Rampage fined $10k for unprofessional behavior
Rampage fined $10k for unprofessional behavior
It was dubbed as the biggest rivalry in MMA, and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson let the hype live up to its reputation when he almost had his main event bout against Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal removed from Bellator’s inaugural pay-per-view event this past weekend.
Rampage yelled profanities and shoved Lawal during the event’s weigh-ins on Friday.
Mississippi Athletic Commission chairman Jon Lewis called it the worst behavior he had ever seen in professional sports.
Lewis threatened to remove the bout from the card which already saw the main event get scrapped less than a week prior when Eddie Alvarez sustained a concussion resulting in him being removed from the rubber match with lightweight title challenger, Michael Chandler.
When Alvarez was removed, Rampage and King Mo moved up to the main event.
Had the bout been removed due to Rampage’s actions the pay-per-view surely would have been doomed.
Rampage later apologized and the bout was cleared to continue but not before Lewis would implement a fine. $10,000 to be exact.
Lewis later told mmajunkie.com “His behavior was the worst I’ve ever seen in professional sports,†said Lewis. “Hitting him for [$10,000] is light, I will say.â€
“His reaction to me was, ‘f–- you, motherf–-er, fine me. I said, ‘You’re getting it.’ And it kept elevating back and forth … and it went to the point where I thought, geez, he’s going to take a swing at me.â€
“He’d be pulled out of any other professional sport. I’m the head commissioner. I didn’t want this to happen to me. You can take a football player out of a game, and you don’t hurt the team that much, per se. There’s a replacement.â€
“This whole thing was set up around this fight, and I’m not going to punish Bellator for that.”
“Quinton is going to have to learn to cool it. Will he ever do it? I don’t know.â€
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