Rampage: Chael is a cancer to our sport



Don't miss Rampage Jackson's farewell interview, exclusively on ESPN at 12.30am Saturday night directly before the live UFC on Fox 6 event

Rampage Jackson has fired a severe parting shot at Chael Sonnen ahead of his UFC exit this weekend, labelling him a "cancer to our sport" during an exclusive in-depth interview with ESPN.

Jackson, who bows out against Glover Teixeira this weekend, has frequently been targeted in recent months by Sonnen, who claimed newly-signed female fighter Ronda Rousey could beat the former champion, before later suggesting Rampage was using injuries to duck fights.

The "ducking" claim was put to Rampage in front of the ESPN cameras, and after initially attempting not to rise to Sonnen's bait, the former Pride star eventually let rip at a man he does not feel belongs in mixed martial arts.

"Not many fighters respect Chael Sonnen because he's in the wrong sport," Jackson told ESPN. "He should be in pro-wrestling with a mouth like that.

"He's a boring fighter and the only way he gets fights is by running his mouth, he should worry about his next opponent rather than me and my injuries.

"I'm not going to stoop to his level. Why is he even worried about me and my fight? It has nothing to do to him. He's probably the only guy I'd ever duck, I'd duck him in a second because he's a boring fight.

"He's one of the fighters that's making MMA go down, he's like a cancer to our sport. He's a great wrestler but he's boring as hell. You know what he's going to do, he's going to try and take you down and lay on you. Why do people even buy tickets to watch this guy fight?

"He's a cancer for our sport. He's the reason why I don't even watch my own sport because a lot of fighters fight like him nowadays. That's not what MMA was built on. MMA was built on exciting fighters where people try to end each other."

Jackson was the first man to unify Pride and UFC titles when he followed up his knockout of Chuck Liddell with victory over Dan Henderson at UFC 75. He built an enormous reputation on finishing fights against the likes of Wanderlei Silva, Ricardo Arona and Kevin Randleman, but questions whether Sonnen has ever stopped anybody.

Only Brian Stann has been finished by Sonnen during his spells in the WEC and UFC, which span over 11 fights in a six-year period. In Rampage's eyes, that is not what MMA was built upon.

"With Chael, I've never seen a ref pull him off anybody," Jackson said. "I've never seen it, maybe it's happened, but I've watched a few of his fights and I won't watch him anymore. I'm not a Chael Sonnen fan.

"Take Wanderlei Silva, everybody knows we don't like each other, but if he's fighting I'm going to watch because he's a very exciting fighter. I'm a Wanderlei Silva fan, but Sonnen, I don't know why people watch him. They probably watch him to hear his interview after his fight.

"I don't care what Chael says about me. He's an idiot. I've seen him get hurt by Anderson Silva, and now I get to see Jon Jones hurt him. It's going to be a boring fight, I won't watch the fight but I'll go back and watch the highlights and see Jon Jones hurt him.

"The only reason I watched Chael v Anderson [Silva] is because I'm a fan of Anderson, and Chael talked so much trash that I knew Anderson would hurt him. I'm 100 per cent sure Jones will hurt him, and then Chael Sonnen will go to pro-wrestling."

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