Some find it funny, but many mixed martial arts fans are criticizing former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson for his comments on Twitter against Forrest Griffin after Griffin lost to Anderson Silva at UFC 101: Declaration.
Griffin practically ran out of the building after losing to Silva, and has not issued any statement on the incident as of this writing. Silva, the reigning UFC middleweight champion, had moved up a weight class for the second time in the UFC to face Griffin, the former light heavyweight champion.
Here’s what Jackson, whose Twitter account is @rampage4real, tweeted after Griffin’s loss, including the photo he posted on Twitpic.
I feel so bad for Forrest. I don’t even want a rematch anymore. LOSER!! http://twitpic.com/d8tn2
Jackson lost the UFC light heavyweight championship to Griffin last year in a unanimous decision, hence the “rematch” comment. The fact that he was calling the fighter who beat him (although some still believe Jackson should have gotten the decision) a loser obviously rubbed many fans the wrong way. Some even brought up the fact that after his loss to Griffin, Jackson was arrested on July 15, 2008 for a hit and run incident, in which Jackson sideswiped an SUV being driven by a pregnant woman. The woman suffered minor injuries and a month later had a miscarriage. Jackson’s apparent meltdown was attributed to delirium caused by lack of sleep and too many energy drinks. Jackson hit two cars and attempted to evade the cops, resulting in a high-speed car chase in which he weaved in and out of traffic and drove on the sidewalk, endangering pedestrians.
Here’s what Jackson tweeted after the negative comments to his comment on Griffin’s loss.
To THE HATERS.. Don’t say nothing on the internet that you wouldn’t say in person. Cowards..
Later, he tweeted that the comment on Griffin was made in jest.
Relax guys! It’s just humor. Damn! If you can’t laugh go follow someone else. Yeah that just happened.. I just said that!
Of course, that didn’t stop him from posting this latest tweet.
I’m in Hollywood minding my own business & I look over.. & I see Forrest… he’s still running!
The thing is, Jackson’s known for trash talking, but I can see why some people would be offended. I’m just amazed, however, to what extent Griffin’s fans will defend his actions after his loss to Silva. You would have expected Griffin to stay around for the official decision and congratulate Silva in a show of sportsmanship, instead of running out like that.
Then again, Griffin did cry after losing to Keith Jardine, so maybe UFC president Dana White is right in attributing the running incident to Griffin being an emotional fighter who doesn’t deal well with losing. Still, White couldn’t resist making a joke: “He might be in Georgia by now, he ran out and I haven’t seen him since.” White then went on to say, “He’s an emotional guy. We’ve seen that from Forrest before when he’s lost a big fight that he thought he was going to win.”
It’s been days now, and we still haven’t heard anything from Griffin regarding the incident. In the meantime, his coach Ron Frazier spoke up since Griffin was remaining silent.
Here’s an excerpt from the 5thRound.com article.
“He wasn’t injured,” Frazier said.
He might not have been hurt physically, but his feelings certainly were, and that is something that takes a lot more time to heal than any broken bone.
This isn’t the first time that Griffin went LeBron James-like and bolted after a loss. He threw the same tantrum after Keith Jardine knocked him out at UFC 66 in December of 2006.
Like that time, Frazier claims that Griffin’s actions are “no big deal” and the media is blowing his poor sportsmanship out of proportion.
Griffin’s lucky that he’s well-liked, because if a hated MMA fighter like Brock Lesnar pulled a stunt like that, you wouldn’t hear anyone justifying his decision to run out of the building.
Frankly, if Griffin is becoming the butt of jokes, it’s because of his running out like that. He was dominated by Silva, and there’s no shame in losing to a superior fighter. I’m sure most fans wouldn’t be joking about Griffin if he had simply said he was beaten by the better man that night and just shook Silva’s hand.
Maybe in the next few days we’ll hear Griffin acknowledge that.
Until then: Run, Forrest, run!
Funny guy