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By Jason Comack  September 22, 2009, at 9:26 pm  Through his website, Rampage-Jackson.com, Rampage has announced his retirement. Rampage posted a very modest and straightforward letter that explains everything from the Rashad Drama, his relationship with Dana White and his underlying motives for taking the “A-Team” movie. Rampage makes some really good points and it’s hard not to feel sympathetic for him after reading this.
“The UFC has done a lot for me but I think I have done more for them. The UFC bought WFA to get my contract & they saved my life, so I felt loyal to them. They pushed me into a fight with Chuck Liddel even when I clearly stated I wasn’t ready to fight for the belt because the American fans didn’t know me but I took the fight and didn’t complain & after I won the American fans booed me for the first time which changed the way I saw them & it hurt me deeply.
Then before I can even get out of the cage they announced that I was fighting Dan Henderson without even asking me. After I beat Dan Henderson, I made history in becoming the first undisputed champion in MMA but was never even given the pride belt in the cage & I was never promoted as the undisputed champ. Later Anderson Silva was.
Then they had me coach TUF season 7 and fight Forrest and the fight was very controversial & normally when a fight is that close & controversial there is normally an instant replay. I can name a couple of instances. Instead they offered me the Vanderlei Silva fight which I gladly accepted even though I know it was a very risky fight for me to take because of all the drama that was happening to me at the time. I fought that fight with a jaw injury and then a couple weeks later Dana called me and asked me to fight Rashad. For the first time I said no, I didn’t want to fight because it was such short notice & I wouldn’t have had a long break between camp. Dana talked me into fighting Rashad anyway but Rashad refused the fight and so I had to fight Jardine as a favor to the UFC instead of getting my belt back (which wasn’t even worth it to me financially).
Then I reinjured my jaw in the fight with Vanderlei & Jardine. Frank Mir gets hurt so they wanted to switch my fight from UFC 100 to the fight Frank couldn’t make it to but I couldn’t fight cause I needed jaw surgury. So they give Machida the fight against Rashad & they told me they want me to coach TUF season 10 against Rashad. That’s why I wanted Rashad to win so bad but when Rashad got knocked out I told them I wanted to fight Machida for the belt but Dana told me if I coach TUF against Rashad that I could fight Machida afterwards cause this was a different type of ultimate fighter show they were doing. After I signed the contract Dana then changes his mind & says I have to fight Rashad & even told me what to say in the press & so my fans think I was scared to fight Machida. After all that I still never complained & I did it all.
Then this movie role came about that I have been trying to get for over a year & as soon as I found out I was close to getting it, I called Dana right away & asked to push the Memphis fight back just a month or so. I told him what this movie role meant to me. I told him that I used to bond with my father watching the tv show as a kid when my parents where still married & it represents the memories I had with my father when we lived together. My dad became an alcohalic & addicted to drugs & we grew apart. But after my dad got his life back together, I was so proud of my dad & I told him I would always take care of him in the future & make him proud of me. My dad & I are still very big fans of the show & I am basically doing this for the childhood memories I had spending time in front of the tv with my dad. Dana went on the internet & mocked me because of that & I still did nothing. Dana & I finally talked & we made up & then after that he went back on the internet & said some bullshit & he was talking bad about the movie when information is not even supposed to be released & talking about payments which is not even true could really hurt my future acting career, which could very well last longer than my fighting career. I’m not like Randy Couture. My body has been getting so many different injuries that I wont be able to fight until my forties & neither do I want to fight that long. So I feel like my second career could be in jeopardy.. so I’m done fighting. I’ve been getting negative reviews from the dumb ass fans that don’t pay my bills or put my kids though college. So I’m hanging it up. I’m gonna miss all my loyal fans but hopefully they’ll follow me to my new career & I will gain more loyal fans along the way. & all you hater fans out there can kiss my big black hairy ass! & anybody that don’t like what I just said can come try to kick my ass!
