Rampage Jackson says TUF door break was his ‘most embarrassing TV moment’
Rampage Jackson reflects on his work in the recently-released film Lord of the Streets, as well as his time on The Ultimate Fighter and what’s next for him in the fighting world
MMA has had its fair share of fight-fixing accusations and incidents over the years. There’s the infamous Nobuhiko Takada vs. Mark Coleman fight from PRIDE 5. There was the 2005
encounter between Dan “The Beast” Severn and Shannon Ritch. We even had a UFC fight —
Leo Kuntz vs. Tae Hyun Bang — that later resulted in Hyun Bang and three brokers getting
prison sentences because of fight fixing.
But you don’t really hear about the consequences of fight fixing to a degree that is presented in
the new film Lord of the Streets, directed by Jared Cohn released on Tubi on April 22.
The film stars familiar faces in the MMA scene, including Quinton “Rampage” Jackson,
Anderson Silva, Cheick Kongo, A.J. McKee, and Khalil Rountree Jr.
Rampage Jackson says his character allowed him to have fun while shooting Lord of the Streets
The film focuses on Jason Dyson, an MMA promoter and manager who gets into it with an
infamous gangster — Kane (played by Jackson). Dyson refuses to let his renowned fighter, Tre — played by McKee — throw a fight and pays for it when the gangster has the fighter killed and Dyson’s daughter kidnapped.
To save his daughter, Dyson must train a prisoner to face off with five dangerous combatants in
underground fights.
While the film’s description may sound intriguing to MMA fans, Jackson himself wasn’t
immediately on board at first.
Jackson – who has previous acting experience in films such as The A-Team, Never Surrender, and Boss Level – had to read through the script before fully committing to the project.
But once he did, he jumped in, playing the role of Kane, arguably the most notorious villain in the town.
“Honestly, before I read the script, I’m like ‘I don’t know. An MMA movie? Oh my God, no one’s done those right,'” Jackson told FanSided MMA. “It could be done so much better. But then I read the script, and I’m like ‘Yes, I’m in.’
“If I’m going to be 100 percent honest when I first read scripts, I don’t read the whole thing and I just read my part. And it was so well-written, so put-together. And my character Kane was such an asshole. I’m like, this could be real fun for me to play this guy. So I loved it.”
An added bonus for Jackson was being able to work alongside several of his fellow MMA stars from both the past and present.
“It was like a big boys club,” Jackson said. “We all hung out and had a good time. Last and, you know, make fun of each other like we normally do. It was great. You know, I’ve known AJ since he was a kid, but this was my first time working with Anderson Silva. And I really enjoyed getting to know him a little bit better and I’m like, ‘Hey, Anderson, I would love to do more movies with you.’ I was impressed with his acting skills.”
Jackson feels it’s a given that MMA fans will be attracted to the film, thanks to the storyline and the present action, in addition to the noteworthy MMA athletes that star in the movie.
But the challenge is to get a wider audience, and Jackson feels that Lord of the Streets is a film that can even hook in someone who isn’t familiar with the world of MMA.
“This movie was made with [MMA fans] in mind. They have a lot of real MMA fighters in the movie, which a lot of MMA movies kind of lacked. They don’t put real MMA fighters in there, and that’s why they haven’t been so successful in my opinion. And for non-MMA fans, I think [the film’s] storyline, and just the pure craziness of Kane’s character, will draw them in and keep them entertained. The stuff that happens in the movie is crazy.”
Rampage Jackson considers The Ultimate Fighter an embarrassing time for him, eyes MMA return and boxing fight
When asked about where he’d rank his time on Lord of the Streets compared to his other projects, Jackson said it’s impossible to do such a thing because of the different experiences each project brings.
“Every experience is different. I can tell you Jared made everybody feel real comfortable; so easy to work with. And, you know, it was a great experience. But I had a great experience on The A-Team as well. Every experience is different. “I made friends for life on The A-Team, I feel like I made friends for life on this movie as well.”
Jackson additionally has dabbled in television projects as well, most notably being a coach for two seasons — the seventh and tenth — of The Ultimate Fighter, a show that just kicked off its 30th season.
Jackson’s time spent on the show is quite well-known to fans of MMA, having several moments of anger and aggression, including his heated rivalry with Rashad Evans in season 10.
Perhaps the most-known moment of Jackson’s tenure — let alone one of the most memorable moments in the show’s history — saw Jackson destroy a door following Matt Mitrione’s victory over Scott Junk.
Despite the notoriety of these moments — with the door destruction becoming a classic replayed moment and GIF — Jackson calls his times on TUF some of his most shameful. He adds that he hates seeing the image of his door destruction plastered all over the Internet.
“I was an outsider in The Ultimate Fighter and, saying that, there was a lot of stuff that I wish would have been different. I regret acting like a party animal and going out every night. I wish I would have stayed in even more and trained with the guys a little bit more. I’ve done two seasons of Ultimate Fighter, and you would think I would’ve learned from the first season that I did. But I didn’t. I was young and dumb.
“[Destroying the door is] one of my most embarrassing TV moments. I lost my temper, and I don’t like losing my temper, so I really don’t like it. It’s very embarrassing for me.”
From June 2013 to the end of 2019, Jackson spent all but one fight in Bellator MMA. He last fought at Bellator 237 in Japan, getting finished in one round by Fedor Emelianenko. The former UFC light heavyweight champion has lost three of his last four fights and is currently still a free agent.
Jackson has previously noted hopes that he can have another fight, and while another MMA fight or two is still in the plans, he has a different fighting arena that his eye is set on — the boxing ring.
“I’m trying to deal with all the stuff that I got going on with my body and get back in shape,” Jackson said. “When that happens, I want to do a couple more fights. [And] I would like to do a boxing fight.”
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