Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton Jackson was unhappy with the way he was being treated leading up to what may have been his final fight inside the Octagon, a unanimous decision loss to Glover Teixeira at the UFC on FOX 6 event last weekend in Chicago (see it here).
What you may not have known, are some of the specifics of his complaint against the Las Vegas-based mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion, which "Rampage" tells MMA HEAT is "taking advantage of its fighters" while "cleaning house" in the pay-per-view sales.
"In my opinion, I feel like me and the rest of the UFC fighters are getting taken advantage of. I feel like the UFC is cleaning house. The pay-per-view dollars? They tell me one number, but then they tell the press another. Pay me the numbers that you tell the press! Don't tell me, 'Oh, we only sold this many,' then you tell the press, 'Oh we sold this many!' But then I'm saying, 'Hey, you only told me we sold 800,000 buys but you told the press you sold a million buys.' Then they say 'Oh, we just say that for the press.' No, pay me what you told the press because you lyin' somewhere. You either lyin' to me or you lyin' to the press about the pay-per-view numbers. If they're doing it to me, I'm sure they're doing it to other fighters."
Jackson has headlined seven pay-per-view events since joining UFC in early 2007, but doesn't believe he's getting his fair share of the percentages based on the discrepancy in reported numbers, particularly his UFC 114 clash against rival and Ultimate Fighter (TUF) coach Rashad Evans.
As always, there are two sides to every story, but this is his.
ZUFFA historically keeps its pay-per-view buys close to the vest and rarely -- if ever -- releases them to the public. One of the few exceptions was UFC 100, which at the time had approached the 1.5 million mark and broke several of the organization's existing records.
It's long been a point of contention for its enemies, as well.
Despite his reported $15.2 million salary, "Rampage" insists he would compete elsewhere for less money, so long as it was "honest money." But until his matching clause expires in his current deal with UFC, he may not be competing anywhere.
See more on Jackson's rocky relationship with ZUFFA here.