07th Jun 2010
Rampage Jackson: Too much time in the movies?
With the release of his new movie The A-Team, where Rampage Jackson reprised Mr. T’s legendary role of B.A. Baracus, coming just 10 days after his losing UFC 114 bout with Rashad Evans, one can only wonder if the outcome of the match might have been different had Jackson dedicated a little more focus to his fighting and spent less time posing for the camera. Rampage himself referred to acting as “kind of gay,” continuing “It makes you soft. You got all these people combing your hair and putting a coat over your shoulders when you’re cold.” So looking back at the fight, should we ‘pity the fool’ for losing his edge?While Jackson may have spent less time purely dedicated to his mixed martial arts career, no one is disputing the fact that Jackson looks to be in peak physical form for the movie. It’s obvious he didn’t spend all his days out in Hollywood just hobnobbing with celebrities and fattening up on those catered movie set lunches. But there is a distinct difference between maintaining your physical form and staying in fighting shape. Brad Pitt may be able to flex his muscles while wearing makeup and drop kicking Trojan soldiers on the beach, but would you really take a glamour guy go the full duration in a test of grits and guts like you find in the octagon. This doesn’t even take into consideration the idea of Jackson losing his mental edge. Sure movie filming has been wrapped for a while now but scheduling a fight just a week and a half before you’re first big movie premiere could easily become a distraction, even for a seasoned vet like Rampage.To his credit, Jackson lasted all 3 rounds to the final 5 minute mark in his contest against Evans, but in the end Evans proved victorious in a unanimous decision. Jackson’s camp is already positioning for a rematch, citing the movie as a regrettable distraction.
