As a 19-year MMA veteran, Quinton Jackson has fought amidst audiences from different parts of the world. And based on these experiences, “Rampage” was able to conclude that the fans he is the least enthusiastic to fight in front of are his fellow Americans.
“I’ve fought a couple different places in the world. I love America, I’m American, but I have to say that American fans are the worst,” Rampage said in a media scrum on Wednesday (via MMA Fighting). “I have to say it. They can get mad at me. I said it, and it’s something they can work on.”
“In America, you’ve got a lot of fair-weather fans, who be cheering for you hard and as soon as you lose a fight, you’re a bum and then they come at you on social media and they give you a lot of slack.”
Rampage went on to compare his experience when he fought under the PRIDE organization in Japan from 2001 to 2006, and how fighting in America changed his approach.
“When I was fighting in Japan, we didn’t have social media, and if they did talk sh-t on me, it was in Japanese, so I wouldn’t have known anyway,” Rampage said. “So I still have that type of fighting spirit. When I’m fighting for the Japanese fans when I go there and fight, I want to give an exciting fight, no matter what. I risk losing all the time just to excite the fans.”
“But in America, the fighters are game planning and they’re scared to make mistakes, and everything is super methodical and they fight just to win, they don’t fight to entertain, and it’s making for boring fights a lot.”
At the end of it all, Rampage offered a simple piece of advice to his fellow Americans on how to treat fighters, especially those who are on the losing end.
“If you’re a fan of a fighter, as soon as they lose, don’t jump ship,” he said. “That’s when a fighter needs their fans the most. So lift him back up, tell him to get back in the gym and train harder, not jump ship and talk s— about us.”
Rampage is scheduled to face Chael Sonnen at Bellator 192 on January 20th, to kick off the company’s eight-man heavyweight tournament.