The Rampage Smash?! ‘I Thought It Was Racism’

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s famous destruction of the UFC Gym door on The Ultimate Fighter 10 (TUF) transcends mixed martial arts (MMA) lore.

TUF 10 was still the best season in the show’s history for most fans who’ve seen all 31 iterations (even more including the international seasons). In 2010, TUF highlighted the Heavyweight division, which drew record views thanks to the addition of street fight icon, Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson. The coaches also had plenty of heat between each other as Light Heavyweight legends, Jackson and TUF 2 winner Rashad Evans, went back and forth in each episode.

One particular moment stood out the most and that was Jackson’s door demolition after his team continued its misfortune. Team Rampage only had one fighter, Marcus Jones, progress beyond the tournament’s opening round, which led most to believe Jackson was just sick of the shortcomings. All these years later he’s shared his thoughts from that time.

“Do you know why I was so pissed on that show?” Jackson asked on his JAXXON PODCAST. “I had done that season with Rashad but I did it with Forrest [Griffin] first [on TUF 7]. I’m gonna keep it 100, I thought it was racism. I did. The way they were treating me and my team, I thought it was racism.

“Okay, I’m used to that, I’m from the south,” he continued. “But with Rashad, the same s—t happened again. I’m like, ‘Man, this can’t be racism?’ I don’t always speak up about racism if I think somebody’s being racist because you could be wrong, and I was wrong that time. It wasn’t. It was ‘cause they wanted the coach to win that came from the show and my fighters were telling me, ‘Man, we gotta write down on a list what we want. Healthy food and stuff like that.’ They’d never get it or it would take three or four days to get it. With other teams, they write something down, they got it right away, but if we write down we want some liquor, we got that s—t within hours.”

After catching wind of the request delays from his team, Jackson went to talk to producers, telling them to speed things up to meet a fair timeframe for Evans’ team. Nothing changed, however, and eventual season winner from Team Evans, Roy Nelson, who was also on the podcast, noted how some of Jackson’s fighters came to him asking for him to put their items on his request list.

The boiling point for Rampage’s rampage came after Scott Junk lost a majority decision against Matt Mitrione. Overall, Evans still got the last laugh as he defeated Jackson via unanimous decision in UFC 114’s main event.

“It was a real close fight and I felt like they cheated my fighter, that’s why I destroyed that door,” Jackson said. “I was trying to leave the room, I knew I was losing my temper. I said, ‘Man, I finna f—k this whole room up. Let me get out of her.’ They were cheating my team.

“I thought the fight was so close, if they didn’t give it to my guy they should have at least had another round,” he concluded.