Rampage’s next fight is all about the benjamins
Who says Quinton Jackson is afraid of Lyoto Machida? If that’s what you’re thinking, Rampage says you’re probably 12 years old and you know nothing about the fight business. Sure, Jackson respects the title belt. But he’s also trying to make a living and a Machida fight is small potatoes compared to the gains from a successful season on "The Ultimate Fighter." And now that crossover star Kimbo Slice is part of the show, Jackson has dollar signs in his eyes.
"Those people don’t walk in my shoes," Jackson said in response to claims that he fears Machida. "They don’t put food on my table. They don’t set up college funds for my kids. I’m not afraid of nobody. If they use their common sense, they can see what my game plan is."
Jackson said Machida will be around after he beats Rashad Evans. And frankly, Machida isn’t a big enough name to draw monster pay-per-view numbers right now. Oh, that doesn’t matter? It does when most of your money comes from the back end of the pay-per-view.
"I make most of my money off of pay-per-view. When you do 'The Ultimate Fighter,' it’s going to help your pay-per-view numbers."
Jackson said he saw the difference after his first coaching stint on TUF 7, saying no one knew he who was when he fought Marvin Eastman and Chuck Liddell. He was also hated by many fans, and the show helped rework his image.
"Me coaching 'The Ultimate Fighter' show will be good revenue in the future. Being champion or fighting Machida, that’s good. A lot of people would tune into to see that. ... I think a lot more people watch 'The Ultimate Fighter.' You get bigger pay-per-view numbers (following the show)."
Jackson does use Twitter but isn’t a big fan of the Internet, where the trash talk is incessant:
"The ones who are saying some crazy stuff, I can tell by what they write: He got no life, he got no girlfriend. I’m not going to get all mad and worked up. I’m the type of guy, I don’t need all of that stuff. I got to stay in a good mood."
Jackson said the guy who’s afraid of Machida is Evans, and that it was clear by the way he fought the Brazilian.
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