Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Rampage Jackson: Jon Jones Is The Dirtiest Fighter, Iconic Slams, That TUF Door, What Happened In TNA Wrestling

Episode Date: February 7, 2023

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (@rampage4real) is a mixed martial artist and actor known for his time in Pride FC, Bellator and as the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. He joins Chris Van Vliet in the Blue Wire Studios at Wynn Las Vegas to talk about his legendary UFC career, his fights with opponents like Wanderlei Silva, Chuck Liddell, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, why he says Jon Jones is the dirtiest fighter, what happened when he signed with TNA to become a pro wrestler, his movie roles and what he learned from Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper on "The A-Team", his viral clip destroying the door on "The Ultimate Fighter", why he thinks Jake Paul will beat Tommy Fury, his support of United Fight League and the fact that they are paying for fighters medical coverage, his plans for another fight and much more! Check out the United Fight League here: https://unitedfightleague.com/ For more information about Chris Van Vliet and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris. Oh, it is so good to see you, my friends. And welcome to another audio adventure on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet, and we've got a legend with us here in the Blue Wire Studios of the Win, Las Vegas. The former UFC light heavyweight champion, Quentin Rampage Jackson, is with us. And man, what a career he's had.

And this is such a great conversation because he doesn't hold back on, anything. So glad you're here with us for this and a big thank you to Harrison Rogers, the founder of United Fight League, who connected us and set this up. And man, congrats to him on everything he's doing. United Fight League is offering medical coverage to their fighters. We talk about it during this interview, but just wanted to put that out there. If in the meantime, while you're listening to this, you want to check them out, it's United Fightleague.com. But snap a screenshot since you're doing things on your phone and share it on social media and tag us. So we can share it out. Rampage is at Rampage the number four real, so Rampage 4 real. I'm at Chris

Fampfleet and hey, TJF 923. Thank you for leaving this review on Apple Podcast. It says my favorite wrestling podcast. I started watching CVV in late 2019 when he interviewed guys like Enzo, Santino, and Austin Aries, and I was instantly hooked. There's something about him that just makes me want to see Insert Wrestler. Here, get interviewed to get him Steve Austin. an interview or even Jericho, that'd be great. Hope he keeps being great and stays grateful. I appreciate the kind words. I will keep reading one review out from Apple Podcasts on every single episode is my way to say,

hey, thanks for being on this journey with me because I seriously can't do this without you. Now, without further ado, I mean, who likes any ado? Is it any point in time, right? Without any further ado? You know what I mean. Let's dive into this. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Quentin Rampays. Jackson.

The man himself, Rampage Jackson. Thank you so much for coming by. Hey, thanks for having me. I spent the whole day with you. This has been so much fun. I know, it's been cool, yeah. Who's the first person that ever called you Rampage?

My cousin, Tyrone when I was eight years old. And it's just stuck from that moment? Well, it really didn't stick until I tattooed it on my arm when I was like, what, 14. You did it yourself? Yeah. Stupid. The worst tattooed it. I ever seen.

Is that why it's covered up now? That's right. I covered this up right before my first professional fight, I think. I was too embarrassed to have rampage going down my arm all crooked, and I almost misspelled it. It was bad, brother. One of it was, like, worse than a prison. I was like, needle.

How did you do it? You put a needle, you wrap thread around it. Yeah. And for the first letter, that dude, that taught me how to do it, said, oh, you got to burn the needle. So the R was all messed up and burnt at the top. I was like, man, that don't make sense. So the R looks all messed up in front.

Then I just did like this. Like with just ink from like a pen? Or what? It was, the guy told me it was Indian ink. That's all I knew. And how long did you have this tattoo for? Yes. I had it from 14 all the way up to,

so I covered up when maybe I was like 21. Oh, man. So what was the idea of covering it? bring it up with this? I was just real embarrassed about it and I went to a tattoo shop in Temecula somewhere because I was hanging out with some some people that living in Temecula. You could be drinking wine while you're out there too.

Wine country. I don't think it was a wine country back then. Wine country now for sure. It probably was. I just didn't know. Yeah. And they took me to the tattoo place and this was the only one that could cover up my tattoo, correct.

Man. That looks good. Yeah, it's not bad. What do you mean not bad? It looked way better when it first got done. It looked like people thought it was branded on. The guy really dug in there deep and it was like real dark and it was like, you can feel it. But, you know, it's faded over the years.

Looks good. Thanks. You look like you could fight right now. Man. Could you? I don't know, man. I'm out of shape, man. I'm a big boy.

But you're, you have a big frame too, though. Yeah, yeah. I've been trained. I've been lifting a lot of weights. I've been doing more waste than MMA training. Like, are you getting ready to maybe fight? Like, you're not officially retired. No, I never officially retired.

So I do, I do want to fight like maybe like two or three more fights. And I want to do like at least one boxing match before I get to a lot of money in boxing right now. Yeah, it is a lot of money in boxing. But I just want to do a boxing match. I've always have. Do you have an opponent in mind? No, I have no opponents in mind. I just want to box something about.

You think it'd be a heavyweight? Yeah, it would have to be a heavyweight. What do you weigh right now? Right now, I weigh $2.90. $2.90? I weighed myself this morning. I was $2.90. Wow.

I wouldn't think you're $2.90. I got big, big legs, big ass, and a big belly. It's not that big. It's big, man. I feel like you could fight at heavyweight in a few weeks, though, if you needed to. No, it would take me a couple months. I'm going to keep lifting for a while because me and my friend, Harrison and Rogers, we both get in shape so we can do a movie together.

And then I'm going to just keep trying to get in shape. I want to go to Thailand and train with Bob Sapp. I don't know if you remember. Have you remember Bob Sap right now? He's like 320 pounds, like 7% body fat. What? Yeah, he's ripped. And he told me, like, hey, I can get you in this type of shape.

So I want to go out there and see what he's doing. So if you were 7% body fat, what would you weigh? I don't know. If I was 7% body fat, I'd probably get all the way down like to 205. Maybe. Back to 205. I'll probably be back in two of, I'll probably be walking around at 205.

Could you have another light heavyweight match in the UFC? If I can get down, if I can get down to 7% bodyfeit. But that's, I don't think that's safe for fighting though, 7% body fat. Well, or like cutting that much weight.

Yeah. I just don't, I just don't feel like that safe. When you fought at 205, what would you walk around at? Well, it depends on what years you're talking about. Okay, how about the, like when you won the championship? When I won a championship,

when I beat Chuck. So I was probably walking around like, 2.15. Okay. A pretty easy cut. Yeah. Right? Yeah, because I really didn't have to cut that much because doing camp, I would lose like a lot. So I probably, I probably had to cut like eight pounds, maybe. So then what are some other times where you were cutting way more? Oh, later on in my career, you know, as injuries got worse. I remember I had to start cutting 30 pounds when I was in Bellator. 30 pounds. I had to cut 30 pounds. So because some dumb ass, two specials, misdiagnosed me with hypothyroid.

And they put me on medicine. It makes me gain weight. I was supposed to lose weight. Yeah. But I was gaining weight. So I didn't figure it out, you know. How did you figure it out? How did you know that it was a misdiagnosis?

Well, I didn't figure out until a month before my last fight. I was training with Coach Cal. I don't know if you know him. He trains a lot of guys like my friend, 1-11. and he trains a lot of good athletes and stuff. And he's a scientist. And he said, let me, I told him about my problem. He said, let me look at your blood panel.

And he looked at my blood and those specialists that, I don't think they did this. And he looked at it and he said, oh, there's nothing wrong with your thyroid. He says, your T3. Something's wrong with your T3. And he said, that medicine that you own is making you gain weight. Oh, man.

And then I said, and so I quit cold turkey. He was like, no, no, no, no, you shouldn't quit cold turkey. But I was like, man, I got to. cut weight to make headway. I got to lose weight. So I quit cold turkey and it just backfired. Wow.

So I'm still trying to, I'm still trying to, trying to get everything right. But I think that, my body style, I think that maybe I'm going to have to cut out a whole bunch of stuff like carbs, sugars. All the fun stuff.

