“They didn’t want to give me PPV…” Rampage Jackson LEAKS getting paid $7,000,000 for 2007 fight and claims Dana White’s UFC immediately changed contract

Exploring Rampage Jackson's revelation about his lucrative contract with WFA and its impact on his earnings in the UFC.

“They didn’t want to give me PPV…” Rampage Jackson LEAKS getting paid $7,000,000 for 2007 fight and claims Dana White’s UFC immediately changed contract

Quinton Rampage Jackson reveals Dana White changing his contract to reduce pay (Image via: IMAGO)

Rampage Jackson is one of the pioneers of MMA and was extremely popular in Japan when he fought in Pride. In the UFC, Jackson was the light heavyweight champion but lost the title to Forrest Griffin in the fight that won the 2008 Fight of the Year Award. Jackson has showered respect and criticism about Dana White after his MMA career, and now he has made a huge reveal.

Pride was the premier MMA promotion in the world before it went defunct in 2007. At this juncture, Jackson signed up with WFA, which the UFC later acquired. The acquisition proved very beneficial for Rampage Jackson as the UFC had to honor the contract he signed with WFA. This is what Jackson had to say about it on his podcast.

When I fought Chuck (Liddell), they had to give me a f*cking... I made like millions...I made about 7 million off the Chuck Liddell fight.. They figured out that my pay-per-view numbers were crazy, so my next fight...They didn't want to give me pay-per-view.
Rampage Jackson via JAXXON Podcast
YouTube video

The majority of the purse was due to the PPV points. Incidentally, the reason for the massive payday was due to the contract that Jackson had with WFA. The WFA HAD provided a big share of the PPV buys. The WFA did it to entice Jackson to fight for a purse of 200K as they knew they wouldn’t sell big in PPVs.

As the UFC had to honor the contract of WFA athletes, they had to pay $7 million for Jackson in his against Chuck Liddell. Due to the big purse, they had to give Jackson in PPV events. Jackson stated that it was the main reason Dana White and the UFC put his next fight on television. Moreover, when he fought at another PPV event, the UFC and his management changed his contract without him even knowing.

Rampage Jackson on Dana White’s $250K bet with Pride founder

Dana White and the Fertitta brothers made the UFC into a billion-dollar company from a million-dollar company. However, it was not all sunshine initially, as they had to face many obstacles and losses. However, in the early 21st century, Pride Championships did great business.

Rampage Jackson details Dana White's $250K bet
Rampage Jackson details Dana White’s $250K bet (via MMA Mania)

At the time, White even allowed his fighters to fight at Pride. White made Chuck Liddell compete at Pride FC: Final Conflict 2003, but he did not win. Liddell lost to Rampage Jackson in the semi-finals of the heavyweight tournament. Rampage Jackson revealed an interesting story about Dana White related to the event. Jackson revealed that White had a $250K bet with Nobuyuki Sakakibara, one of the founders of Pride.

As Liddell lost the fight, White lost $250K to Sakakibara. Nonetheless, the UFC would later acquire Pride as the Japanese promotion garnered scrutiny for its involvement with the Yakuza. Now, the UFC owns all the copyright rights concerning the Pride Championships. The UFC recently honored Wanderlei Silva, a legend from Pride, into the UFC Hall of Fame. Silva also fought in the UFC but had his biggest success with Pride.

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