Quinton “Rampage” Jackson had his own little media day Tuesday, and it went exactly like you would expect: There were contentious allegations made, gloriously glaring typos committed, clarifications required, Internet memes misappropriated and, of course, very little substance to any of it.
The whole thing was hilarious—so long as your life and livelihood weren’t directly tied up in it.
At this point, there’s no way to know what any of the parties are actually thinking in this courtroom standoff between Jackson, Bellator MMA and the UFC. So far, everybody is playing their parts with Oscar-worthy conviction, though we can certainly read between the lines of this week’s flurry of prepared statements.
Monday began with a New Jersey judge granting Bellator a preliminary injunction against Jackson, barring him from fighting Fabio Maldonado this month at UFC 186.
That move made Bellator happy and Jackson unhappy. The fighter took to his Instagram account to post a reaction that not only included the obligatory social media typo but also suggested that Judge Karen L. Suter and Bellator had engaged in some sort of conspiracy.
In addition, he revealed that perhaps he doesn’t fully understand the popular Internet meme involving Kermit the Frog and Lipton tea.
“Smart move Bellator!” he wrote. “Go to a small town where your company knows the judge, to get a judgment to p--- off your costumers (sic).”
If we can take anyone at their word in this situation, it’s most likely Jackson—he probably was legitimately surprised by this ruling. The idea that he could get out of his Bellator contract just because that’s what he wanted doubtless made perfect sense to him. It seems to fit his overall worldview, after all.
He also probably wholeheartedly believes it when he implies that Bellator should have just let him walk out on that contract, so that his fans—however many of them might be left—could enjoy watching him fight for the competition.
It probably never occurred to Jackson that, in the pending legal action against him, it might not be a great idea to accuse the judge of some vague misconduct. Just as it obviously didn’t occur to him to have somebody proofread his accusation, as he had to go back later to fix the misspelling.
For its part, the UFC also professed to be stunned by the injunction, but that notion—while believable from a professional fighter—seems unbecoming of a multimillion-dollar company. At least in the short term, there was never going to be any other outcome here. The UFC all but guaranteed that when it moved to book Jackson a bout before anybody had figured out if it was legally allowed to do so.
“The UFC organization was surprised about the ruling because Mr. Jackson represented to UFC on multiple occasions that he was free to negotiate and contract with UFC,” the promotion said in an emailed statement. “The UFC organization is also surprised that Bellator sat on its alleged rights for months before taking action.
“UFC understands that Mr. Jackson is considering an emergency appeal, and UFC is also considering action to protect its rights and minimize damages regarding this matter. UFC 186 in Montreal, Canada will proceed as planned, and UFC is currently evaluating its fight card options.”
If you are Rampage Jackson, a couple of those sentences should trouble you. Read a certain way, it sounds as though the UFC would consider filing its own suit against the fighter if it feels he misrepresented his situation.
Perhaps at this juncture, the organization has realized it was a bad idea to take Jackson’s own legal analysis as gospel—though surely it sought a second legal opinion, right? Right?!? Perhaps in retrospect it can admit to itself that booking Jackson for April 26 was a bit premature.
But surprised? Come on now.
For months, Bellator and Jackson have squabbled over the fighter’s employment status. In December, he announced he was heading back to the UFC after three fights in Bellator, alleging his new bosses had failed to live up to the bargain he’d made with the previous regime. Bellator President Scott Coker disagreed, saying if that was how Jackson wanted to play it, the promotion would see him in court.
Shortly thereafter, we got a look inside Jackson’s Bellator contract and it was—in a word—craaay . At some point, UFC President Dana White tweeted a smiley face, and then it was game on until this week...when Suter pulled the rug out.
It would have been fairly ostentatious for her to do anything else. Remember, this injunction doesn’t mean Bellator has won Jackson back. It just means the court is going to take more time deciding his fate and that Rampage isn’t allowed to fight until it does.
Even now, however, the UFC hasn’t fully backed down.
On Saturday afternoon, it had play-by-play announcer Jon Anik interview Jackson between fights at Fight Night 63. The interview made no mention of the possibility he might not compete—that, in fact, he might be legally barred from fighting. As of this writing, the UFC continues to list Jackson as a UFC 186 participant on its official website, and even after Suter’s ruling on Tuesday, it released a new highlight video for the event that still prominently features him.
It's hard to tell where the company is going with all that. Perhaps it’s holding out hope that the “emergency appeal” Jackson is allegedly considering might prove successful? Or, considering the already depleted nature of the UFC 186 card, maybe it feels compelled to promote Jackson’s presence there as long as it possibly can?
As plaintiffs (and the winners here, so far), Bellator was a bit more judicious with its words this week, sending an official email to media members that said only: “We are pleased by the judge's ruling and look forward to having Rampage fighting for Bellator again soon.”
It was short and sweet, but something rang untrue about that too.
First, because even though Bellator sent that statement as an exact quote (using quotation marks and everything) it didn’t attribute it to anyone specific. In fact, the email made sure to make clear that the quote didn’t come from Coker, after the words were wrongly credited to him in early media reactions.
Second, it’s impossible to believe Bellator is legitimately excited to having Jackson return. Sure, in MMA’s post Tito Ortiz vs. Stephan Bonnar economy, he’s still a valuable commodity. He would certainly continue to be one of Bellator’s highest-profile employees, for better and worse.
But you think Bellator execs are really “looking forward” to booking Jackson for another fight? No way. This is a guy whose entire identity as a fighter is that he doesn’t handle adversity well. If he doesn’t want to be there, it’s probably best not to force it.
And so, here we are: stasis.
Jackson is going to go right on pretending he’s still fighting at UFC 186, and the two fight companies are just going to keep standing on opposite sides of him, giving each other the evil eye over his shoulder.
Eventually, the judge will come in and tell us where Jackson is allowed to fight next, and then the "winning" company will actually have to deal with the guy...but maybe that’s none of our business.
(sips tea)
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