Water. Probably not water. What's like, what's the go-to cheat meal for you? I'm not, I'm not really a foodie. I'm not really a foodie, but,

man, But if I have like a cheap meal when I, when I, when I'm on the street diet, sometimes I have a cheap meal. I like to order pizza or, you know, burger fries. I'm not a big foodie. I'm such a sucker for pizza. Oh, man. Like, it's just so easy. Oh, yeah.

What's your pizza choice? Honestly, it's just pepperoni. Oh, yeah, pepperoni's always good. Because for me, then I can compare the pepperoni pie at this place to this place to this place. And it's, you know, one topping all across the board. Yeah. All my friends make fun of me because Pizza Hut is my favorite. And they was like, come like.

They're like, man, you don't know good pizza. I'm not a foodie. I like what I like. My wife makes fun of me relentlessly because I love Domino's. Oh, yeah. The Domino's crust is unbelievable that, like, the way they do the garlic on it. Oh, yeah, yeah. But Pizza Hut.

Pizza, because you get the extra mariner sauce and you dip your pizza in there. It's like. That's real, yeah. I'm with you on that. Yeah. What was the fight where you ended up, you missed weight and you, you found a catch weight. Was that during that time?

It did happen to me, didn't it? Yeah. I love that you don't even know. This is great. I don't remember. I don't, the fight I ever remember missing weight was early in my career

when I fought at King of Cage. This was in UFC, I think. Oh, I don't remember ever. I never missed weight in the UFC. I'm going to look it up there. Look it up. I don't remember that. We've got all the world's information

at our fingertips here. Yeah, because. No? I don't remember that. I remember one time I missed weight when I was supposed to fight in King and Keyes, but the guy told me, oh, don't worry about cutting weight. He's not paying me enough, so I'm not going to fight. So I stopped cutting weight.

I had like a pound and a half ago. Maybe that's it. I don't know. No, no. You probably wouldn't heard of this King and Kaye. This is a long time ago. It's like 18 years ago. Well, we've got all the world's information here.

Do you know, would you be able to tell me every single person that you've fought? No. I got like, what, 60 fights? I don't know. We've got 52 matches. 52 professional fights. I don't even know my record. Ryan Bader, UFC 144,

catch weight 1, 211 pounds. Jackson missed weight. That's what it says here. It was in Japan. Do you remember this? No, I don't remember. I don't remember missing weight for the fight. Do you remember fighting Bader?

Yeah, yeah. I probably did miss weight for the fight because, oh, you know what? Now he remembers. I do remember. I did miss weight for that. a fight because that was my first time ever doing TRT. I did...

That was back when it was okay. Yeah, yeah. A doctor prescribed it took me. I had partially torn like my meniscus training for him. And I didn't want to pull out of the fight because I was fighting in Japan. You know, it's my favorite place to fight.

And the doctor prescribed me TRT and said it would make me heal faster. And did it? It was better. I got through the fight. I guess I could. I couldn't keep running. I couldn't lose weight.

And I end up turning in the fight anyway. It ripped it all the way. I had to get surgery right after that one. So I probably did miss way for the fight. I think you're right. Well, it's not me. Yeah, yeah. The internet's undefeated.

Yeah, I think you're right. I just didn't remember, yeah. Because I remember my body reacted to it. And I remember I got stronger. I got bigger. So one of the things that I think is fascinating about you is I'm a big pro wrestling fan. You grew up as a big pro wrestling fan.

Yeah. Was there any chance when you were growing up that it might have been pro wrestling instead of M.A? Oh, it was, it was, it was always supposed to be pro wrestling. You know, I used to be a really big pro wrestling fan from Memphis. And my oldest brother was a big pro wrestling fan. So it was like I grew up watching him, watching it. And we used to always go to like the Monday night. Monday Night Raw?

Yeah, no, no, it wasn't called Monday Night Raw. Before then. Yeah, it was something else. It was Monday night fights. And they used to have it free on Sundays where they give you free tickets you go to the studio. I've been there a couple of times.

Is this like what Jerry the King Law was doing? Like Memphis Championship Wrestling? Yeah, Jeff Jared with the Bears and the Master of Pain. So who were your guys growing up? Do you know who the Master of Pain is? He's very famous right now. Mr. Payne. They call him The Undertaker.

Oh, wow. Yeah. I only knew him as Mean Mark Callaway. No, I knew he was master paying. He was my favorite, he was my favorite wrestling. Him and the moon dogs. I used to love the moon dogs. Wow.

Yeah. And Jeff Jared, he was, when he was really young, he was coming up. See how he always said people would be, this guy was like taking a photo. He was like, oh my God, it's Rampage. See? Look, look how pump people are. Of course they are. Yeah, it's Rampage Jackson.

That's cool. Yeah. That's cute. So what happened then along that journey? Like, why wasn't it pro wrestling? I don't, well, this is, this is something. It's kind of like a long story. Okay.

I bumped into my favorite pro wrestler. Who's that? A-oh. Master of Pain. Okay. Undertaker. Yeah. And this is when I started wrestling.

I started wrestling because I thought it was pro wrestling. And I went to state. So I'm in Chattanooga, and I'm in a hotel, and I see the Undertaker, and I asked him for a picture, I mean, for an autograph. He said, no. Then I saw him signing a little white kid's autograph. I was like, oh. But then. years later, I think about, I was 17 years old.

He didn't see you as a kid. He didn't see me as a kid. I was still a kid. But at 17 years old, I thought I was, you know, I thought I was a kid. But you probably had this voice too. Like, hey, can I get an autograph? Like, I wrestle, I wrestle 171. Oh, yeah.

You know what I'm saying? And I was all mussel and stuff like that. So he probably thought, he probably thought I was a grown man. So years, years later, like, I regret telling my manager to that story. Because I'm going to take a one to take a picture with me. And I was like, he wanted to meet me. I was like, no, I don't want to meet Undertaker. I already met him.

And then my friend went back and said, A rampanty said, he already met you. And then Unitek, he's like, no, I never met him. And then I told my friend the story. And he said, oh, don't, don't say that because one of my friends at the time, he was there helping out with the pro wrestling. He was, and he do, like, websites. And he was doing websites for porn girls.

And so he kind of intervening the two. So they didn't want him around really messing up. So he said, hey, listen, I'm already on hot water. Don't tell him about the story. I said, okay, that's cool. I won't say nothing. But my manager at the time told the story. And then he got back to Undertaker.

And he was like, what? He didn't remember it. Sure. Yeah, but then I told him, told him everything. And I asked him the same questions. I asked him when I was a kid, you know. And I felt bad. But when I got a little old, I thought about it, you know what?

He probably didn't know I was a kid. So I want to apologize to Undertaker now for making him feel some type of way. he probably thought because I know now when me now I never tell kids no if I don't have to like if it's like a kid

like if somebody pushing me along with a lot of people and I can't I always try to get to the kids but you can't get to everybody 100% of time but I'd never tell the kid no because of that

wow because that changed me not want to be a pro wrestling no more right but then it's been times where I told like grown men

know but then I got the kid right maybe one of those grown men was 17 or something and I thought I thought it was grown, man. I thought he was older.

So I understand. I understand now. So we can blame the Undertaker for you not being a pro wrestler and also thank the Undertaker for you being an MMA legend. Seriously. Because I'm such a big believer that moments in our life happen for a reason. So if this thing doesn't happen, then that thing doesn't happen. So think about it.

If your pads hadn't crossed, if whatever, you didn't have the chance to ask him for an autograph and that didn't happen, maybe you would have tried to be a pro wrestler and perhaps it wouldn't have worked out. You might, yeah, you might right. because pro wrestling, that's tough. That's all I don't think. I don't think I have what they have because they got to wrestle every day. It's a lot.

That's a lot. I don't think I would like to do it. I didn't know what, I didn't know all the work that goes into until I, you know, was at TNA for a little bit. And I saw what they was doing and how often they had to do it. I was like, man, I'm glad I went to MMA. And most of the people that you're seeing in TNA have been there for, at the very least, they've been doing it for five years, maybe 10 years.

years, legends at that point, doing it for 15 or 20 years. Yeah. And yeah, you've got to train. And then you've got to go in front of a crowd and figure out what works and what doesn't work. Right. And then they do like shows like they work like 300 days a year or something like that. Yeah, like WWs on the road, 300 days a year.

