Rampage Jackson has revealed that the UFC blocked him from competing in a one-off boxing match during the peak of his career.
Jackson is currently promoting Triller's first Triad Combat event, which mixes some of the rules of boxing and MMA to create a unique spectacle. Rampage Jackson himself appears to be in advanced talks for a boxing match against former WBO heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs.
Jackson has competed in MMA for most of his career, so it remains to be seen how well he will transition to the sport of boxing. If it had been up to Rampage, he would have stepped into the boxing ring much earlier, as he told Jim Grieshaber of Fight Vibe.
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He stated that:
"I always wanted to box. Yeah, I asked the UFC, long time ago. When I was at the height of my career. I said man, let me go and do a boxing match... Dana didn't love me... Nobody liked me at the UFC after the Chuck fight."
Rampage Jackson believes that after he defeated Chuck Liddell in 2007, the UFC brass began to hold a grudge against him. He stated the following to Grieshaber:
"I can still remember, that was my second fight in the UFC right, and I remember, you know, just like now. When you come the week of the fight, and you go there and see all the people behind the scenes. Everybody was really nice to me, and everybody was happy to see me and stuff like that. I guess they thought it was like, you know, the little sheep before the slaughter. As soon as I knocked Chuck out, the same people that were nice to me, wouldn't say two words to me."
You can check out Rampage Jackson's full interview below:
Watch: Rampage Jackson and Shannon Briggs come close to blows at the Triller weigh-ins
Both Rampage Jackson and Shannon Briggs were in attendance for the Triller Triad Combat face-offs. After Derek Campos and Brian Vera had to be separated, Briggs and Rampage decided to jump in on the action.
Whilst nothing came of it in the end, things looked close to turning nasty for a moment. The incident in question can be seen below: