"My plan was to whoop his ass; I knew if Wanderlei wasn't going down from that left, that right was coming right behind it. He would have had to go down sooner or later. Wanderlei is a tough cat and he recovers from punches really fast when you drop him. All I was thinking is if he didn't go down, I just gotta stay on him...I want Forrest. I want everybody that has ever beaten me. I've been saying that over and over. I want everybody that beat me in the past. I want to fight Forrest next because that was a bad fight," stated former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton Rampage Jackson as he talked about his future plans after his impressive knockout victory over Wanderlei Silva. Check out what else he had to say about his fight with Wanderlei, Forrest Griffin and much more.
PC: Congratulations on a helluva knockout win.
RJ: Thanks man. I appreciate that.
PC: I noticed that you didn't do the traditional howl nor did you wear the chain for this fight. Was that by design?
RJ: I was just focused. I didn't want to do the howl. I didn't want to howl until I knocked him out, you know what I'm saying? I can honestly say my last fight kind of changed me. It did something to me and I don't even think I'm the same person no more. I'm not the same fighter no more.
PC: I know the loss to Forrest wears heavy on your mind. Did it concern you any that Wanderlei trains with Forrest?
RJ: No, it didn't concern me. It didn't bother me because, to be honest, it never even crossed my mind. I don't care who my opponents train or not train with; it don't matter. I don't care who trains them, who their sparring partners is; it don't matter because they can't fight for them.
PC: I know you said this was the most nervous you've ever been for a fight, but as soon as the bell sounded, you took the center of the Octagon. Was the gameplan to give him a taste of his own medicine and apply pressure on him?
RJ: My plan was to whoop his ass. I was happy I was nervous for this fight because the two times I fought Wanderlei, I wasn't nervous at all. Those are the only two times I've never not been nervous before in my whole career and this was the most nervous I've ever been so it's kind of weird, but it all played out.
PC: I always say a straight punch finds its mark before a wide punch does and that's one of the reasons I picked you leading up to this fight. Did you notice that Wanderlei's punches seem to get wider and wider as the years go by?
RJ: I know Wanderlei swings wild with his punches. I fought Wanderlei twice. The same way I beat him Saturday was the same way I was supposed to beat him those other times, but things didn't work right. It don't matter what he do, it matters what I do. That's my philosophy on the way I fight. It don't matter what my opponent do. It's all about what I do.
PC: Page, you had a new camp, new trainer and new training location. How did you make it all come together with all of these new surroundings and still put on a great performance?
RJ: I'm going to tell ya'll what's real and people can take it how they like it and take it how they want to and if they don't like it, so be it. I give all of the glory to God man. Everybody knows I was going through a whole lot. I had a lot of stuff going on with me and God kept me strong. He kept my mind strong and kept me focused. The Wolfslair Team is the best team around. They work hard and they did everything...they showed me love, they trained me hard, they took good care of me and put they heart and soul into it. I have to thank the Wolfslair team for everything that they did for me, but all glory is to God man. All praises go to the most high. People don't understand, I came a long way. I came a long way. They don't even understand so I give all of the glory to God and that's real. I owe him everything.
PC: Since the first time I interviewed you before the Marvin Eastman fight, it appeared that it all led up to this moment. I know how bad you have wanted this fight. How does it feel to not only get the win, but to get in such devastating fashion?
RJ: Actually, Wanderlei beat me twice and I only beat him once so he still got one up on me. I'm happy to win the fight and knock him out. I hope Wanderlei has a fast and speedy recovery. He's good for the sport. He's a very exciting fighter, you know what I'm saying, and I hope he has a speedy recovery. Wanderlei didn't have to take this fight with me because he already beat me twice, you know what I'm saying? I thank him for taking the fight, but he still got one up one me.
PC: Something that surprised me that I didn't know about you was that you never took supplements before until this fight. Is that something that you will incorporate in all of your camps now?