But like TNA, which is now impact wrestling, they're not on the road as much. A&W only has two days a week. Oh, okay. Maybe it's time for you to get back into pro wrestling. I don't know, man. I'm too old. Now my body's all beat up. I don't know.

Chris Jericho's in his 50s and he's doing great. Well, he's been active in doing it for 30 plus years. He knows how to take the fall. So maybe if they have me coming in, it's like, what do you call it, one of those bodyguards and forces, let me beat up on people every now and then. Yeah. And, you know, I do that. That's fun.

It was big news when you signed with TNA. It was big news, and I was so disappointed that they didn't use me. And, like, I thought they was going to use me. Like, your debut is you, nose-to-nose with Kurt Angle? Like, incredible. Dude, that broke the Internet for me. Yeah. Then what happened from there?

I don't want to talk bad about TNA, but if I'm going to keep it 100, like I always try to do, I just think they're stupid. In one way? They didn't give you the time to train or what? Well, they were supposed to train me. They sent the ring to my gym. I had my own gym at the time, but they never sent anybody over to train me, and they never, like, you know, put the time in to train me. I was, I was serious about it. Who knows?

I probably would have left MMA and been, been, like, running around. somebody by now. Well, there's so much of what you did in the Octagon that felt really pro wrestling inspired. Like your entrance, you know, the yell, even the name Rampage, like all of that is like pro wrestling written all over it.

Yeah, I was made for pro wrestling. You were, which also made you such a massive star in UFC. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. But it's crazy to think that you were signed a TNA and you didn't even end up having a match then. Not even one match. Do you still want to have

a pro wrestling match? Yeah, I wouldn't, I wouldn't matter. You know what? You know what? I did do something with WWE, though, when I promoted that. With the 18? Yeah. Man, I had so much fun, like the big show.

Everybody was real cool with me and stuff like that, but nobody would let me power bomb them, though. I was kind of disappointed in that. The fact that you pulled off a power bomb in pride is pretty much unbelievable. Yeah, that was a hell, Mary. I had to end that fight. That guy, if he would have kicked me one more time, I couldn't pretend like I wasn't in pain.

But you picked him up like he weighed nothing. Yeah, that's the wolf. I lost my temper. That was on my 26th birthday. I lost my temper because Ricardo Rona, he had, we had some history. I was supposed to fight him in the Grand Prix in the tournament, but he, last minute, like he got hurt and got his friend, his team in there, Marillo Bustamante.

And Marilla Bousamante was a black belt Jiu-jitsu like him, but they were two separate type of fighters. So I trained for Arona. I didn't train for Marillo, you know, and I didn't find out I was fighting somebody different until I got to Japan. And the rules, when your opponent changed

at that short of notice, they're supposed to give you a lesser opponent, but they didn't. Marillo was a champion at that time. He had left UFC a champion. And so I saw, saw Ricardo coming out of the 7-Eleven, like when I got to Japan,

like, a day before I had to cut wet or something like that. He was just walking out at 7-Eleven. As soon as he saw him, he's like, oh, then he started limping. He had like two band-aids and an X on his knee. I was like, oh, man, this guy faking. And so I knew what he did. You know, they were just trying to get their teammate into pride. Because pride was the biggest show on the planet at the time.

So fast forward. I ended up beating Marillo, Bousamonte, but he almost guillotined me. I almost lost that fight. So I'm fighting. I'm fighting Ricardo Arona. This is the only time in the history of fighting I ever lost my temper in a fight. And we're fighting. And I already was mad at him because he did that to me.

But he started healing me in my face, kicking me in my face with a heel. And that was hard. And I went down so it can miss me, right? He told the referee, oh, he knocked out. He's knocked out. And he dislocated my jaw with one in the heels. My jaw was like out of hands a little bit. And so that pissed me off.

And then when he said that, told the referee, like, oh, he's knocked out, he's knocked out. See, those referees over there, they didn't like me. And they used to always give me yellow cards and stuff like that. So I didn't trust the referees. If the referee was on the shit, he could have just called a fight right then. He could have believed it and like I was knocked out. So that pissed me off.

And if you go back and watch that fight, it was right after that when that power bomb. Were you trying to power bomb him? Yeah, I was trying to put him through the... I was trying to put him through the... I knew... I knew... And guess what? This is that stupidity.

All he had to do was let go on my head. Seriously? That's all he had to do. Like, people were saying, like, oh, just wrap the arm around the leg. You don't even go? All you got to do, let go. It looked dangerous.

Like, some people have been knocked out from moves like that. Yeah, yeah. But you know what? I got a lot of shit for that people said I head-budded him. That's not true. When he got knocked out, it was so hard that his...

It knocked him out instantly, and his head came back and got me in the eye. Oh, you still have a scar? Yeah. Look at that. Yeah, it was like 20 stitches, some 30 stitches, 15 on the inside. Wow. 15 on the aisle. Is that the highlight that people go back to the most?

Yeah, that, that. Vanderlay knockouts. Yeah. Yeah, the Van der Leight knockouts is my favorite one, though. Why is that? The first one, because I always knew I could beat Van der Leight. But Van der Leight gave me two of the worst ass weapons of my, my life. But I always knew I can beat them because the first two times when I was

training for Vanillae is just my team. I had a young team at the time. I was on team on Yama. And, you know, my, my, my, uh, Muay Thai coach, my coach, he was really good. He was solid, but he couldn't spar with me. And so I'm sparring with jiu-jitsu guys. And we had, like, one heavyweight on a team. And he couldn't fuck with me. He couldn't deal with me. So he would always, like, be running out of the ring. He didn't, you know, he was sparring. So I'm sparring with jiu-sies. You know, training for a guy his name, an ex-murderer. So I just didn't have the right training, but then the last two times when I trained with them,

I had some really good teammates. I had some really, I had some really good sparring. I had some really good sparring partners. MMA wasn't what it is now when you were coming up. So how did you first find out about what it is? When I first found out about MMA? Yeah. Or like maybe the first time you watched the UFC.

I remember watching the UFC. Like on VHS or something? Yeah, back at college. One of my college high school wrestling coaches was doing, he was fighting in the UFC. His name is Vatimer Manichinko. He retired before the UFC got mainstream. But he's a UFC veteran, one of the pioneers.

So he was training for the UFC. That's when I learned about it. That's before you were training for him. I was in wrestling. I was college wrestling and he was fighting he was fighting he was one of the coaches

in college and he was training for the UFC so we would help him wrestling and he would put us in like arm locks and stuff right so then I was like what the fuck is he doing then they showed me I like oh this is what it is

and I saw horse Gracie and what's his name Kimmo Kimmo Kimbo right no chemo oh chemo yeah yeah

yeah you came out with the cross yeah yeah and I saw Joe Joe son that dude that from the Austin Powers movie

And that was back when Chambra was doing this thing. Yeah, yeah, he was getting, the dude got hitting the nuts. I saw all this. He was like, what the hell is this? The UFC back then was the Wild Wild West. It was a Wild Wild West.

And so I got injured in college and I went home, healed up. And one of my old teammates that I used to wrestle against in high school, man, his coach was really good friends. So, man, him, we knew each other. We was friends. We became really good friends. And he wanted me to help him train for a fight. I was, you know, a rest.

He took me to a gym, and he took me to a fight. And I saw this guy, like, the champion of Memphis. He was, he was, he was, he was put a guy in the armbar, a triangle choke, and he tapped the guy and pushed his foot on his face and kicked him off. And I was like, man, I like to fight that guy. And I ain't know what I was talking. You know, I just never like, you know, dicks, stuff like that. I just thought he was a good guy. I saw him last time I was here.

Mike Powell, he, he, he, he, USC veteran as well. And I thought he was a dick, but he's not, he's actually a good guy. And I ended up fighting a couple weeks later. You know, I go back to the gym and stuff like that. And he was like, hey, you still want to fight? I'm like, yeah, I'll fight. Like, you know, win. And it was like, oh, three days.

Three days. Yeah. I was like, who? They was like, remember that guy you saw you want to fight? Here's your chance. I was like, damn. I spoke too soon, so I couldn't like back out, right? So I fought them three days notice and I ended up winning by decision.

