Ahead of UFC 186, Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson says he's enjoying himself again

MONTREAL --- Quinton "Rampage" is back in the UFC and set to fight Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 186 (probably). When he last fought for the UFC, he was upset by what he felt was not enough respect or money from the promotion for all that he believed had to sacrifice as a fighter and public figure.

Thursday he told media members at Ultimate Media Day in Montreal that when he began fighting over 15 years ago, he could have never anticipated the celebrity that he would garner. "There are a lot of things about being a fighter that you don't realize at first," he said.

"Fighters are just regular people, we just get into a cage and fight, sometimes. But, we're not celebrities. So, it's strange when people treat you that way. When people started treating me like a celebrity, it was too much, too fast. You have to remember, before I fought Chuck Liddell in the UFC, no one knew who I was. I would fight in Japan, come home and no one knew me. After that fight, though, boom! Everyone knew me. I wasn't ready."

Before that 2007 UFC light-heavyweight title fight, I remember talking with Jackson and finding it interesting that he wasn't happy with being granted a championship bout against Liddell in just his second UFC contest. Back then, Jackson predicted that if he beat Liddell like he was confident he would, fans would turn on him because he hadn't been given very long for American fans to get know and like him.

Certainly, many fans resented Jackson for knocking Liddell out, but "Rampage" certainly gained many more because of that bout and future ones. Fight fans have gotten to know Jackson, as he hoped they would.

Still, the attention of being one of the world's most famous MMA fighters, as well as a major movie actor, is not something that the fighter intrinsically enjoys.

"When I'm at fights like this, it's cool for people to come up to me, ask things of me, and all that," he says. "But, I can't pump my gas without guys coming to ask me to take photos. I try to be cool, but sometimes you just don't feel like taking photos.

"I wasn't ready for being at Disneyland with my kids, trying to relax, and show them a good time, and then people come up to me asking for photos and autographs, and when I tell them I'm just with my kids and it isn't a good time, they call me names. I mean, that stuff wears on you. The last time I was in the UFC, I wasn't happy at the end. Some of that had to do with that type of stuff."

His fame hasn't gone away, but Jackson says he's enjoying life, training and being in the UFC, again. After being on, off, and now on again, Jackson simply wants to get in the Octagon and fight Fabio Maldonado, on Saturday at UFC 186.

"Now, I'm having fun, again," he says.

"I just want to go in there and put on an exciting fight."

Jackson would also like fans to continue to show their support, but perhaps in a more subdued and restrained way. "If fans see me, I appreciate their love," he concludes.

"But if they like me and see me, I'd like them to say, 'Yo Rampage, what's up?', fist-bump me, nod and just go on their way. At least when I'm out with my family, friends or trying to pick girls up at the club."