RJ: Aw yeah, (laughing) I can't go back. I'll tell you, I took these supplements man...I hooked up with Kerry Kayes, who is Ricky Hatton's nutritionalist in the UK. He broke nutrition down to me where I could understand it. No one ever broke it down to me to where I could understand it. I had some injuries and stuff when I was fighting and training and it was breaking down my body. I didn't have enough protein because, number one, I wasn't eating right and then I wasn't taking in the right protein with shakes, multi-vitamins, meal replacements and recovery drinks. He had me on this program with his nutrition company called CNP based in the UK and he put me down on his supplements and they were the real deal. I just feel like that was a blessing in itself right there. I got my boy Mike Dolce, who was on The Ultimate Fighter show with me and knows a lot about nutrition, to come out and he cooked my meals and made sure I took the supplements at the right time and did everything right. It was a good deal for him and Kerry Kayes to hook up and plan my meals. I was eating stuff I don't even like, but it was good for my body and what that did was allow me to train harder than I could ever train. I was wondering why I was so lazy when I train. It was because I never took supplements and I hated to train because it was so hard on my body. This time, I actually liked training because it wasn't so hard on my body. I might start liking training. It wasn't hard, I had a lot of energy to train, I could go the 5 minutes easy and I was sparring real hard with tough guys. I had a new guy every 2 minutes and they were going full blast and I was keeping up with everybody. I was handling my business and I think it was because of the supplements.
PC: Yeah, when you train like that, your body loses so much that you have to put it back in you and water doesn't always do the trick.
RJ: Yeah, I never had anybody break it down to me. I saw other fighters doing supplements and this and that, but I had somebody in my camp and they thought they were a know-it-all and they didn't know what the hell they were talking about. I don't want to say his name, but everybody knows what type of people that know-it-alls and control freaks are. "Aw, you don't need supplements. All you have to do is eat right." You know what I'm saying? But when you think about it, we're athletes. MMA fighters are the most ultimate athletes in the world and there is no way you could eat enough to put all of that nutrition back in you that you put out from training. I was putting my body in trauma, but I wasn't giving it the recovery that it needed and by me doing that, it made me a whole new person. I'm a whole new fighter.
PC: Joe Rogan said during the telecast that you were having trouble making weight. Is that true and if so, do you think it's because you're 30 now and not 25 or so and your body is changing?
RJ: It was something unexpected that happened. See, when I started taking supplements, my body had never took supplements before so my body started gaining more muscle. My muscles got a little bigger. I could have made 205 if I wanted to, but I didn't have to make 205. Why push the extra pound if you don't have to? Joe Rogan probably didn't know what he was talking about right then and there. I could have made 205 if I wanted to. I didn't have any trouble cutting weight. I'm not champion right now. I only have to be 206. Tell me what guy will go out and drain themselves to make 205 when they only have to be 206? It sucks to cut weight. Nobody likes cutting weight. I was comfortable coming in at 206. Wanderlei has gotten smaller over the years and I'm a growing man. I'm 30 years old. I've gotten bigger, you know what I'm saying. I just started doing strength and conditioning so I was lifting a little bit of weights, but not much. Strength and conditioning is not all about lifting weights so I just lifted a little and my muscles just reacted. What I'm going to do now is start lifting more weights and maybe I'll get bigger. I'm going to just try and see if I like it, that's all.
PC: I've met you before and you're not that big of a dude man, but you have very heavy hands. Do you work on your punching power? How are you putting these guys down?
RJ: I think if you have knockout power, you're just born with it. I got big legs, which the people that know about fighting, that's where your knockout power comes from. I have a big ass and big legs and when I hit people, I put my ass into it. That's where the knockout power comes from when I throw them punches. I'm not that skilled to know all of that stuff, but that's what boxing trainers and people are telling me; that it comes from your legs and your ass and I kinda figured that.
PC: Punchers usually feel the knockout punch when they hit that sweet spot. Did you feel that the left hook you landed was going to do that kind of damage?
RJ: I didn't really know, but I knew if Wanderlei wasn't going down from that left, that right was coming right behind it. He would have had to go down sooner or later. Wanderlei is a tough cat and he recovers from punches really fast when you drop him. All I was thinking is if he didn't go down, I just gotta stay on him.
PC: There's always something negative that stems from a positive. I just saw an interview where Mike Whitehead said that the left hook was a scared one that you were praying landed. Any response or is there no need?
RJ: Who the hell is Mike Whitehead?
PC: After the fight, you received the bonus money and said you were going to get the new Challenger and put it on some thangs. Have you grabbed that yet?
RJ: No, I ain't got it yet, you know what I'm saying. I'm still dealing with some other stuff right now, but I'm going to get that Challenger and put some thangs on it and pimp it out baby and get it going (laughing).
PC: You want the Forrest fight because it left a bad taste in your mouth. Is that the fight that you want next and if so, do you think that's the fight the UFC will give you?
