UFC vs Rampage

By Jane W.
– Canadian Correspondent

Something that has always bothered me about professional sports is something called “contract re-negotiation”. Every time some athlete gets it in his head that he is playing better than he should be under the terms of his contract, he feels the need to re-negotiate that contract. Hey! How about just playing out your contract and negotiating better terms when it runs out? It’s a contract. The whole point of a contract is to bind both parties to a set of conditions that cannot be changed, no matter what.

Now we have Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and the UFC. The UFC took Jackson’s blog posting as an announcement of retirement and suspended his contract. Now Jackson is back, expected to fight Rashad Evans in May at UFC 114. For the UFC, this is business as usual. They simply un-suspend his contract, and carry on where they left off.

But Jackson seems to want something more from the UFC. He has returned from his “retirement” claiming that the UFC had promised him he could fight Lyoto Machida, then turned the tables and set him up to fight Evans. But Jackson was booked for The Ultimate Fighter 10 as one of the two coaches – opposite Evans. In all nine previous seasons, the coaches squared off when the show had finished its run. What could possibly make him think things would be any different for him? Why did he think he deserved preferential treatment?

He claims he did a lot of favours for the UFC. Like what? Fighting the fights he was contracted for? The UFC did a lot of – documented – favours for him as well.

The UFC filed a lawsuit against Jackson in November, looking to have the court uphold their contract with him. The case is still pending, but it seems clear that Jackson is returning to the UFC to fulfill his contractual obligations. As he should!

I do not know the structure of Jackson’s contract with the UFC. It seems it must somehow be different from other contracts, as it seems based on a set length of time rather than a set number of fights. Even so, Jackson’s decision to leave the UFC behind to act in a movie should increase the length of the contract, due to the fact that he made himself unavailable to fulfill his UFC obligations. Had he sat around the house for three months waiting for the UFC to book him a fight, that time should count against the contract. But taking a break and then returning right before the contract expires cannot be allowed.

I like Rampage. I think he is an entertaining character. But some of his thinking is clearly misguided. Admittedly, he may be receiving bad advice or misleading information from his attorney, manager or agent – or all three. But he has to grow up and accept responsibility for what are ultimately his decisions.

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Related posts:

1. UFC 114 Preview…..And A Listing Of Bars/Restaurants To Watch UFC 114…Rampage Vs. Rashad
2. Black On Black: UFC 114 (Rampage vs. Rashad)
3. Rampage Jackson Says “I’m done fighting!”