I still feel the UFC is a great organization and I felt like I was very loyal to them but they didn’t respect my loyalty but I wish the UFC the best. I did a lot of things for them. I wish no bad blood between us but I have kids & a family back in Memphis to provide for & thats all that matters to me!”
Wow just wow. Think Dana White blew this one big time. Have a feeling his response is going to be explosive.
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By Anthony De Franco September 22, 2009, at 3:28 pm Take that Floyd Mayweather. The UFC’s newest counterprogramming strategy of showing the undercard fights from UFC 103 on Spike TV paid off big time as they put up an absolutely huge number on Spike TV. Here’s the whole article from MMA Weekly:
The Ultimate Fighting Championship broadcasted live prelims for the first time on Spike TV for UFC 103 and the numbers are in.
Spike TV’s live telecast of the UFC 103 prelims on Saturday, September 19 (9:00-10:00pm ET/PT) delivered a robust 1.4 million viewers and was the #2 rated program in Men 18-34 in all of cable in the timeslot including out-delivering ESPN2’s coverage of NCAA college football (West Virginia vs. Auburn).
Overall, the fights drew a 1.5 (441,000) in Men 18-34, a 1.3 (738,000) in Men 18-49, and a household rating of 1.0.
That’s terrible news for all those people out there who hoped that this Boxing card would take overtake the UFC. I would assume that this means that the numbers for UFC 103 are going to be pretty impressive as well.
Hey, maybe the UFC can overtake college football too….
By Bryan Berg September 22, 2009, at 11:43 am Before we get to the latest BS suspension from Colin Campbell, there’s some important Lighthouse stuff going on at Hofstra today. Read up on the importance of today’s meeting here and here; follow along with the proceedings here.
***
The news that Pascal Morency was suspended for ten games (five preseason, five regular season) comes as no surprise to the writers of this blog. No, it’s not because we believe, as many do, that ex-Rangers coach Colin Campbell has a secret vendetta against the Islanders. Instead, it’s because we’re well aware of the double standard that exists in the NHL when it comes to suspensions.
The NHL has no problem throwing its weight around when it comes to suspending a fringe player. However, when a superstar is involved, things become very shady. For instance, Chris Pronger still having a very well-paying job in the NHL despite his lengthy rap she et. Of course, that rap sheet was significantly lessened by the the likes of Campbell, who just can’t seem to pull the trigger when superstars are under review.
You may recall Chris Simon’s stomp of Jarko Ruutu from December of 2007. You know, the incident that netted Simon a 30-game suspension. You may also recall that Pronger did the exact same thing to Ryan Kesler three months later and got nothing. Until, of course, everybody flipped out, and then Pronger got an 8-game ban that conveniently ended when the playoffs started.
By giving Morency ten games, Campbell is essentially saying that what Morency did is worse than what Pronger did – and that’s something that got a lesser player 30 games. And what exactly did Morency do? Yes, he jumped the boards to start a fight, but he was about to come onto the ice for his shift anyway. He then attempted to defend a teammate that was knocked unconscious, which is what an enforcer is supposed to do. So, if you think about it that way, he was suspended for ten games for doing his job. And yet, if he didn’t do his job, he would have been cut immediately by the Islanders for not standing up for his fallen teammate.
Now, let’s go back in time once again, this time to the 2009 Stanley Cup Final. You may recall Evgeni Malkin receiving a fight instigator penalty in the final minutes of Game 2. NHL rules clearly stipulate that any player receiving an instigator penalty in the final five minutes of a game also gets a one-game suspension. But do you really think the NHL was going to suspend Malkin in its big TV-ratings showcase? Of course not!
If you really want to get picky about it, you can argue that Malkin’s instigator was far more egregous than Morency’s. At least Morency had a reason to start a fight. Malkin’s fight came at the end of a game as the result of a scrum caused by his own teammate (Max Talbot), which could be interpreted as “sending a message” – the very thing the NHL legislated against before the playoffs. Yet, Morency’s the one who gets the big suspension. Go figure.
