Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is one of mixed martial arts’ most famous trash talkers, but according to the fighter himself, he and Rashad Evans have very different intentions when verbally attacking the other fighter.
“When I do it, I just do it for the entertainment value,” Jackson says in an interview for UFC.com. “I don’t do it to attack people personally about their losses and what they do. He (Evans) tries to bring up the Shogun (Rua) fight (which Jackson lost via TKO in 2005), saying that I’m a quitter, and anybody that has really followed my career knows that I have a huge heart and I’m not known for quitting. So he’s saying little things here and there and trying to find something to pick at, like talking about my loss to Forrest (Griffin in 2008), and those are real personal things.”
The comments from Evans have prompted Jackson to get personal as well; he explains, “So I’ve been talking about how he lost to (Lyoto) Machida (in 2009), and he don’t want to hear that because that was one of the most terrible losses in MMA history. That’s like the biggest egg that’s ever been laid that I’ve ever seen.”
Jackson, who says he has “never been so motivated in [his] fight career,” said he has trained “extra rounds” with training partners who are “smaller, faster guys…big guys that punch hard…world-renowned wrestlers.”
Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans headline UFC 114 Saturday night.