RJ: Yeah, I want Forrest. I want everybody that has ever beaten me. I've been saying that over and over. I want everybody that beat me in the past. I want to fight Forrest next because that was a bad fight. I want that one more because, I don't mean to be complaining or crying, but when I lay down at night, that's one of the things that stays in my mind. I'm not mad at Forrest. I can't blame Forrest. Forrest didn't make me gain a whole lot of weight and take so much time off from training. Forrest didn't have nothing to do with that. It's all about me. I'm upset with myself for that. It's all about me, but I want to prove to myself that I can beat Forrest because I know that I can.
PC: Were you surprised with the result of his fight with Rashad?
RJ: I wasn't surprised. Forrest did an excellent job and Rashad did an excellent job. I wasn't surprised.
PC: I know you didn't need any extra motivation, but did the weigh-in incident add fuel to the fire? It almost looked like you expected that shove.
RJ: Man, I'm telling you, I knew Wanderlei was going to do that. That's the second time that he's pushed me or something like that. I'm not that type of person to treat people like that. I do my fighting in the Octagon; that's where I do my fighting at. I was already motivated and then that just motivated me even more. But I was motivated already just because he beat me twice. Whether he did that or not, I was going to try and take his head off no matter what. This is the type of person I am. I am a child of God. People don't understand this about me. I'm not trying to say that I'm holier than thou and I don't want people to get me wrong because, like you said, you got your haters out there that keep coming with negativity, like this Mike Whitehead. He wants to say some negative stuff. I'm just trying to let ya'll know where I'm coming from. I am a child of God and I try to act accordingly as a child of God. I don't hate Wanderlei and I wasn't even looking for...he kept talking about revenge, revenge. Revenge is a dangerous motive. If you look at my career, it's mentally for me to know that I can beat this guy that beat me. I've had hard times in the past and I feel like I know why I lost those fights. People don't know this about me. Even fighters like Stephan Bonnar was saying, stuff like it's no way I was going to beat Wanderlei because once somebody beat you twice like that and knock you out with knees, it's in your mind and he already has me beat. If you think stuff like that, you don't know me. I'm a child of God. I try to walk right and do right in my career and this is my career so I didn't care what Wanderlei said or did, I was going to keep it classy. I'm going to be exciting, do exciting interviews and fight people because this is the way I am. I don't like to be like everybody else, lame and boring, but I don't have no hatred towards nobody or nothing like that. He didn't motivate me no more than I was already motivated.
PC: As soon as he did it, I saw you look at Dana and say, "I knew he was going to do that!"
RJ: I was laughing because he is predictable (laughing), you know what I'm saying? I knew he was going to do it and that's what made it so funny. What people didn't see is they have a fighters backroom and when he came in the room, he was looking at me and talking loud. He asked me why I was smiling at him and laughing at him and we had some words back there. I ain't going to go into everything that was said, but the other fighters were back there and they heard everything. He came back there starting some more stuff. He wanted to fight back there. I only fight for money. I don't see a reason for fighting backstage when people can break it up real fast. That's just not me. I'm not a perfect person and I still do the things that I do, I'm human, but I am a child of God and I try to walk that way. I try to treat everybody right. I've never hated anybody I've fought and never will. I love everybody. I feel we are all brothers and sisters; that's basically the way I feel and people don't know that about me. They see me as this guy that do this or do that and some people hate me and some love me, but it doesn't matter to me which side they are on. I'm not that type of person. I don't care what people think of me, but I want the people that care to know I'm a child of God and I try to act a certain way so if they want to think that I'm afraid of somebody because I don't react to something, so be it.
PC: I'm glad everything is lining back up for you. Good luck with everything. It was good to see you smiling again my man. Is there anything you want to say in closing?
RJ: I just want to let everybody in this world know that it doesn't matter what you're going through or what kind of curveball life throws at you, you gotta stay positive, stay happy and turn to God. People get all depressed and some people commit suicide...we got people committing suicide and I don't want to say no names because it's all speculation right now. There is no problem bad enough to where you gotta kill yourself, you know what I'm saying? Everybody knows about my recent problems and that was a low point in my life. I was real embarrassed with everything, but I still came out and showed my face. I was still the same person; I smiled at people because I know that's life. I turned to God and I prayed to God and talked to him and got closer to him. Sometimes maybe that's what he wants. He wants us to depend on him. I got closer to him and man, whether people believe in God or not, that's their choice, but I can tell you that I'm living proof. He's good and he's here for all of us and all you have to do is turn to him anytime you have any problem. The easiest outcome is to turn to him. Look what I did and it worked out for me. I want to give thanks to everybody that helped me train and to everybody that supports me. I really appreciate it and thank you homie.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]