Once Michael Williams announced Quinton “Rampage” Jackson as the winner of the Bellator 110 main event and he would be facing Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in the light heavyweight tournament final, the altercation between the two fighters has been the talk of the online mixed martial arts community.
The altercation started when Jackson was being interviewed by Bellator color commentator Jimmy Smith and Jackson told Lawal, who was already in the cage the he was next.
“These guys, they think I’m finished,” Jackson said. “He [M’Pumbu] said he was going to retire me. I took that personal. Bellator, you do not know who you are messing with. I’m a monster. I’m taking everybody out. Anybody that steps into this cage, they are going to sleep. You [Lawal], you next. I am the man of Bellator now. I took your spot.”
Jackson and Lawal would be separated by Bellator and Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulations officials. The fighters never threw a punch at each other and it was just a verbal altercation. They would continue their verbal altercation at the post fight press conference, which was held inside the Mohegan Sun Arena. Once again, it was just a verbal exchange and no punches were thrown and once again, Bellator officials got in between the two fighters.
As I was waiting for my flight to leave Connecticut on Saturday, I noticed that the online mixed martial arts community was talking about the altercation and were discussing that this was something that may have been pre-planned.
Jack Encarnacao of Sherdog.com tweeted on Saturday morning that he asked Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulations Executive Director Mike Mazzulli if there would be sanctions for the incident in the cage. Mazzulli stated that Bellator officials told him on Thursday during the weigh-ins that something could happen if Jackson and Lawal both won on Friday night. After people saw that quote, everyone believed that this was something that was pre-planned by Bellator.
I understand why some people may believe that is was something that was pre-planned, but I am not one of those people. If you have watched Bellator over the years, you know that when a tournament final is set, the fighters will do a staredown in the cage. It’s not like this is something new in Bellator, they have been doing this for years.
Everybody knew that something could happen between Jackson and Lawal based on their history. Does everybody forget about the incident they had in a van a couple of years ago when Jackson was in the UFC and Lawal was in Strikeforce?
If you did not like what happened on Friday night, did you not like Anderson Silva putting his shoulder into Chael Sonnen’s face at UFC 148 Weigh-Ins or Daniel Cormier pushing Patrick Cummins at the UFC 170 pre-fight press conference? Look at the promotional video released by the UFC of Wanderlei Silva and Sonnen getting into a fight on TUF Brazil set, which has over one million views on You Tube.
Remember, this is the fight game and the entertainment business. The goal of Bellator and any other MMA promotion is to put on good fights and entertain the fans.