Rampage Jackson has always been one of the most outspoken UFC athletes of all time, but he's being praised for biting his tongue ahead of UFC 311.
Despite leaving the UFC in 2015, Rampage Jackson has remained firmly in the sport and continues to voice his sometimes controversial opinions on his podcast.
Ahead of UFC 311 last Saturday, the former UFC light heavyweight champion had Kevin Holland on his podcast ahead of his fight against Reinier de Ridder.
The sitdown interview took a strange turn when Holland seemingly started calling out Rampage after talking about an unrealistic match between the two.
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Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Rampage Jackson praised for handling Kevin Holland's feud
'The Trailblazer' went on to lose his UFC 311 fight via first-round submission and was subsequently heavily criticized for his lack of effort in his last few UFC outings.
Normally, Rampage might have played along in the feud with Holland given his past tendencies, but the 46-year-old firmly stayed out of it and was praised by both Paul Felder and Michael Bisping.
“For Kevin, talking about guns and starting to tell him to shut up, I didn't like that,” Felder said.
“I remember at that age I had a mid-fight career, you know, and you've got that chip on your shoulder, we don't feel the need to impress or prove ourselves anymore, so Rampage was really subdued and he said, 'Bro, what are you talking about?'” Bisping agreed.
“Rampage may be 45, but he's twice his size and he's a beast, let's just leave it at that,” Bisping continued.
“I thought he could handle it and swallowed his pride a little bit as the young man chirped at him a little bit and I had more respect even now after seeing that for Rampage,” Felder admitted.
Kevin Holland ripped by Robert Whittaker after UFC 311
Holland has always been infamous for his trash talk during fights and his conversations with commentators during fights, but when his performances don't translate into wins, those antics are highlighted even more.
The 32-year-old is 1-4 in his last five fights and is quickly sliding down the middleweight rankings. And in doing so, he has drawn criticism from former division champion Robert Whittaker, who claimed he is 'so average'.
However, 'The Trailblazer' is aware of his own achievements and has recognized that he needs to improve quickly before fighting out of the UFC.
“It's been pretty messed up lately…I gotta clean it up,” Holland said on X.
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