What did you think you were going to end up doing for a living? If it wasn't pro wrestling, if you didn't find MMA, what were you going to college for? I went to college just to wrestle. I went to college just because I majored in wrestling. Yeah, I wasn't going to college to go to school because I already knew where I was going to be. My family owned construction companies back home, Memphis, all my brothers and cousins, everybody do construction. So I figured pretty much that was what I was going to be.

But I had just started wrestling when I turned 17, right? So, you know, I had just started. So when I turned 18 in Tennessee, you can't wrestle. I got lucky to some college saw me. They thought it could make their wrestlers tougher. You know, I wasn't good at anything. So I was just going to college, just keep wrestling. I don't think there's anybody in MMA who has a scarier stare down than you.

Yeah, that's crazy. You know, I grew up, I grew up with a real hard childhood. You know, I'm like the white sheet of my family. And, you know what I'm saying? So I was always in a bad mood. I always, like, frowning and stuff like that. So I think that's probably why I got like a mean face. Because I feel like I'm one of the nicest people in the world.

Hey, you're very nice. Yeah, but a lot of people say I look mean and stuff. So it's, it goes with it. But real talk, though, when I, when I, I am two people. A lot of people don't understand that, though. So I am two people. What do you mean? I'm Quinn and I'm Rampage.

So, you know, so a lot of times when I fight and they stare down, there's Rampage staring at you. They ain't Quinn. Quinn, I just like to tell jokes and laugh and fuck bitch. I mean, I can't say. You know, I like to have fuck. What are most people call you? Rampage, right?

A lot of people do. A lot of people call me Rampage, but some people call me Quinn. I don't tell people what to call me. people call me whatever they feel comfortable with. Right. Yeah. Did the stare down immediately always become one of your trademarks? I had no idea.

It was just, I just know that it's one of the first fights between you and your opponent. Like to stare down, that's one of the first fights. And I don't like losing fights. Can you tell by looking in someone's eye if they have it or not, if you're going to win or not? No, I wish I could. But a lot of times you can tell they're scared But if I'm going to be honest I hate fighting scared people

Well John Jones said he was scared to fight Yeah John Jones said he had nightmares Leading up to that fight Yeah I hate fighting scared Because they get an extra boost of Adrillo Could you tell when you looked him in the eye

He was scared? Yeah, I knew he was scared I knew he was scared all Because he didn't want to do the stare down That's why you had to some pitches I turned my back to him and stuff And joke around because He never wanted to look me in eyes

I knew John was scared. You know, that fight, that's the only fight in my career where I've been, like, almost close to 100%. And none of my injuries hurt, and I trained really hard

where I was, like, overconfident. I thought I was going to beat the shit out of that kid. I really thought I was. Is that the loss that hurts the most? No, no, that's not the one that hurt the most. John Jones turned out to be, like, one of the best fighters. in the world.

Right. Yeah. And he got me with one of my most weakness to rear-necker choke. That's not the one that's not the one that hurt me the most. My last fight is the one to hurt me. Against Fador. That's the one that hurts me. Why is that?

Out of my whole career, that was like the most embarrassing. And it was like the worst, it was the worst fight ever that I ever had. And Bellator even thought that I didn't train for that fight. I know it looked like I did. But I actually trained harder for that fight than I did in years. I just did a 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, it just wasn't right. And I just, it just, it was a surprise to me. I wasn't even, I looked really, I was really bloated and everything. And I wasn't even that bloated when I got to Japan for that fight. It was just, it was just really bad. It's like one of those things where you think, like, does somebody put some voodoo on me?

Because how in the hell did I blow up? Like, how did I get this bloated? Yeah. Like, right before my fight. It was like one of those things. Speaking of John Jones, what do you think about his next match? Oh, um. I mean, so interesting that he's getting a title shot at heavyweight

and he's never fought at heavyweight before. Yeah, yeah, that, but it's like I said, it's John Jones. I know. I get it. He's one of the best of all time. Yeah. I think that I think that John Jones

wrestling is going to make them victorious. I think that if we get the John Jones who fought you, man. John Jones is a great fighter, but I'm going to be 100. Even if you're standing his room, I said,

but he's the dirtiest fighter ever. He's the dirtiest fighter ever. And the guy's so smart, he does the most dirtiest things. Like, I know they had the, They changed the gloves just because of John Jones. I don't know if you know, they changed the design of the gloves

so you can't hold your hand like this no more. The gloves, they form them so they curve so you don't have your hands. So if you fight John Jones before they got the gloves, if you're doing anything good on them, and he's going to put his fingers in it, he's going to poke you in the eye. And then if you're in fast and all you're doing anything good, you get the advantage, you're going to kick your knee backwards. For one, I think that knee kick.

They call it like an oblique kick, whatever the head. He's kicking you right on your kneecap, kicking the back. I think that should be banned. And I kept asking the referee to like, man, I'm like, get his fingers out my eye. We're like, what's going on? Yeah. And because those two things that you get into about a career, because if you detach my retina, you know, in this career,

you've messed my knee up really bad. Like, my knee is still messed up from that. Really? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, my knee is still messed up from that fight. Wow.

Because it hyper-standing. He kicked it all the way back. Like, you can end people careers with those moves. So, yeah, John Jones, he's good. He don't even have to do that. Think about, go back and watch his fight. Think about all those spinning elbows he's doing the beginning. Where did they land?

Do you remember? Where'd they land? On the back of people ahead. Yeah. Yeah, now that you think about it, yeah. This league of John Jones is like the dirtiest fighter. So that's... Are you not cool with John Jones?

No, I'm cool with John Jones. Okay. When I see John Jones, we cool. I went last of my son I just pick your fingers in his eyes now. Oh, yeah. You know, you know, it's a side of me that want to do stuff to,

it's the side of me that want to do stuff to John Jones. It is. I'm not going to, I'm going to keep it real. It's inside of me. You never got a rematch either. No, I never got a rematch.

I never got a rematch. Yeah. It's the side of me that, you know, every time, like, I used to, I used to have a limbo and I used to get in and out of the limbo. Every time I used to get it in out of the limbo, every time I used to get in a lot of pain. I used to think like, man,

smack the shit out of it. It's the side of me, but then it's like, I always had honor when I fought. You know, I want to be the best fight on the day. I want to win the fight clean. But I know that every fight is not like me. So I can't get mad at them. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah. I can't get mad at him for that, but it's just me. But, you know, now my son is fighting. If somebody did that shit to my son, I don't know what happened because I can't control my temper sometimes, right? I don't know if I would jump in the cage and go out, you know, somebody to kick my son.

back was of poke my son. I don't know. But me, I don't, I don't love myself as much as I love my son. So it's just different, you know what I'm saying? You talking about that temper? You versus that door on the Ultimate Fighter? Yeah, that's the most embarrassing TV moment for me. Really?

Yeah. That's iconic. I was, I was so embarrassed about that. You shredded that door in like three seconds. It was a cheap-ass door. It was a cheap-ass door, thank God. But even if it wasn't the cheap door, the door, I was leaving the room. because they was cheating my teammates.

I mean, my fight, I was coaching it. And, you know, those guys, they put their life, they're making a break for their life, right? So those guys was telling me a whole bunch of stuff. It's like, with me, everything adds up. I'm not just, people don't understand this about me. Even girls that date me, they don't understand this about me. When you do something to me, it adds up, it adds up.

It adds up. I'm not going to, I'm not going to, like, go out to you for the first little thing you do to me. It's going to add up, it's going to add up and then. After a while, then I just, boom. And that's my mind. not be healthy. Because when I do explode, like, you're like, damn, you think I explode on you for this one little thing. But it's been all this shit that you've done to me.

So my fighters have been telling me, like, man, I can't get, like, good food. I can't get chicken. I can't get this. I can't get this. Because in the show, you got to write down. You can't go know what. You got to write down on the paper what you want. And they said, if I, if I write down alcohol, if I write down a bottle vodka or something, they go and get it within an hour. But I would put on the chicken, be like two days, no chicken, I need veggies. Because they want them to be drunk during the reality show.

