By Riley Gonzalez –
After dreaming the devil held his heart, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson turned on the radio, after dropping his son off for school in the morning, and heard: “Your soul is mine!”
“I turned the radio off for six weeks,” the UFC fighter said. “That sh-t scared me straight.”
Today, Jackson is a born-again Christian. The nightmare and subsequent random hearing a segment of a commercial for Six Flags’ new Revenge of the Mummy ride helped him come to the same faith his father adopted two years earlier.
When Rampage Jackson was only 10 years old in his native Memphis, TN, his drug addicted father disappeared from his life, and little Quinton fell into dealing drugs and street-fighting. When his father came back into his life, Quinton got into wrestling at Raleigh-Egypt High School, where he placed fifth in state during his senior year.
After high school, Quinton got into Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). He got his first call-up in 2001 from Pride fighting in Japan, where he was marketed as a homeless person. He thrilled crowds and performed respectably against formidable, more experienced competitors, sometimes winning and sometimes losing.
In Japan, the nickname “Rampage” stuck. It was actually his mom who gave him nickname when he was a kid because he used to throw crazy tantrums and destroy things. Now he was destroying people.
In Japan, he was known for slamming his opponents to the mat and howling after his wins.
Rampage also started having kids. His son Raja followed in his dad’s footsteps getting into fighting. He is currently under investigation for attempted murder after pummeling Stuart “Syko Stu” Smith in what appears to be a publicity stunt gone awry.
In 2006, Rampage got called into World Fighting Alliance, which was purchased months later by Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Thus began his famous career as a UFC fighter. In 2007, he became the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion by knocking out Chuck Liddell.
He fought Jon Jones, Rashad Evans, Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva and many others, racking up more wins than losses.
“My proudest moment is when I finally knocked out Wanderlei in the UFC,” Rampage said. “I always thought I could beat him, but I just had the wrong sparring partners back then. The guys I was sparring, they were good fighters, but they weren’t standup guys. The team I was on at the time; most of my teammates were smaller guys, so I just didn’t have the best sparring partners or best preparation for the [earlier] fights.”
Rampage avenged two losses to Wanderlei from his time with Pride, in which Wanderlei fought too. But in UFC 92, he connected one punch to knockout his opponent.
Outside the octagon, Rampage’s life was chaotic. He divorced his first wife after a paternity test proved he had been unfaithful. In 2008, he was arrested in Costa Mesa, CA, for felony reckless driving. He appears to have sexually assaulted different women in 2009 and 2011.
“I’ve always been a fighter, both in and out of the cage,” he says.
It appears that Rampage got into a custody battle for his son at one point. Caring for his son brought out a softer side to the man. Being a dad gave him a new reason to fight, not just for money or fame, but for his family. He wanted to give his son a better life than the one he had.
It was taking care of his son that brought him to being born-again, following his father who became saved two years early, Rampage says. The devil dream and scary voice on the radio segment “is what brought me to being born-again, what the Christians say,” Rampage explains to Joe Rogan. “I didn’t cuss anymore. It changed me right away.
“You know how girls cry when they’re happy?” he said. “That’s how I was. I think I felt Jesus’ love. I don’t know. I automatically knew everything after I was born-again.”
Rampage doesn’t fight too much anymore. He has acted in movies (The A Team movie) and is a presence online. He receives payment still from his UFC days. Estimates of his wealth reach $12M.
