The split between Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and UFC was an ugly one. The former UFC light heavyweight champion had a pretty intense beef with the promotion towards the end of their career. The events of their relationship ending on a sour note is still afresh in his mind, and he recently took a stroll down memory lane.

Jackson made his debut explosively and knocked out his opponent Marvin Eastman in 2007. Shortly after that, he showed his magnificent skills against many fighters including former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell. However, one sponsorship changed everything. His dispute with UFC included a famous sports brand and the feud was pretty deep. Let’s see what happened.

Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson reveals UFC unfairness over sponsorship

Quinton Jackson walked away from the UFC in 2015 but continued to compete in MMA until 2019 when he finally hung up his gloves permanently. However, very few people can forget how his relations with UFC ended. While speaking to Matan Even he revealed that his sponsorship with Rebook was the reason the relationship with UFC became sour.

He said, “The reason why I left UFC originally, I left the UFC and went to another organization because I was going to be sponsored by Reebok. But UFC co-blocked me took my Reebok deal and sponsored the whole UFC. I was like fu** ya’ll peace I’m out.” He had previously talked about the same thing and said that the promotion would not let him wear new sponsor Reebok into the cage for his fight against Glover Teixeira.

He was annoyed that other fighters could be sponsored by companies like Nike while he was not being permitted to be sponsored by another sports company. There was also a talk that his appearance against Teixeria would be his last. He even Tweeted about this in 2012 as an answer to a fan.

Jackson elaborated that when he brought in the sponsor, not only was he not allowed to flaunt the logo but also did not get any compensation. He was better off without the deal and in 2013 left for Bellator MMA citing these disagreements with Zuffa over sponsorships and career.

Reebok had confirmed the sponsorship with Jackson and UFC said that it was open to establishing a relationship with the brand. The fighter who accumulated 38 victories in his entire pro MMA career did not get his desired sponsorship because of the promotion according to him. He also accused Dana White of compelling him to leave the sport entirely after the sponsorship feud.

Dana White and Reebok deal fiasco

Jackson said that the Reebok deal was the turning point of the relationship. According to ‘Rampage, ‘the multimillion-dollar company was sponsoring him at first, and then UFC took away the sponsorship and did not share anything with him. ‘Rampage’ further said, “And when I had my last fight in the UFC. I lost that fight and the UFC painted the narrative like I was retiring. And then normally when you have so many fights, when you have reached a certain level in the UFC even if you lose, they’ll interview you after the fight…”

Jackson was not allowed to show the logo of Reebok on his shorts because UFC did not allow it. Fast forwarding to a few years and other fighters are allowed to do what he was not allowed to do. He was also upset for not getting his dues for bringing in sponsors like Reebok and Boost Mobile. This is one of the reasons he decided to walk away from the UFC.

He said that he did not get a chance to be interviewed and the whole narrative was made by the promotion so a lot of fans thought that he had retired. White and Jackson did not see “eye to eye” according to the former UFC star. Meanwhile, he hinted at a boxing debut recently against Rashad Evans.

After the UFC fallout, do you think that he might come back into boxing?