Yeah. And the other, but the other team, though, they said, oh, no, they, whatever they want, they get it right away. And then when the first time, when the first time I did it with Forrest, I'm be real, I'm B 100. I thought it was a race thing. I'm not going to lie. Sometimes black people, we feel like that when we shouldn't.

But sometimes we do. When sometimes if we're not treated fair, we automatically think it is a race thing. But then I found out on the second season, it's not a race thing because we're Charlie Evans, black, too. Like, you know what I'm saying? Then I found out it's an ultimate fighter thing because he's from the ultimate fighter. So they wanted him to win.

They wanted his team to win. So they were treating my fighters like, shit. And that fight, it was a really close fight. And, you know, my memory is back. I've been punched a million time. I can't remember exactly who was fighting. But it was a really close fight. And I've been fighting for 20 years.

I know that my guy, if he was going to go to somebody, should have went to my guy. If not, it should have been. they should at least draw extra round what not. They shouldn't went to Rashad Evans guy. And they gave it to his guy. So I'm like, I saw myself. I felt my,

I know what it's like where I'm going to lose my temper. So I try to leave the room. I try to leave the room. So I'm leaving the room because I know what I was going to. I didn't know what I was going to do. But I don't know what I'm going to do, but I know I was going to leave, I knew I need to leave this room.

And I remember throwing a bottle of water. And that's when I did that, like, when I did that, I try to open the door and the door closed back. It was like a little bit. It closed back on me. I'm like, oh, fuck this door. And that's what happened.

And I was, and I always get embarrassed when I lose my temper. I'm always embarrassed about it because I do like the most fucked up shit. And that door, that door had to come. It's a great clip. Yeah. If it would have just opened and not bounce back on me, that door would still be standing. They'd still be alive. Yeah.

Fuck that door. Did they have to replace the door immediately? Yeah. You're like, Rampage, stay away from the door. Yeah, I think it took them like a day or two to the real place. I remember it was weird walking. I don't know if I think I put more holes in the walls in the office. I don't know.

I can't remember. But, yeah, we didn't have a door there for like a day or so. It's such a funny clip. Yeah, you know what? Today is my first time seeing a funny version on Twitter. And I actually retweeted it. It's the first time I even fucked with that image because they, I don't know what they, the computer, they put me somewhere else different.

I'm going to look at this. Yeah, I just retweet. It's on your Twitter? Yeah, and I saw that. And honestly, this is my first time actually kind of like laugh. I'm like, what the fuck? It wasn't even in the ultimate. They had me beating up the door and they put, they like Photoshop something.

Yeah, this is someone else beating. Oh, no, that. Is that it? Yeah, but that's not. We all hate nuk door. Oh, so it's like call a duty or something. It's not the studio. It's not the place.

So I thought that was funny. They put me in a different place. I love that you retweeted. Yeah, that's my first time fucking with that. Hey, you retweeted me. Thank you. I didn't see that. Oh, yeah.

I didn't see that. Twitter is weird, though. I don't understand the new Twitter. I don't either. You can't see all this stuff. And everything on my feed now is people I don't follow. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm like, what the hell is that? I thought I was going crazy. Me too. Now I'm getting naked bitches on my, my, I'm like, hold on. I don't follow this naked, big-titty bits. But I'm not really upset about it. No, I wasn't upset about it. I just had to look through her pictures and, you know.

And then you're like, well, I might as well follow her. She's here, you know. I think that's what it is. Like, whatever you'd be looking there, I think they try to learn your algorithm. Like when you go to that, the Explore page on Instagram. Yeah. I'm sure yours is just boobs.

Yeah, a bunch of chicks, cars. Yeah. Yeah. It's just all this stuff my wife sends me now because we're having a baby. So it's like all this kid's stuff. Yeah, see, it's going to soften you up, see. I got to beat some doors up. Yeah, you got to let the inner man come out of here now and then.

I'm having a girl, too. I mean, it's going to be so soft. Yeah, you're going to be super soft, bro. You have a daughter? I have a daughter. She, yeah, you're going to be soft. My daughter, my daughter changed me, bro, because I got three boys, right? And then my youngest is a daughter.

And it's like, man, she changed me. She changed it. But she changed me for the best. So now it's like, you, you, you, you. You kind of think about karma. When you think about dog and how to agree with, I don't want. I think about that. I think the reason I'm having a girl is because of karma.

Yeah. Like, you don't want some guy doing to your daughter what you want to do to it. Yeah. Does Rampage ever come out with your sons? Because I'm guessing you're just quitting with your daughter. Yeah, yeah. No, I'm quitting with my kids.

I have a great relationship with my kids. My two younger ones, like we, you know, we bump heads every now and then. my, but, you know what, my son is fighting. One time Rampage came out to him, because that motherfucker sucker punched me, like two years ago, I think. What? He sucker punched me, bro. Does he know who he's messing with? Man, he was out of his mind. He sucker punched

me. Then what happened? I beat the shit out of him. I had to defend myself. I beat the shit out of him, but then, you know what? I lost my temper. And so, because when he sucker punched me, he rocked me. And it was dangerous because it was like a big wooden table. I got like this old antique 100-year-old door from India somewhere and they turned into a table. If I would have failed to hit that, I'd probably have been dead or hurt or something.

I don't know. Because, you know, when you get, when you get sucker punch to punch, you don't see. That's the one that knocks you out. So he rocked me. And then I just went to, like, fight mode. And I didn't think that he was my son or nothing. It was just prime when I beat the fuck out of him. But then I was beating on it.

He was bleeding at the nose. Then I came to, and he kept trying to fight me. He thought he said he could beat me up. He thought he could beat me up because I was old out of shape. And I just, I guillotine. He's the first person I ever put to sleep with a guillotine. Because normally I don't, normally I don't get people in guillotines. Were you just fighting over something stupid?

Well, I don't want to put his business. Yeah, you don't have to tell you that. I don't want to put his business out there, but my son, my son needed my help doing something, but he didn't want my help. And so he thought that he knew best and he thought that he thought that he could take me. So he, he, he, he sucker punched me. But my other kids, you know, we never, never had them. So just Quinn, you're a softy with that.

Well, I'm not super, I think I am kind of soft for all my kids because, you know, my two older kids, you know, I raised them by myself since they, since they was little. My oldest son, he's 23. I got cussing him when he was three. His mom was a deadbeat. And then my other son, Roger, I got him when he was six. His mom, you know what I'm saying? She was straight up. She passed away.

Now she got murdered not too long ago. And so I had him, you know, since he was six, thank God I got him. And so I was married at first. When I got my son Roger, I don't want to suck up with him, my ex-wife, like, no, choose me and him, I had to choose my son. And she left me. She did. So I'm like, fuck. So I'm a single parent with two kids fighting in Japan.

Yeah. And so I think I kind of baby them a little bit too much because, because, you know, they, they, I felt like, I felt like it was normal for, you know, we grew up in America without our dad's being there, but it's not normal for your mom to be a deadbeat. So I, I feel like I kind of baby them a little bit too much. So I don't know, you know, because my two younger kids, they're straight-A students.

They're like in honors. They speak two languages. and my, you know, so it's like, ever since they was little, you know, you kids. I was like, my two younger kids, I'm going to save up a lot of money for their college fee, you know, college money savings, so they're going to want, you know, college,

and they're going to be tuition and all this stuff. And my two oldest kids, I was like, I'm just going to save a lot of money for bail money and attorney fees because these motherfuckers, they wow. My two oldest one, they, they, wow. You know, they just had me growing, you know, taking care of them. I was, like, busy trying to provide for,

All four of my kids. And then I still took care of my mom, my dad, and my ex and everything. So I was busy working, fighting, and raising these two boys. This new year, you've got goals. And Factor is here to help you achieve each and every one of them. Save time and have the energy that you need to tackle everything on your to-do list with Factor's ready to eat meals delivered straight to your door. If you've seen any of my videos on YouTube, you know that I've been talking about Factor for the last year.

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that fighting taught you? Oh, you know, I feel like life is a fight. You know, life is a fight. And that's the lesson I'm learning. Like, you got to fight every day because it's like, and fighting, you got to be real discipline,

you know, and in this world, you got to be real discipline because there's a lot of evil people. There's a lot of hate of people. There's a lot of hating people. There's a lot of drugs, a lot of things that get you off your path. I feel like, you know, you can be a positive person or you can be a negative person. It's just all about discipline.

