To put it mildly, UFC president Dana White is not a fan of his fighters doing movies. That is, if the movies get in the way of the UFC calendar."I hate it with a (expletive) passion," he said. "You're a fighter. You're not a movie star. It's so (expletive) funny because fighters want to be movie stars and movie stars want to act like they're fighters. It's like, get a grip. You're a (expletive) fighter and you're a movie star."
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson made headlines Wednesday when a report in UK tabloid The Sun said the former light heavyweight champion was set to take on the role of "B.A. Baracus" in an upcoming movie remake of television series "The A-Team."
A subsequent report from MTV.com Thursday morning disputed the report, citing Jackson's managers, who said Jackson had not booked the role.
White had not heard the latest reports when he spoke to reporters at the UFC 102 pre-fight press conference in Portland, Ore., Thursday afternoon, but he didn't like the idea of Jackson's silver screen dreams, mildly put.
"Rampage wants to be a movie star," continued White. "I hope it’s not true (about Jackson getting the role). He's up for it, and he talked to me, he wants to do this thing, and he's like, 'listen, man, this is really important to me...there's some sentimental value here for me, me and my Dad grew up watching The A-Team together and we loved it.'
"Well, guess what, brother? I said, 'guess what Rashad Evans is thinking about right now. He's thinking about beating your (expletive) ass. He's not sitting around thinking about him and his mom used to watch the (expletive) 'Love Boat' together, and he wants to get the role of 'Isaac the Bartender'...you know what I mean? Get a (expletive) grip, dude. You're going to make a lot of money. You ain't gonna make a lot of money playing B.A. Baracus on the A-Team. Jesus Christ. (Expletive) drives me (expletive) nuts."
White said sometime actor and five-time UFC champ Randy Couture was an exception.
"Randy did it right," said White. "Randy shot a movie and it didn’t interfere with his training or anything."
Heath Herring recently told MMA Insider that he was putting off fighting until 2010 to pursue several film projects. Strikeforce middleweight champ Cung Le is currently MIA with several studio projects in the can and more in the pipeline. Chuck Liddell is about to dance with the stars.
According to White, a fighter who fulfills his contract obligations is free to act. That, or a retired fighter. But act on the eve of a fight? Not cool.
"(Rashad) hates (Rampage)," White said. "He hates Rampage more than he hates anyone on the planet and he’s thinking about killing him."
White sat back in his chair with a sigh.
"You guys wouldn't want to be me if you're if your life depended on it."
14 comments:
Wow, Dana White is a real cock sucker
Dana is not being unreasonable. Rampage makes big bank to fight. He is about to get weeks of high profile exposure on TUF leading up to a main event fight with Rashad, possible for a title shot. In the middle of that he wants to run off and make a B level movie? Honor your contract, train hard and fight, then go do a movie.
Yeah Dana's a real asshole, how dare he asked his contractually obligated fighters, to you know, fight?
...but Dana's right, fuckin' Rampage needs to get a grip.
Rampage is kind of washed up now. What difference does it really make? Let him put on make up and act. His fighting days are over.
Dana is honest and straight forward and you always know where he stands on any given topic. What more could you ask for? He also has taken a bankrupt fight company and turned into the next biggest sport - I would listen to his opinions and respect what he is saying. It doesn't seem irrational to ask a guy to stay focused on fighting instead of branching off into acting. You don't see many pro athletes do a movie in the middle of training/competing do you?
Rampage is a uncle tom.
How exactly is Rampage washed up u moron? He is 5-1 in ufc winning his last 2, that doesn't sound washed up to me. People like u make real mma fans look bad by running your mouth without knowing a damn thing about what u are sayin. Idiot
totaly agree dude, how the fuck can you say that rampage is washed up? you really have to be living in a fucking cave and wiping your ass with your bare hands to say something like that. rampage is the number 1 contender for the light heavyweight championship and has been doing amazing since his loss to forrest griffin. stay off these blogs you poser peice of shit
Rampage has always hated training, and with a distraction like filming a movie...there's the potential for him to come in hugely unprepared. Dana has a right to be concerned. he just tends to express concern with a few extra expletives.
I like Rampage but he is a pretty one dimensional fighter. I'd rather see him spending time learning some ju jit su or kick boxing more than I'd like to see him in a movie. Its all about the money right? I hope he comes prepared for Evans. Evans will be prepared for him, Greg Jackson will make sure of it.
Rampage is a hell of a fighter, but this is not the kind of job where you can allow distractions to come into play. He isn't an accountant, he is a fighter. At the level he is at, one single distraction could cost him his life!
Rampage isn't that one dimensional, he doesn't need to submit peoplpe because he's AMAZING at getting out of submissions. He's also really good at boxing, he threw more leg kicks in pride, which I liked, but if he doesn't have to then why waste time?
Let that man do that damn movie. The date of the Rampage-Rashad Fight has not been wrote in stone yet. This is why people have been having issues with Dana and the UFC. If I'm a fighter, I'm a company guy but its all about my money first. My family eat off my money. If I can got get $___ from doing this movie and make $____ for fighting, why not get both. He did say it meant a lot to him to do the movie if he gets the part, let that man fulfill that childhood dream.
Its really not that serious people.
Daddy has spoken.
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