MMA Legend Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson gives his two cents on Francis Ngannou’s ‘rocky road’ in the UFC.
Money Matters
Rampage Jackson spoke with Tom Taylor of the South China Morning Post recently, and of course, the topic of fighter pay came up in conversation because it’s more relevant than ever. Jackson has had his own contract issues with the UFC and Bellator, so the subject is not foreign to the former light heavyweight champion.
During the interview, Jackson said Francis Ngannou’s contract is very low, and if that were his contract, he would have passed.
“Yeah, $600,000 for him being champion and defending his belt is very low,” Jackson said. “I wouldn’t be happy with that contract. I wouldn’t of signed that contract. That’s all I can say about that.”
Manager Woes
On top of all of the contract issues and wanting to get paid his worth, Ngannou’s manager, Marquel Martin, is also at war with the UFC. It seems to be a one-way war as UFC President Dana White does not particularly like Martin. The promotion would even target a lawsuit at the manager for alleged talks of Ngannou going elsewhere (while still under UFC contract).
If the UFC President does not like your manager, Jackson believes you’re screwed.
“One thing I can say- well, it worked out perfectly for me because I have the perfect manager for MMA. My manager sees eye to eye with Dana. Dana actually used to manage him years ago when he was fighting for Dana. If I was still in the UFC, I believe that I would have a great deal. Unfortunately, when I was in the UFC I had managers that Dana did not like. If Dana doesn’t like you, if you’re a fighter and Dana don’t like your manager, you’re f*cked. People don’t understand that.”
The former UFC fighter praised his former boss for the work he has put into the sport and even compared him to the former President of the United States for his brashness.
“You can say a lot of good things and bad things about Dana. But I’m a human being and I accept other people to human beings, right? What I’ve learned about Dana is, he really loves the UFC, it’s like his baby..if it wasn’t for Dana who knows what would have happened to the UFC.
“Who knows where the sport of MMA would be at if it wasn’t for him. So, I do think Dana deserves more respect than a lot of people give him but at the same time, there is a reason why people talk about him the way they do. He’s passionate and he’s not politically correct. He’s a Donald Trump figure. Everybody was mad at Donald Trump because he said whatever the fuck he wanted to. He wasn’t a puppet and he had mean tweets.”
Rampage ended with this.
“Yeah, Dana and the UFC could be paying fighters a lot more, I don’t like that part but I’m not going to get mad at Dana for being Dana.” Rampage added. “It’s like me getting mad at a snake for biting me when I walk through the desert.”
