“Well…all i’ll say is if somebody’s gettin’ f*cked up really bad, throw in the towel. Come on, you know. A lot of people have a big heart and stuff like that but…you don’t realize the effect that can take on you later in your life. Like, one whoopin’ can upset you later in life so I don’t see nothin’ wrong with throwing in the towel if the guy is getting f*cked up really bad.
I’ll have to be honest and say, when I fought [Mauricio] ‘Shogun’ [Rua], my coaches and my team knew I went into that fight injured already and he kind of like…hurt me right away. I didn’t want to tap out…but I knew I was hurt. I wouldn’t have cussed my coaches out if they would have threw in the towel, I wouldn’t have said nothing. Like, ‘ah…yeah, fair game’. But sometimes when I feel like I think I can come back and whether the storm or I think the guy’s gonna get tired, I wouldn’t get mad. For example, when Wanderlei [Silva] kneed me in the face like fifteen times when I fought in that tournament against him and Chuck Liddell, if my corner would have threw in the towel in that fight I would have been upset. So, I guess different fights, different people.
But at the end of the day, fighters can go back and watch the footage and say, and the coach can say, ‘Stop! I had to Throw in the towel.’ You can’t get mad at that.”
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is one of the most iconic figures in the light heavyweight division’s history as well as just MMA’s history as well. Rampage started his career all the way back in 1999 and has a total of fifty fights…so he’s seen a thing or two(including championship gold).
The topic of discussion comes after the recent controversy at UFC Fight Night 125 in Belem, Brazil this past Saturday where Valentina Shevchenko took on the UFC newcomer, Priscila Cachoeira in a brutally one-sided affair that many believe lasted far longer than it should have.
Do you agree with Rampage? What did you think of the stoppage in the Shevchenko fight?
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/5/2018.
