Despite Jon Jones being one of the greatest fighters of all time, he has also been dubbed as ‘the dirtiest fighter ever’.
That’s according to former foe Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, who had a lot to say about the longtime UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. The rivals first collided at UFC 135 back in 2011. Jones would submit Jackson in round 4 to defend his title, overcoming his fear of facing ‘Rampage’ inside the Octagon.
Rampage Relives Fighting Jon Jones
Jackson himself knew ‘Bones’ was a bit intimidated of him the day before, when he refused to look him in the eyes. After the victory, Jones confirmed this to be true.
“I knew he was scared,” Rampage told Chris Van Vliet. “I knew he was scared of it cause he didn’t wanna do the stare down. That’s why after some pictures I turned my back to him and stuff and joked around. Cause, he never wanna look me in the eyes. I knew Jon was scared.
“That’s the only fight in my career where I’ve been like almost close to a hundred percent and none of my injuries hurt. I trained really hard where I was like, overconfident. I thought I was going to beat the shit outta that kid. I really thought I was.”
Rampage Says Fedor Was The Worst Fight He Ever Had
While Rampage didn’t get the result he wanted, he says the loss to Jones wasn’t the one that hurt the most in his career. For the former UFC Champ, that moment goes to his last fight against Fedor Emelianenko, where the Russian picked up a quick TKO in 2019.
“No, that’s not the one that hurt the most,” Rampage said when asked if the Jones loss hit the hardest. “Jon Jones turned out to be like one of the best fighters in the world. He got me with one of my most weakness, the rear-naked choke. That’s not the one that hurt me the most. My last fight [against Fedor] is the one that hurt me the most.
“That’s the one that hurts me. Out of my whole career. That was like the most embarrassing and it was the worst fight that I ever had. Bellator even thought that I didn’t train for that fight. I know it looked like I didn’t, but I actually, I actually trained harder for that fight than I did in years. I just did different type of training. I trained with a different team. And I did different type of stuff that I don’t normally do. But, you know, I did train really hard for that fight.
“It’s just that my health just wasn’t right,” Rampage added. “It was a surprise to me. I was really bloated and everything and I wasn’t even that bloated when I got to Japan for that fight. It was just really bad. It’s like one of those things where you think like, ‘did somebody put some voodoo on me?’ Because how in the hell did I blow up? Like, how did I get this bloated?”
Jon Jones Is ‘The Dirtiest Fighter Ever’
Going back to Jon Jones, Rampage believes his former rival should have great success in his heavyweight debut at UFC 285, where he will challenge Ciryl Gane for the vacant title. However, that won’t stop Rampage from calling ‘Bones’ the absolute dirtiest fighter in MMA.
“He is one of the best of all time. I think that Jon Jones wrestling is going to make him victorious… Jon Jones is a great fighter, but I’m gonna be ‘100’ even if he was standing in this room. I’ll say, he’s the dirtiest fighter ever. The guy’s so smart, he does the most dirtiest things. They changed the gloves just because of Jon Jones. They changed the design of the gloves so you can’t hold your hand like this no more.
“So if you fight John Jones before they got the gloves, if you doing anything good on him and he going to put his fingers in you, he’s gonna poke you in the eye. Then, if you advancing or you doing anything good, you get the advance, you gonna get your knee kicked backwards.”
Jackson believes oblique kicks should be banned.
“I, for one, I think that that knee kick, they call it like an oblique kick, he’s kicking you right on your kneecap. I think that should be banned. And I kept asking the referee to like, ‘man, I’m like, get his fingers out my eye, what’s what’s going on?’
“Cause those two things that you can end somebody’s career. If you detach my retina, you end this career. You messed my knee up really bad, my knee’s still messed up from that fight. It hyperextended, he kicked it all the way back. You can end people careers with those moves. Again, Jon Jones, he’s good. He don’t even have to do that. Think about, go back and watch his fight. Think about all the spinning elbows he used to do in the beginning. Where did they land? Do you remember? In the back of people’s heads. Jon Jones is like the dirtiest fighter.”
Another Side Of Rampage
Rampage Jackson doesn’t have any beef with his former foe, but sometimes he thinks about paying back Jones in full for his still existing injuries from their fight.
“I’m cool with Jon Jones,” Rampage said. “It’s a side of me that wanted to do stuff to Jon Jones, it is. I’m gonna keep it real. It’s a side of me that wants… I used to have a Lambo, every time I used to get it in and outta the Lambo, I used to be in a lot of pain. I used to think like, ‘man, I want to smack the shit outta him [laughs]. It’s a side to me.
“But then it is like, I always had honor when I fought. I want to be the best fighter on the day. I want to win the fight clean. But I know that every fighter is not like me, so I can’t get mad at him. I can’t get mad him for that, it’s just me.”
