot of money. And they want to settle, I was like wow.”
“Now I’m tied up and going to court and stuff like that, and I feel like they’re just trying to tie me up so I don’t fight.”
Rather than trying to wait in the hopes that one day he will be able to get back to competing in the Octagon, ‘Rampage’ is starting to lean towards the possibility that hanging up his gloves for good could be the best solution.
“At the end of the day, I’ve won four fights in a row. I’ve done a lot in this sport, I’ve been fighting for 15 years. I love this sport. I’m thinking, Bellator cannot make me fight for them. So I’m thinking I may as just go ahead and retire.”
In some ways it’s perhaps not such a bad idea if ‘Rampage’ was to retire – after all he’s got nothing left to prove at this stage and his performances of late suggest that he no longer has the fire in his belly that he once had – but at the same time it would be frustrating if he wasn’t allowed to go out on his own terms and is forced into it due to a legal dispute.
