As scary as Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson was as a fighter, he’s got a funny bone in him too. But one of his jokes on UFC middleweight star Kevin Holland backfired when ‘Trailblazer’ didn’t seem too pleased with it and things got heated. This led Holland to turn verbally hostile to the MMA legend on his own podcast. But was that response to Jackson’s joke justified? Well, not according to fellow legend Michael Bisping.
‘The Count’ expected from Kevin Holland as he stated, “Kevin was a bit disrespectful,” during an interview with Submission Radio. However, he seemed to understand what was going on in the UFC star’s mind, given that he had a fight coming up against Reinier de Ridder a few days after his JAXXON Podcast appearance. Bisping also drew a comparison between the mentality of fighters who have been champions, such as Holland who haven’t won titles like Jackson, explaining the set of circumstances that led to the back and forth.
“These young up-and-coming fighters or fighters that are doing okay, but they haven’t been the champion yet. They still have a chip on their shoulder because they still wanna prove to the world that they’re as good as they think they are… but the general masses around the world haven’t seen it yet because they haven’t become the champion. So, they’re p—ed off,” the Hall of Famer further stated.
Bisping also lauded ‘Rampage’ Jackson for keeping his cool and being the professional that he is as the host of a pretty popular podcast. But he had no doubts that things could have gone pretty bad for Kevin Holland if it was the old ‘Rampage’, who wreaked havoc in his prime as the UFC 205lbs kingpin. “When you’ve become the champion, when you’ve defended the belt when you’ve done this for years and years, you haven’t got anything to prove. So I was not surprised that Rampage was very cool. The reality is Rampage is not a guy you want to p–s off,” Bisping added.
Things got heated between Kevin Holland and Rampage Jackson pic.twitter.com/nBjaQwtiKw
— 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 (@blondedmma) January 17, 2025
While the former 185lbs champ seemed to defend Holland, another former UFC star seemed to have taken issue with ‘Trailblazer’s’ behavior with Quinton Jackson. Let’s take a look at that front.
Former UFC champion lashes out at Kevin Holland
Kevin Holland cares that he’s earning enough dough through his UFC fights that he doesn’t care of he becomes champion or not. But the fact that he took shots at Quinton Jackson, who’s not only a former champion but also had a huge role in popularizing MMA and paving the way for others, did not sink well with former bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw.
In that regard, the former UFC star blasted ‘Trailblazer’ for the disrespect he showed to Jackson when he appeared on the JAXXON Podcast in an episode after Holland’s appearance. “I wouldn’t say it’s a bad thing [not wanting to be UFC champion]. But you can’t come in here and disrespect the UFC champion,” said T.J. Dillashaw. “Someone that did put it all there, that did work his a-s off and won a world title and like, talk s–t, you know?”
Well, these legends have given their take on the whole situation between Kevin Holland and ‘Rampage’ Jackson. But what do you have to say? Let us know in the comments down below.
The post “Kevin Was a Bit Disrespectful” – Michael Bisping Defends Kevin Holland for Disrespecting MMA Legend ‘Rampage’ Jackson appeared first on EssentiallySports.