With his upcoming fight against “King Mo” Lawal’ headlining Bellator 175 on Saturday, “Rampage” urged promoters to give more to fighters.
Last week fans were surprised to hear that Jackson, who has enjoyed a very successful career in MMA, felt acrimony towards the sport which brought him honors, money and worldwide fame.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion of the world went into detail when explaining why he sometimes feels that he would have been better off in more modest settings. Speaking at Bellator 175’s pre-fight press conference, the popular Bellator heavyweight said:
“Man, half the time when you do interviews, you get negative people in the world who want to spin words and get clickbait, or just get people to listen to their interviews. It’s hard being in the public eye when you just keep it real,” Jackson said Wednesday. “The guy asked me, on the spot, what was my biggest regret about doing MMA, and I thought about my family. I left everything back in Memphis and I moved to California. I left everything. My family, my car, my job, everything, and I left and moved to California by myself.
“Rampage” cuts a complicated cast behind a famously jovial and larger than life personality. Addressing the fight business in detail, Bellator’s heavyweight also touched upon the disparity between the income promotions make in comparison to fighters. Additionally, he adds, fans sometimes lose track of the humanity behind the fighter (via Telegraph):
“I think the fans do forget it,” Jackson said. “I don’t think they give us enough respect a lot of the time. If we get old or something like that they call us ‘has-beens’. You get a lot of positive people, but there are more negative fans. Like, what have you done for me lately? We lose one fight and they call us bums. We deserve respect. You take two logos and put two logos in that cage, who is going to show up to buy the PPV or show up to watch two logos fight? It’s the fighters who have the brand.”
Promoters, he added, have a duty to nurture fighters. With competition at an all-time high between Bellator MMA and the UFC, fighters’ welfare is having an impact on their decision to chose the banner they fight under:
“If promoters figure out a way to keep the fighters happy then those fighters will tell other fighters and that promotion will win. There will be no more war between these promotions. The promotion that keeps their fighters and treats them how they deserve to be treated and keeps them happy, will win, hands down.”