And you just got to fight every day for what you want because I feel like I ain't nothing given to you. You know what I said? You ain't going to just go out and step in the art of the gun and this guy just going to lay down for you. You know what I'm saying? You got to go out there and take it. You got to win that fight. And every day it's a fight. You got to make sure you do the right thing.

You know, the thing about it, you just got to. You just got to be in a certain mental place because think about all these people that's in prison. Think about, think about, they go to a Walmart. They go to a liquor store. They drink and they're doing something. And somebody says something stupid and they get in the fight or they kill somebody. They stab somebody. They drunk driving.

Kill people. Kill your friends. Kill yourself. You got to stay disciplined. Life is a fight. You got to try to win the fight every day. And that's what I learned. I just feel like every day is a fight for me.

But that might just be my life because of where I came from, you know. What do you think has been the biggest change in MMA since you started? Because it changed and shifted along. Oh, my God. This sport has evolved so much. When I first started fighting, I mean, man, I like to say I was like the second wave of pioneers. There was, you know, pioneers before me like, you know, Dund Fry and Horse Gracie. Kemp, Shamrock and all those guys.

and even Titor Ortiz and Chuck. Yeah, a lot of those guys, Kevin Randeman, all those guys, Mark Coleman, Mark Kerr, all those guys, they were the first pair of them, boss rooting, all those guys, right? And then,

because my wave, we was kind of like them. We came into the sport, knowing one art, but then we started training Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai and wrestling, right? So my wave of pioneers. That's what we, we came to the sport knowing one

arts. I was a wrestler. I came in. Then I knew what worked from watching the UFC. Everybody knew. Everybody started training Muay Thai, wrestling, and judici. Nobody was really training, boxing, karate, taekwondo, none of that stuff. And so now what has changed is these kids and these people coming in now, they already know all three arts. They already coming in. They already coming in, already mixed martial artists before they even you know, before they even go to their first amateur fight or whatever.

Yeah. Like I fought, I fought like five or six fights. Well, I didn't even know, I didn't even start training Muay Thai until after my first fighting pride. So I just, I had hit pads, hit the bag and so I never had like a stand-up coach. So I

started training in Jiu-Jitsu and my wrestling and I went and fought all the way to pride, not even knowing. Not even knowing you had power in your hands? Not even knowing. So much power in your hands. Yeah, they didn't even know it. I never had a stand-up coach.

Wow. And so now these kids, before their first, after their first time of your fight, they are already, you know, well-rounded in three starts. I'm really curious to hear your thoughts on Jake Paul because he's putting a lot of eyes on combat sports right now. Yeah.

Jake, Jake Paul is actually really good for, I think he, I think it was him that revived, what was the word, revised boxing? Revitalized? Revitalized.

And he's only been a pro for three years. Yeah, I give him that. He put eyes back on boxing and it's like entertainment. He's bringing entertainment. A lot of people was bored during the pandemic. And he gave a lot of people entertainment, which is always a positive thing in my eyes because I love entertaining people. And. But up to this point, he hasn't fought a boxing.

No. So now he's got Tommy Fury in like four weeks. He's going to beat the shit out of Tom and Furrier. And nothing against Tom and Fury. I got nothing against him. You know, I look up to his brother and everything. But I thought Thomas Furrier was going to, I was rooting for him to beat Jake Powell as well.

I just want to see him fight a real boxer and get beat. I'm sorry. Because just, you know, I'm a fan of his. I like it, but he beat too many MMA fighters, right? So I'm like, now he's, he's, he going to shit the bed with me. And then I looked at Furrier. I was like, oh, my God, it got sucked. You don't think Tommy Fury is good?

No. I think Jake Paul is going to be him. So then Jake Paul wins this fight, then what does he do? If Jake Paul is smart and I think he's smart, he keeps doing what he's doing. Sounds like he's going to go into MMA. I don't know if he should do that unless he brings the same model that he's doing. See, people don't notice what he's doing. I don't know if I should, you know what I'm saying, put him out there for it.

He's beating people, he's fighting people, he knows he can beat. Everybody knows that Well, what, okay, then what's the problem? I think when, and this is no disrespect to Ben Ascran, who's an incredible world-class wrestler and had, you know, so much domination in the fights that he had, but he's not a boxer. So I think when you look at that fight on paper,

you're like, oh, it's really going to be difficult for Ben Asper to win that fight. Right, right. I wasn't surprised about it. I was surprised that Ben Asper got knocked out so fast. I was surprised they called that fight when they did. I thought Ben Ascran could have kept going. Ben Ascran didn't get knocked down to the ground.

Oh, I must be. Ben Ascran was like on his feet and they kind of went, okay, it's okay, okay. You know what I'm thinking about? Woodland. No, no, no, no. I'm thinking about Ben Ascent when he got knocked out with that flying knee. That's the tennis I see a half in my head.

My bad man. I was like, yeah, my boy, boy, I was like, I'm like, damn, was he flat up, but that's, you know, like I said, I've been punched a lot, so my mind is, but, but, but, but would it, my boy, Tyron, I was surprised. I thought Tyron was going to beat him. And I was kind of disappointed because... The first fight was close.

The one that went to decision. Yeah, I'm a big fan of Tyron. Willie and I... I thought that Tyrant was going to be the one to get him. But then, like, he got a flat line that second flight. Yeah, yeah. I low-key thought that that was a word, though, but people tell me, like, I'm wrong, so I kept my mouth shut.

I think there's no way that they could fake that. I'm going to tell you this right now. I know that there's been fake fights in. I know that. In UFC? No. I've never seen a fake fight in UFC. In Pride?

Yeah. Wow. Yeah. To make money on the money line? It's just entertainment. Pride was all about entertainment. So a lot of those pro wrestlers, a lot of those Japanese fighters, they were pro wrestlers. Yeah, yeah.

So some of those fights was fake, right? And I've seen, I've seen fighters, like, I've seen people, I've seen them, hit each other for real, but it's a fake fight. I've seen it. And fighters, like, we're a different breed. Like, people don't understand this. We're a different breed. And this is what I feel.

I could be 100% wrong, but I felt like Tyra knew he was going to get hit, but he probably just didn't know he's going to get knocked out. You understand what I'm saying? I just think with the commission involved, you can't make this, I don't think. I guess you're right, but I'm just saying. fight. I'm just said, you just got to make it look good.

You got to get hit for real. That was a hell of a knockout. Yeah, but you gotta say, say, say me and you fight and you and you say, and you say, listen, rampage, I'm getting you 10 million to take a die. But we got, but we got, but we got to make it. I'm just saying, I'm just. Yeah, I got you. Of course, no one's going to believe that I would beat you.

Right. Right. But, but we just said, you got to pay, you're going to pay me 10, 10 million to take a die, but you said, hey, but you got to look good, though. I got to really hit you. I'm like, fuck. I get hit all time. Okay.

And then you know that you're going to hit me. I know that you're going to hit me, but you know you're going to knock me to fuck out. See, I'm thinking I'm just going to get hit. Then I got to fall down. Boxers do that shit all the time. They're journeymen and boxing. People do this shit all the time.

So it's just probably me being such a big fan of Tyron that I want to believe that he took a dime instead of like really got knocked out because I saw when Jake turned his glove and Willie dropped his head and he did it twice, and then that just don't sit well with me. So I'm sorry. I feel like Jake did that a bunch of times during the fight. Well, you could be right. I don't know.

I could be just, like, drinking the Kool-Aid off people off TikTok. There's a lot of people on TikTok that have that same theory. Yeah, I know, man. TikTok turned me into a flat earth to, so I don't know. No. Stop it. No. Oh, come on.

Just because of TikTok. Oh. I'm joking, bro. I know. You see, I got to, you know what I love, I love space. I saw you promoting UFL the other day. Yeah. And I love it.

Harrison Rogers here who started United Fight League. And you're giving health coverage, health benefits to the fighters, which is absolutely unheard of. Unheard of. I'm going to tell you something. When I heard Harrison Rogers, when I heard his plan, what he wanted to do with his league, I was like, man, how can I be involved? Whatever you need me to do. I want my son to fight there.

I'm kind of low-key jealous that this wasn't around when I was first starting out. This is what the sport needs. Like somebody to really to, you know, say, be for the fighters. And not only is he giving life insurance, life insurance, health insurance. He's also giving him a stake in the company. Yeah, and hang out dividends on profit. Yeah. That's unheard of.

Unheard of. Unheard of. Unheard of. Harrison unheard of. Unheard of. It's like some people probably think it's too good to be true. But I think that's one of the biggest things. I think one of the biggest things that people are saying is it's too good to be true.

That can't actually be real. And if it is, there's no way that could last. So this is what I'm doing. Harrison is letting me film this and show it to people on their YouTube channel. I'm going around America looking for my own team because I know what's coming. See, y'all don't know what's coming. I know what's coming. I'm going to have my own team.

And I'm going to go out and look for these farters that I want to be on my team. And once all this stuff get going, everybody will be like, why they're going to be wrong away. Where's your gym going to be? I get a gym in Orange County. I'll have to come by. Yeah. It's going to be like an NBA style team, you know. And we're going to have a cool, cool name, cool logo.

I don't want to get nothing the way right now. And my team, you know, my style, going to be different from everybody because I'm different from everybody. I'm even going to have my own ring girls like cheerleaders. I'm going to do it big because I really believe in this. And he already started his own brands and stuff. And he's giving them a steak and that all together. So all these guys, they're going to be eating well.

All these up, it's like up in common, right, when they first start going to going, like when they first start turning pro with that level like that, you know? So it's not like the UFC level and fighters and stuff. Yeah. The interesting thing about choosing the profession of. of professional fighter is the upside is massive. You could make a ton of money. You could be super successful and well known.

The downside is also massive because when you're starting out, you're barely making any money and you're putting your health at risk, CTE and everything like that. So it's amazing that when you fall in love of the fight game, you're in love with it. And you get bit by that bug. But the upside is huge. The downside is also huge.

Right. I agree with you. When you first started now, you need something like this. You know, this is what you need. A company that's giving you shares and they pay you a dividend. And even when you're not fighting, you're in between fights and you're getting a check. And it'd be smart for those guys just to. I think Harrison is a genuine.

I know why he's doing it because I got to know Harrison before I jumped all the way in. I peeped them out. And he's a good guy. He really means what he said. You know what I'm saying? I'm just keeping it real. That's all I can do. I know what he really wants to do with this company and stuff.

So these guys, this is what they need. They need something like this. And it's genius what he's doing because they're going to promote the crap out of the brands and everything. Because if they're smart, because they're going to make more money because they have a piece of it. Sure, yeah. So I think it's smart. And it's also like, it's a no, it's smart. It's also a show that he's not greedy.

But it also shows that the company's looking out for you. That's what, yeah. It shows the company look out for you, not greedy. And it's actually, if you really think about it, it's fucking genius. If you really think about it, it's fucking genius. But only greedy people, they won't get it. They won't, why don't get them a piece of my country? They don't get it.

I wonder if they'll ever be any sort of fight union in boxing or anywhere else. I doubt it. Because box has been around for over 100 years. Yeah. And they never had one. I think Muhammad Ali wanted to. He talked about it. Yeah, he wanted to start something.

See, football players, they get a pension when they retire. They get money, right? Basketball players, baseball players. Yeah, they've got a union. They've got a union, right? They've got the Players Association. Yeah. MMA.

They also go on strike when there's problems. Right. We don't do that. I don't think that MMA fighters, I don't think that we could go on strike because say we all went on strike. there'd be like 100, 100 more guys want to fight in UFC. Like, 100%. Dude, some people are fighting the UFC just to say they fall in the UFC.

Yeah. I think I've, I don't know how true this is, but I've heard of people fighting the UFC for a little to no pay. Because they... Still? Yeah. Wow. Because they wanted to fight in the UFC.

Dude, I remember the UFC used to have like the behind the scenes, all the workers and stuff there, working for them. Yeah. They got them where they are. And then next thing you know, when it got real popular, it's people that, you know, how many hundreds of people it takes to make the show operate. Of course, yeah.

Some of those people that work there now, they're fans of the sport, and they work for a half price of what the other people just get paid because they want to work for the UFC. So they've gotten that name to that point. You know, I understand that, but hopefully, you know, people will understand what Harrison is doing. I think it was grow.

And then I think it would make. other leagues step their game up. Yeah. And then it'll be the norm that. Rising tide lifts all ships. Yeah. You know, they're going to see what's happening here. And they're going to have to step up.

Yeah. What's the least amount of money that you've ever fought for? Oh, the least amount of money, what, $500. My first two professional fights, I made $500. $500 to win? $500 flat. Whether you won or lost, you've got $500. Yeah.

Well, yeah, because my first fight, my first professional fight I lost. What's the most amount of money you've made in a fight? I don't want to say that. Tell me what fight it was. Can you tell me which opponent it is? I probably, with paper view and everything, I probably made my most money on Chuck Liddell.

Okay. Millions. Wow. You can see that. Getting a cut of the gate, getting a cut of the pay-per-view. Yeah. I don't want to say the number,

but it was over $5 million. Wow. Because of the pay-per-view. Wow. Which makes me wonder, like, What are guys like Connor making? Oh shit. Connor's probably making $20, $30, $40 million now.

But you know what? My pay-per-view deal was a mistake to the UFC. I can't say too much. I don't want them to sue me, but I can say allegedly, right? Sure. Okay. Allegedly, somehow they changed my contract without me knowing because I know. I know I didn't know because I wouldn't sign that damn new contract.

because my pay-per-view was so good because they bought my contract. When they bought WFA, they brought organization just to get me to fight together there. So they had to use my contract that was already in play, right? So they had to give me the purse

that was on their contract and they had to give me the pay-per-view number. WFA gave me a crazy pay-per-view deal because they knew they wasn't going to have pay-per-view. My dumb-ass signed, I'm like, oh, they don't make all this money. They was like a little small show. they was trying to, you know what I'm saying?

And they knew they wasn't going to have no pay-per-view. And it was a crazy paper-view deal. Crazy. And so when I fought Chuck, they had to get me all their pay-per-view money. And then you go back and watch my fights. My next two fights was on TV. Because you had the pay-per-view deal.

And then next thing you know, then next you know, when I found it, go back to the fight on paper-view, I look at my check. I was like, oh, what the fuck is this? And then I talked to him. And it was like, oh, no, you're not on that paperview deal no more. Like, what the fuck? How did it change?

I had an incompetent manager at the time. So I don't know, I'm going to say this allegedly. I don't know if they was in cahoots with my manager. They gave my manager something to change it. Or they just tricked my manager. And so I don't know the contract. And they showed me everything. I was like, oh, fuck.

What movie do you make the most residuals from now? Some mailbox money every few months. You go, Huh, that's pretty good. I can't, I can't even say, man. I'd be getting like 50 cent checks from 18. I mean, like a little TV show, I'd be getting, my resistance checks be so small.

I use them for like, what do you call it, law of attraction shit. I'd be putting millions of dollars on it and putting it on it so I can see it. I don't even cash. But for every 50 cent check you make for the 18, you've probably got one that's $500. I don't think I ever got a resistance check that was $500. Really?

I don't think so. I don't, I would, I've been, I was in a few movies. in 2013 and 2014, I still get residuals to this day. For real? Yeah, but they're for like $9, $6. You know what? I have gotten, I have gotten like residual checks for like $100, $40. I never got...

You were one of the stars of that movie. Bro, you know how it is in Hollywood. They thought they were doing me a favor. I actually lost money doing that movie. What do you mean? Well, I make millions of dollars when I fight. You think my first movie, they're going to pay me millions of dollars? Probably not.

And then I did. Then I did, like, a press tour. The movie took, the movie took, what was it? It took six months, three months. Let me think. It's been, it's been 15 years almost now. The movie, the movie took three months to film, three to six months, I can't remember. Then the tour was like four months.

So you're saying you could have had a fight or two during that time. I could have, like, yeah, two or three fight. You know, I lost money during him, but, you know. You got to work with Liam Neeson. Right. I love that. That's my guy. You know, I'm not.

