Former UFC light heavyweight Quinton Jackson claims to be aware of staged MMA matches.
Although Rampage boldly asserts that he has never heard of a UFC match being fixed, he seems to be aware of fake bouts in other promotions. Jackson said that the Japanese MMA promotion PRIDE sometimes staged fake events.
As Jackson discussed the subtleties of fight-fixing, he said that a boxer who takes a dive isn’t necessarily aware that a knockout is about to occur. The former UFC championship contender said that the occurrence is rather common in pugilism.
In a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, the 44-year-old said:
“I know that there’s been fake fights in MMA. I know that… Say me and you fight and you say, ‘Listen Rampage, I’m gonna give you $10 million to take a dive. I gotta look good though. I gotta really hit you. I’m like, ‘I get hit all the time’. At the end you know that you’re gonna hit me, I know that you’re gonna hit me, but you know you’re gonna knock me the f*** out. I’m just thinking, ‘I’m gonna get hit then I gotta fall down’. Boxers do that s**t all the time.”
On February 26, Jake Paul and Tommy Fury squared off in Saudi Arabia at the Diriyah arena. An alleged script with the outcome went viral on social media the day before the event.
According to the script, Fury would first have issues with his left eye that would become worse as the match went on. Paul was meant to smash the Englishman and knock him out in the last round, leaving Tommy unable to recover.
The promoter of Paul vs. Fury’s bout Skill Challenge denied any claims that the match had been fixed. Although Jake Paul was able to knock down his opponent in the last round, but it was too little and too late. In the end, Fury won against Paul with a tight split decision.