What If Rampage Gets The Max Sentence?

According to Sherdog.com, former UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson could be sentenced to three years if found guilty of his felony charges of reckless driving and hit and run.

If so, the UFC will take a huge hit.

This is the guy who took the UFC by storm in 2007—first dispatching Marvin Eastman by KO, which set up a much hyped rematch with the one man dynasty known as Chuck Liddell.

The big hype surrounding this match was, 'Could Chuck avenge his loss to Rampage, or will Rampage take the light-heavyweight championship away from The Iceman?'.

It turned out that Chuck couldn't even get out of the 1st round with the Memphis native as Quinton TKO'd "The Iceman," and took the belt for himself.

UFC fans are in love with the howling monster, he's a big time fan favorite and a major draw.

His main-event fight in UFC 86 against Forrest Griffin drew in 520,000 buys and managed a total gate of over $3,000,000. But little did Rampage know, it may have been his last fight in the UFC, maybe in all of MMA.

Although Rampage is only 30-years-old, with the legal proceedings probably going for at least a year, considering his maximum possible sentence, Rampage may be 34 before he gets to fight again. Nothing is suggesting that he can't fight before his court date, but I'd be way too stressed to worry about a fight.

On July 5th, Rampage Jackson defended his Light Heavyweight championship for the second time—this time against another fan favorite, and true underdog, Forrest Griffin.

I apologize for the fact that I gave Forrest less of a chance of winning than a meeting between Fedor and Randy actually happening, but I was pulling for him. I would be amazed and proud of the guy if he won. Hell, I'm sure I'm not the only one that didn't pick Forrest to win, I didn't even have Griffin beating Mauricio Rua.

During the fight, it seemed that Forrest really had Rampage on the ropes. He was pushing the action every chance he got and repeatedly battered Quinton's left leg until Rampage was limping around on it.

Although the fight was a bit controversial, being that some people didn't score the fight the same way the judges did (I scored the fight 48-46 for Forrest as did 2 of the 3 judges), who wasn't excited to see the winner of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, the show responsible for really putting UFC and MMA in the spotlight, win the championship? I sure was.

Obviously, Rampage wasn't too excited about it—he fired his trainer Juanito Ibarra (who said he'd retire if Forrest won but still trains Cheick Kongo and Mike Bisping), he went four days without sleep or food, and was living on water and energy drinks.

Rampage said he was very depressed after his loss.

On July 15th, Rampage led the police in a high speed chase (in a truck with his face painted on the side of it) and wound up face down on a highway with numerous policemen aiming their weapons at him.

Jackson was charged with felony reckless driving and felony hit and run charges after hitting several vehicles on his way to nowhere.

To add even more fuel to the flaming carcass that is Rampage's career, a pregnant woman named Holly Griggs claimed she had suffered a miscarriage due to damage done to her from being sideswiped by Rampage's truck during the pursuit. Her claims have since been debunked, doctors claimed the damage done wasn't significant enough to kill the fetus.

Let's just say Rampage dodged a huge truck with that one (sorry, I've been doing that a lot lately). The last thing he needed was a charge of reckless homicide—that could add at the least another 5 years.

Let's put Rampage's career aside for a second. Not to be disrespectful to him, but what would happen to the UFC if he was jailed? The obvious answer to that is, the UFC loses one of the best light-heavyweights in the world, and perhaps a lot of money due to potential future matchups in the division.

Wanderlei vs. Rampage? Forget about it, by then Wandy would be 36 and probably out of the UFC. Maybe Chuck VS Rampage 3? Hell no, Chuck would be 42 and long gone. Hopefully, (see my article on retired fighters for more on that topic.) A Forrest vs. Rampage rematch would have no chance of drawing the same number that it would now. Not to mention, odds are that it wouldn't be for a championship.

The loss would open a lot of doors to other fighters looking for a shot at the belt, but I don't think I could look at the division the same without one of its biggest stars.

I say all this while still praying for the best for Rampage. I by no means want the max penalty for him, this is just a "what if" article. Make sure to leave your thoughts on the topic and feel free to check out my other articles.