I'm not all about money. I don't love money. But you know what I makes it where I go around. There's one thing about me. I don't love it. But I don't regret doing that movie. But I didn't do it for money. So I lost money.

What do you think you learned from, I mean, you were some heavy hitters in that movie. Liam Mason, Bradley Cooper. Oh, yeah. What do you think you learned from them that made you a better actor? Oh, man, I learned so much. I learned so much from them.

One thing I learned from Liam is, I'd notice that after we shot a lot of scenes and stuff like that, Bradley Cooper and, and a couple of other actors. You know, like Chateau Copply, he was there. They would go look at the, what do you call it? The dailies? Yeah, they would go right there, look at the dailies.

And monitor the... Yeah, they were going to look and see how they did. Video Village, that's what they called. Yeah, and I was doing it with them at first, looking at this up and looking at my... That's all Liam sitting over there. He was sitting over there drinking his tea every time we cut, you know, it looked like tea, but it was wine. I found out of reading his newspaper, and then like drinking wine and I could.

a little big teacup and I was like, Liam, you're not going to go look at the data to see what? He said, he said, nah. He said, he said, the director want me to do something different hair tell. I'm like, okay. I'm like, all right. So I was like, fuck, I was with Liam.

After that, I didn't, I didn't stress out because they were stressed. They didn't like some stuff. They saw stuff that they didn't like because you know how hard you are on yourself. Sure. And I was like that, too. I didn't do some stuff that I did.

I didn't like. And that's the stuff that we don't know how many takes. We don't know which take they're going to use and edit it and stuff like that. You just stretch yourself out over nothing and you go and talk to the director, oh, I got to do this. I do it. And I saw him all doing that. And then, Liam, he was like, the director wants something different, he'll tip.

He knew that he was going to use all those clips. So I learned, I learned that from him. And then I saw how I saw how Bradley, before he got in the scene how he, like, you know, he went, he went somewhere in his mind to get And it seems to me, I'm not an actor like that, right?

So it's like a lot of, you know, a lot of stuff I was doing was like, it was like ab living and stuff like that. You know, I was, it was, myself was easy. But then I had a couple hard scenes and, and I saw Bradley, he would go, he would get to himself before the scene. He was getting in his mind. And I had to do this really hard scene when I was coming, when I was in a diner when I had to, when I had,

when I was in a diner, I had tell him I didn't want to kill anymore. And that was a really hard scene I really had to act. I couldn't just do no ab living and, you know, bounce off, you know, what they're saying and tell, murder, I could shut up, fool. You know, I said, I couldn't, I really had to act. And so I took a page from his book.

I went, before the scene, I went, and went to myself and, you know, I just got myself out of a quiet place. I just really thought about this scene and I got in the mind, like, you know what? It took me back. to my childhood, like, where I grew up in the streets and, you know, if I had the choice to kill somebody, like, I don't, you got to go there.

When you act, because, you know, when you're acting, it's all in your face and your eyes and everything. Yeah. And I learned that from Bradley. Like, you really have to go, you have to find that place in your mind where this is, can actually be something real. There's got to be believable that you actually said this for the audience of it. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah. I was a background actor in a movie with Liam Nees. Which one? Called Chloe. I haven't seen that one. It was a movie with Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore. And I was at a table this far away from Liam Neeson. And I was blown away by just how subtle he is.

Like, he action. He walks in and he says the lines to her. But he was saying, I'm like, yeah. What are you doing? Yeah. And I kind of looked up for a second. I'm like, is he? Oh, we're in the scene right now.

It just felt so authentic. And that's something I'll never forget. I only spent two days in that movie, but I'll never forget. Like it felt like they were having a genuine conversation. Yeah, he's really good. That's when you know, he's on the next level. Like, his confidence is all about confidence. His confidence is up there really high.

Yeah. Yeah, you just brought back members exactly. It was like he was whispering, but he got that mic right there. Like, we can't hear him, but I guess the mic is speaking of good. And you think we think that we have to be loud and say stuff louder and stuff. But yeah, I remember he was like that. Like this would, we were at a diner, so you wouldn't be talking loud. And I'm like, I would never put that together because I'm not an actor like he is.

Yeah. But if you're at a diner, you'd be speaking softly. And I was like, man. Yeah, he's on the next level. I remember the first time he corrected me on something. I was driving the van. We were doing the scene. And I was driving the van.

I was bouncing to him to sit with like this and shit. He was like, Rampage, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm driving, motherfucker. Don't you see me? He was like, you know, when do you drive like that? You turn the steering wheel like that. I was like, oh, fuck, he got me. Like, we don't be driving.

He said, he said, man, drive like you driving like a normal car. Like, he just so switched on like that. You don't, you think, because I've seen people in movies and TV shows driving and doing a steering wheel like that. I've seen that. Yeah, yeah. That's what I'm trying to emulate, you know what I'm saying? But all acting is, it's just recreating real life. Yeah, but you got to get.

You were driving like this on the road. Yeah. Yeah. He'd be all over the road. You'd be all over the road. You get pulled over. Yeah. Yeah.

He got it. I thought it was funny. And he was like, they may feel kind of stupid, but then I was like, okay. But they all knew that they all knew what I was. They knew I was a fighter. And they all agreed that, yeah, I think you're perfect for this role. And I don't have an ego. I come down, I'm surrounded by great actors.

You know, Jessica Beal, all these, even the other people that was on it was there, you know. It was, you know, it was crazy. They were making you the modern day Mr. T. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty cool. It was pretty cool. Also big shoes to fill.

Yeah, so I took direction from everybody. Anybody had something to say. I didn't have ego. And I just laughed off, you know, some stuff because they knew that I wasn't like a season actor. And they understood it. Everybody was, you know, good about it. I'm still close friends to all these guys. That's great.

Everybody still, all those guys are great. They're all super cool. So this has been so great running through everything, like going through your whole career here. But I end every conversation talking about gratitude because it's such an important part of my life. Oh, yeah. I wake up every day. I say out loud three things I'm breaking before I go to bed. So, Rampage, what are three things in your life that you're grateful for?

I'm grateful for my kids. And I'm grateful about my, you know what I'm saying? My relationship with the most high, most high guy. Because, like, his salvation. He saved my life many at times. And this is real talk. I'm really grateful that I'm friends with with Harrison Rogers now, man.

Man, we got really close. And I've had a lot of evil people around me. It's real tough. And when I told him I had some land in my hometown, and he was like, oh, what are you doing with it? I'm like, shit, I don't know. I just bought, like, fucking 70 acres. I don't know what to do with it.

Boom. He showed me, he said, you know, I'm going to show you how to do some stuff. And he's the type of guy that's like he want all his friends to be multi-millionaires like him. And I like people like that. And that's what I need around. That's what I need around me. I had other people just try to get something from me.

That's what I need around me. So those are the three things that I'm thankful for. I love that. Harrison's great, dude. I mean, the reason that you and I are sitting here right now is because Harrison connected us. So thank you, my friend. Thank you. Yeah, man.

I see how big your fist is? It's not that big. There's a lot of power behind that. Go ahead and say, I've heard that before. It's not that big. I heard that before. It's not going to hurt my feelings. There's so much power behind these hands, though.

Yeah, yeah. You know, it's not the hand. You've got to ball up your fist super tight, super tight, but all the power comes from your hips, your ass. All like that. See, I got a big leg, big ass. The way you throw the punch. The power don't come from your arms.

It comes all the way down from your feet. My boxing coach, I love him. Bobby Remmer out of the UK, he said, reason why you punch so hard because you got flat feet and got big ass. He said that's why I punched so hard. That's a great note to end this on. So, Rampage, thank you so much. No problem, brother.

There we go. Big thank you to Rampage for joining us inside the Blue Wire Studios at the Wind Las Vegas. And thank you to Harrison Rogers for connecting us together and making this interview happen. man, that guy has some great stories. Take a screenshot. Let us know you're listening. Let us know which story stood out for you the most here.

And tag us so we can share it. Rampage is at Rampage 4 Real. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And I love this quote from Dale Carnegie. I'll leave you with this as we wrap this one up. Fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind. Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one for some more insight.

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