But we all know that the NHL kowtows to its superstars. Every league does it; most don’t stoop to the levels of the NHL. So the NHL bullies its lesser-known players just to prove a point. Donald Brashear deserved something for his attack on Blair Betts in last year’s playoffs. But there was no way he’d get six games if he wasn’t playing roughly five minutes a game. Morency’s suspension falls into the category of the NHL abusing its power. Unfortunately, Colin Campbell’s ruling has all but killed any chance of Morency playing for the Islanders in 2009-10. True, he wasn’t going to make the team. But now, if the Islanders want to call him up, they must take into account his five-game regular season suspension. The Islanders don’t have the roster room to keep someone on their NHL roster just to clear a suspension. So, not only does this screw over the Islanders, but it potentially costs Morency a ton of money, as two-way deals are exponentially more lucrative in the NHL than they are anywhere else.
One last note about this suspension. If you really want someone to blame for all of this, blame the NHL itself. The NHL is the organization that allows preseason games to become endless fight-fests in the first place. The NHL charges full price for preseason games, then turns a blind eye when games devolve into mindless line brawls just so aspiring goons can fight established goons for no reason. The NHL does this for as long as it can, then suspends the crap out of someone who dares to touch a superstar. The shame of it is, a guy like Chris Pronger would never be in this situation, largely because no team would give its biggest stars serious minutes in a game where players go out of their way to hurt each other just to stand out. So, while Colin Campbell screwed up by handing Pascal Morency a ridiculous suspension, it’s really the NHL’s fault for allowing this violence to occur.
By Anthony De Franco September 22, 2009, at 10:00 am My god. Nate Quarry gets paid an absolute ton. I know that he has been under contract for some time now, but at some point don’t you have to ask yourself just what paying a guy like Quarry 60,000 dollars in a win does for your company? That being said, good job Nate. Keep getting that money.
Here is the full list of salaries and bonuses from MMA Weekly:
MAIN EVENT FIGHTERS
– Nate Diaz ($48,000/win bonus was $24,000) def. Melvin Guillard ($14,000)
*Diaz also earned an extra $30,000 for “UFN 19 Submission of the Night”
MAIN CARD FIGHTERS
– Gray Maynard ($24,000/win bonus was $12,000) def. Roger Huerta ($21,000)
– Carlos Condit ($48,000/win bonus was $24,000) def. Jake Ellenberger ($10,000)
– Nate Quarry ($60,000/win bonus was $30,000) def. Tim Credeur ($10,000)
*Quarry and Credeur also earned an extra $30,000 each for “UFN 19 Fight of the Night”
PRELIMINARY CARD FIGHTERS
– Brian Stann ($22,000/win bonus was $11,000) def. Steve Cantwell ($10,000)
– Mike Pyle ($30,000/win bonus was $15,000) def. Chris Wilson ($17,000)
– CB Dollaway ($28,000/win bonus was $14,000) def. Jay Silva ($6,000)
– Sam Stout ($24,000/ win bonus was $12,000) vs. Phillipe Nover ($20,000/win bonus was $10,000)
*Oklahoma Commission did not allow bout due to medical issue prior to fight
– Jeremy Stephens ($24,000/win bonus was $12,000) def. Justin Buchholz ($8,000)
*Stephens also earned an extra $30,000 for “UFN 19 Knockout of the Night”
– Mike Pierce ($12,000/win bonus was $6,000) def. Brock Larson ($26,000)
– Ryan Jensen ($8,000/win bonus was $4,000) def. Steve Steinbeiss ($6,000)
UFC Fight Night 19 DISCLOSED FIGHTER PAYROLL: $476,000
UFN 19 AWARD BONUSES
(as disclosed by UFC president Dana White)
Each fighter received a $30,000 bonus for the following awards.
