Brendan Schaub, a former UFC fighter, couldn’t back Raja Jackson after his violent attack on pro wrestler Stuart “Syko Stu” Smith at a KnokX Pro Wrestling show in Los Angeles on August 23, 2025. Schaub, a friend of Jackson’s father, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, spoke out on his podcast, saying the Kick livestreamed incident was impossible to justify. With Smith hospitalized and the LAPD investigating, the MMA and wrestling worlds are reeling from the fallout.
Raja Jackson, 25, son of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, attacked wrestler Stuart Smith last night nearly killing him.
Rampage shared a statement in defense of his son. pic.twitter.com/j1WzeLRd70
— DramaAlert (@DramaAlert) August 24, 2025
Schaub’s Honest Reaction
Schaub shared his struggle on his podcast.
“I’ll be transparent,” he said. “I like Raja, and obviously I adore Rampage. Me and Rampage have a great relationship. I love Rampage. And it’s just by nature, my initial thought was, when I heard about this, and I spoke with Rampage, I went, ‘All right. How can I defend Raja?’ I looked at all the videos. I watched the full live stream and all that. I had nothing. You can’t defend this.”
He warned of consequences.
“It’s so sad. He (Jackson) was just getting started, and that all goes away if this veteran pro-wrestler decides to press charges. If that pro-wrestler goes, ‘This was a work’, and he just thought that’s how it works and I’m not pressing charges, Raja is still going to take a lot of heat online. But you’re not doing jail time, and then we can figure it out. But if that dude wakes up, and somebody’s in his ear and goes, ‘Dude, you gotta make this dude pay. He has to learn a lesson.’ If he presses charges, it’s going to be really tough. Attempted murder, aggravated assault… It’s going to be tough.”
The trouble started at the KnokX event in Sun Valley, Los Angeles. Smith, thinking Jackson was a wrestler, hit him with a prop beer can backstage as part of a storyline. After Smith apologized, trainer Reno Anoa’i suggested Jackson join the match for a scripted “payback.” Wrestler Andre Joel Hudson pushed Jackson to throw a real “receipt” strike. In the ring, Jackson went too far. He hoisted Smith, slammed him to the mat, and unleashed over 20 punches, leaving Smith unconscious and bleeding. Wrestlers, including Malo, stopped Jackson after 15 seconds, and he was led out. The referee’s decision to count a three-pin on an unconscious Smith drew heavy criticism from the crowd and performers.
Smith, a U.S. Army veteran who joined KnokX in 2009 to manage PTSD, was conscious but critical by August 24, per his brother Andrew’s Facebook post. He’s dealing with broken facial bones and missing teeth, facing a tough recovery. A GoFundMe for his medical bills has raised over $130,000, with donations from MrBeast, Chris Jericho, and Swerve Strickland. The LAPD is looking into Jackson for felony battery, per TMZ and the LA Times, with no arrests as of August 27, 2025. KnokX, led by WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi, banned Jackson, calling his actions “heinous.” Kick banned Jackson’s account for breaking violence rules. Malo said Smith was “choking on his own blood and teeth,” calling for prosecution.
