Quinton “Rampage” Jackson might not have given us everything we wanted in his farewell UFC fight, but he did give us all that we had a right to expect.

He came, he saw, he took his beating bravely. He went down but refused to stay put. He threw murderous hooks and uppercuts that sliced through the air, finding nothing. He looked at times like he might have wanted to quit, but he never did. Only in brief spasms did he resemble a fighter the UFC might be willing to shell out the big bucks in order to retain. At no point did he seem particularly bothered by that fact.

That seems about right for Jackson’s exit from the UFC. Assuming, of course, that the end of his current contract truly is the end of his stay in the octagon. It sure seems like it ought to be. His unanimous-decision loss to Glover Teixeira (20-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC) at Saturday’s UFC on FOX 6 event in Chicago was his third straight loss, and it followed a period of public indifference and obstinance that was excessive even by “Rampage” standards. If Jackson (32-11 MMA, 7-5 UFC) cared at all about maintaining a working relationship with the UFC, or even about ending the relationship on a positive note, he did a spectacular job of hiding it.

Now what?

As usual, the answer depends on which “Rampage” you ask, and when. Throughout his career, it’s always seemed like the one thing Jackson really wants to do is something else. When he’s fighting, he wants to be acting. When he’s acting, he’d rather be fighting. If he’s doing MMA, boxing starts to sound like a great idea. No matter where he stands, the greenest grass seems to grow everywhere except beneath his feet.

That’s a personality trait you might want to consider if you’re Bellator, which is said to have some interest in signing Jackson now. Getting into business with a fighter who has nothing good to say about any of his former employers is kind of like dating someone who has nothing but horror stories about past relationships. If all those situations were really so disastrous, at a certain point we have to place the blame on the one thing they had in common.

Then again, it’s not like Jackson seems terribly concerned with making his case for continued relevance in MMA. During his post-fight interview with Ariel Helwani, he admitted that he wasn’t sure if he could still “compete with the top people,” adding that he might have to settle for being “one of those middle-range fighters” who guarantee a good show even in defeat.

“I might just be one of those fighters that come in and excite the crowd, be like Gary Goodridge,” Jackson said.

Does he know that Goodridge’s method of exciting the crowd resulted in what doctors think is a likely case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy – the dreaded CTE that’s been killing off football and hockey players? He didn’t say. The only thing that seemed clear was that he’s not ready to quit fighting altogether.

“I’m going to go back to the drawing board and work on everything,” Jackson said. “I feel like I can come back if I set my mind to it.”

And sure, that seems about right. Seems like that phrase – “If I set my mind to it…” – could be the epitaph for his entire career. If he’d set his mind to it, we might remember Jackson now as one of the greatest light-heavyweight champs in UFC history. If he’d set his mind to it, we might be begging him to stay rather than shrugging off his goodbye. His whole legacy might have been different, if he’d set his mind to it.

But then, MMA history can be kinder than we expect once a fighter is finally and truly done. Just look at former UFC welterweight champ Matt Hughes, who, after officially retiring earlier this week, was the beneficiary of a glowing remembrance piece that aired during Saturday night’s prelims. Now that Hughes is finished, it’s a little easier to get his peers to remember him as the greatest welterweight of all time, if not the greatest champion in UFC history. Both claims seem difficult to support as soon as you recall the mere existence of Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva, but hey, we’re eulogizing here, and eulogies are no place for facts.

It could have been that way for Jackson, too. If only he were calling it quits now instead of fleeing for parts unknown, we might be too busy basking in the glow of his triumphs to remember his many missteps.

But then, that just wouldn’t feel right. Not with “Rampage,” who never made things easy on us or on himself. Not with the man who at times seemed like he could do anything he wanted to, if only he could force himself to want to.

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