Rampage Is Coming Back...Anyone Surprised?

Quinton Jackson's "retirement" was a blatant cry for media attention to begin with, so it should surprise no one that he has announced his return to the UFC in 2010 and his intention to fight Rashad Evans.

"I've noticed that the UFC & TUF have some fans brainwashed or something. They still haven't realized yet that the TV show is just a TV show. I did my job by entertaining people and if you ever paid any attention to me, that's what I'm known for doing.

Now, I wanted to let my fans know that I'm going to come back to the UFC & finish my contract. Not because the haters are talking shit about me being scared of Rashad or Titties or anybody else. I'm coming back for my fans & to shut Rashad's mouth up & shut Dana's mouth up. Then after that I'm going back to doing movies & I might do a boxing match once a year just to stay in shape. Hate on dis!"

There are, however, some interesting aspects to this "news."

First, how will this fight be affected by the outcome of Rashas Evans vs. Thiago Silva at UFC 108? In terms of rankings it would make sense for "Rampage" to simply fight the winner, but the fight with Rashad has been so heavily hyped already that it would be financially irresponsible not to set it up. Here's the thing, though: what if Rashad gets destroyed by Silva early in their fight? That would mean that, in his last two fights, Rashad would have been finished by both Lyoto Machida and another guy that Machida has destroyed--putting him a couple notches below the top of the division. They'd probably set up Rashad vs. "Rampage anyway, but it wouldn't be nearly as exciting. Of course, if Rashad beats Silva this match becomes huge with the winner possibly earning a title shot.

That brings up a new issue, though. The way Jackson is talking, it sounds like he wouldn't even want to fight for the belt because winning it would seriously hamper his budding film career. How serious is he about all that? For that matter, how many jobs can "Rampage" really find in Hollywood? Is he the next Dwayne Johnson, or just the next Hulk Hogan in tinsel town? We'll have to wait until after the release of "The A-Team" to find out. I'm encouraged by the fact that the picture above looks totally lame, though. It would have been much smarter if the director had just let "Rampage" play the role as his hilarious, 21st-century self rather than allowing him to mug about as a pathetically dated caricature of Mr. T. That mohawk looks ridiculous.