Quinton Rampage Jackson reveals that Dana White once accused him of taking steroids.
Before becoming a mainstream sport, MMA had some growing pains, including an era where performance-enhancing drugs ran rampant. The UFC dealt with that issue, especially when they bought Pride Fighting Championship, adding an influx of high-level fighters.
‘Rampage’ was one of the fighters who joined the UFC from Pride, but he was strongly against PEDs. During a UFC 282 fight companion with Brendan Schaub and Will Compton, Jackson had this to say about being accused by the UFC president of using steroids:
“When I fought Forrest Griffin, Dana White thought I was on steroids. He said to me, personally, ‘Rampage, you’re on steroids, huh? In between fights, you gain a lot of weight, you get big’… I thought I had problems with my thyroids and this is when it first started happening. I was like, I ain’t on no d*mn steroids, I’m totally against that sh*t.”
‘Rampage’ continued by saying White tested him to see if he was telling the truth about not using PEDs:
“He did it himself, he tested me. He called me out, I didn’t test [positive]. He said, ‘d*mn man, I always thought you was on steroids.’ People in Pride [Fighting Championship], they think we always on steroids.”
Rampage Jackson discusses why he started taking TRT
Along with fighters using PEDs without anyone knowing, there was an era when UFC fighters were openly using Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) before it was banned in 2014. After losing to Jon Jones in 2011, Rampage Jackson was candid in interviews about using TRT. ‘Rampage’ had this to say about the situation during the fight companion with Brendan Schaub and Will Compton:
“When I first started taking it [TRT], I felt good… I was trying to see what was wrong with me. That [fight against Jon Jones] was the first fight that I ever lost when I was 100%. You never fight 100%… I thought I was gonna beat the f*ck out of Jon Jones. I was so overconfident, and then when he beat me, I was like what the f*ck, and I went to get my testosterone checked. When I got it low tested, the lady was like, ‘you’ve abused steroids before haven’t you?’ I was like, no. She said, ‘You had to because there was no way you would test this low.”
Newer MMA fans might not know how special Jackson was in his prime. Jackson became a superstar in Pride FC before making his UFC debut in 2007. ‘Rampage’ went on to defeat Chuck Liddell in his second UFC fight to earn the light heavyweight championship. He holds a pro-MMA record of 37-14, with his last fight being a 2019 loss to Fedor Emelianenko in Bellator.
