'Rampage' Jackson: 'I just kept it real' about MMA regret during ESPN interview

CHICAGO – Quinton Jackson doesn’t regret voicing his wish to live a normal life in a recent interview, though he claims reporters cast his comments in a negative light.

Jackson raised eyebrows when he told ESPN he wished he’d never become a fighter, instead focusing on his family business in construction.

The statement stood out for a veteran MMA star just days ahead of a pivotal rematch in a main event, in this case a second meeting with Muhammed Lawal (20-6 MMA, 9-4 BMMA) at Bellator 175. But Jackson (37-11 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) downplayed its overall significance, attributing the reaction to his story to the media’s reporting.

“Half the time you do interviews, you get negative people in the world who want to spin your words and get a click-bait, or just get people to listen to the interview,” Jackson said during a press conference today in support of the event, which takes place Friday at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. “It’s hard being in the public eye when you just keep it real. 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 (Tenn.), and I moved to California, and left everything – my car, my job, everything. My little sister was 8 when I left, and I was very close to my little sister. I helped raise her. I used to change her Pampers, help her with schoolwork, take her to school, all that stuff. Now, she’s a grown woman. I put her through college and everything, and she’s working and everything. And I don’t know my sister, (and) I don’t know my family.

“So I just kept it real. The only thing I said – I wish I would have stayed home with my family, and I would have been close to them.”

Jackson has created a family of his own in California, and his decision to dedicate himself to the sport led to an illustrious career capped by a UFC light heavyweight title. But the 38-year-old fighter emphasized the downside of fame and success, reaffirming his desire to avoid its pitfalls after a decade in the public eye.

“Since I’ve been a fighter, I’ve been screwed out of a million dollars by managers and people pretending to be friends,” he said. “When I was champion, I had a lot of fake friends, and as soon as I lost the belt, where did they go? My family, they’re always there. They tell me they miss me, and they’re proud of me. So I just wish I would have stayed home in Memphis and been with my family – the people who are like me.

“People don’t understand me. They don’t know why I am the way that I am. They don’t know why I joke around so much. People always assume something that I’m something different, that I’m not. They assume that I’m bragging or boasting. My family understands me, because they like me, and I just miss them.”

It’s not the first time Jackson has claimed to be misunderstood. Over a long MMA career, he’s bounced from major promotion to major promotion amid conflict over his treatment, and he’s repeatedly said fans and the media should pay him more respect.

But lately, his criticisms have turned to regrets and a desire to avoid the fight game. And if you catch him at the right time, he’ll tell you about it.

“If I would have stayed home in Memphis, I wouldn’t have known about having all this money and having all these fans, and I wouldn’t have known anything about it,” he said. “I would have been a construction worker just like the rest of my family, and happy. And that’s all I said. But you get negative people that spin it and take it out of context, and it gets annoying sometimes when people do that.

“I just kept it real, like I always do. You ask me a question, I’ll give you the honest and most real answer I can possibly give you.”

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