Fight of the Night:
– Nate Quarry and Tim Credeur
Knockout of the Night:
– Jeremy Stephens
Submission of the Night:
– Nate Diaz
By Anthony De Franco September 22, 2009, at 8:00 am Want to get your hands on the shirt that Kimbo wore on the first episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights? Well, here it is, courtesy of TapouT.
It’s a cool design that highlights the best part of Kimbo’s game, those remarkably heavy hands. MMA Warehouse has this and a ton of other TapouT Kimbo gear.
By Jason Comack September 22, 2009, at 12:23 am Did you know that Strike Force is putting on an MMA card this Friday?
<crickets> <crickets>
To be fair I didn’t know either.
Strikeforce Challengers 3: Kennedy Vs. Cummings comes to you from the SpiritBank Event Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma this Friday night on Showtime at 11 P.M. As Wikipedia tells me:
ShoMMA: Strikeforce Challengers is a mixed martial arts series produced by the mixed martial arts organization Strikeforce and the Showtime cable network. Similar to Showtime’s earlier ShoXC, the purpose of the series is to highlight up and coming MMA fighters.
The full card is:
-Tim Kennedy (9-0) vs. Zak Cummings (10-0)
-Ray Sefo (1-0) vs. Kevin Jordan (11-7)
-Tyron Woodley (5-0) vs. Zach Light (4-8)
-Travis Calanoc (4-0) vs. Thomas Longacre (4-0)
Preliminary Bouts (non-televised):
-Lacey Schuckman (2-0) vs. Jeri Sitzes (2-2)
-Levi Avera (12-5) vs. Paul Bradley (10-1)
-Trey Houston (1-0) vs. Brandon Gaines (4-10)
-Kenny Giddens (8-5) vs. John Carson (7-1)
-Nick Gibbons (13-0) vs. Josh Pulsifer (11-4)
-Lemont Davis (2-3) vs. Dillon Smith (1-0)
Now I’m not one to complain about free MMA…but, Tim Kennedy vs. Zack Cummings? What is Strikeforce doing? Who do they honestly expect to watch this card? The causal fan is going to brush it off because they’ve never heard of any of these guys and even the hardcore MMA fan has to cringe at this card.
Now I’m aware that; 1) Tim Kennedy is really good. He beat Nick Thompson in his last fight and holds wins over Dante Rivera and Jason “Mayhem” Miller. 2) Kennedy was originally suppose to fight Cyborg Santos (the dude not his wife.) But is Kennedy/Santos really a significantly better main event? Santos is 16-13 and has lost 4 of his last 5 fights. Why have Kennedy fight Nick Thompson and then take a fight that’s a giant step down in competition. Kennedy beating Santos or his replacement Zack Cummings does nothing to further his career.
Furthering the silliness of this card Ray Sefo, a 38 year old kick-boxer is fighting. Yes, the same Ray Sefo that many moons ago was an awesome K-1 Kickboxer but, lost 6 of 7 K-1 fights before switching to MMA. He’s fighting Kevin “The Shaman” Jordan who is famous for turning in one of the most putrid performances in UFC History against Gabriel Gonzaga. Jordan literally did nothing for 3 rounds then Gabriel Gonzaga made his head explode with one punch. He also holds the distinction of losing to Paul Buentello by submission which is pretty difficult to do. Again I just ask…what the hell does this fight prove?
Rounding out the card is Tyron Woodley against Zach Light. No doubt Woodley is a prospect but remember Woodley tried out for season 9 of the Ultimate Fighter and was one of the final cuts. He’s 7-0 amateur, 3-0 as a pro and certainly someone to keep an eye on. However, I’m just not sure what beating Zach Light does for him. Calling Light a “UFC Veteran” is almost comical. Light was 0-1 in the UFC, 7 years ago. He’s 6-8 overall and anytime he’s fought a half decent opponent he’s lost (Spratt, Fryklund, Jackson, Ellenberger.) So again…what does this fight prove?
Strikefoce obviously needs a Joe Silva type matchmaker. In case they were curious, yes, I am available.
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