Anthony Smith wants no further beef with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
A feud recently arose between the two after Smith criticized how Jackson and his JAXXON podcast co-host Bear Degidio talk about fighters, some of whom have been guests on their show. Smith, on his own podcast On Paper, specifically mentioned Jackson and T.J. Dillashaw making jokes about fighters, including Smith, that haven’t won UFC titles.
Jackson, in the middle of a segment responding to criticism of he and Degidio booking platforming controversial UFC fighter Bryce Mitchell, fired back at Smith and warned he would “smack the f*ck out of” Smith the next time he sees him.
Smith cleared the air on the matter during an interview with Submission Radio.
“I love Rampage even though he said he’s going to slap the shit out of me,” Smith said (transcription via Denis Shkuratov).
“I was shocked,” he continued. “I knew that there was a chance that Dillashaw was going to be pissed, which I don’t care about, and I knew Bear was going to be pissed, probably, but I didn’t think for a second Rampage would be upset. I even found it in me to—I thought I gave Dillashaw a pretty good compliment. I even found a way to compliment him. So I was shocked about about Rampage’s anger. I actually reached out to him through a DM and so him and I have actually been going back and forth a little bit today… He thought I was rehashing the making fun of me part, which I really wasn’t. I wasn’t trying to rehash that.
“I think Rampage and I, in this situation, had a little bit of a misunderstanding. I thought he was mad about the Bryce Mitchell stuff. So I was just blown away because, like, ‘What the? Why?’ I went out of my way to make sure that he didn’t catch a stray in that conversation. I was very purposeful with my words when it came to talking about Rampage. Some of that’s just because I respect him, but also because I don’t think he was the one totally in the wrong there.”
Smith reasoned that Jackson’s disproportionate reaction to comments that he felt were innocuous is due to the fact that the podcast format lends itself to the nuance of opinions and critiques sometimes being lost in the shuffle; which is to say, what’s a throwaway comment to one person could be a grievous insult to someone else.
“I think we had a misunderstanding because he wasn’t mad about the things I said about Bryce,” Smith said. “He’s fine with the with the criticism there. He was mad because he thought I was rehashing that he had made fun of me at one point in time and that I insinuated that he brings people on to make fun of them. Maybe I could have been a little more careful when I was talking about that. That wasn’t my point.
“I did say that they’re not always great to fighters, but I know that I didn’t mean Rampage brings people on to make fun of them. That’s not the point I was trying to make. That’s the problem with this long form kind of format that we’re in here. Sometimes you just get to talking and things that are sticking points with other people are something that you just gloss over that you didn’t overly think about that thing, but that’s the thing that they got stuck on.”
On Thursday, the JAXXON podcast Instagram page put out a mock graphic for Smith vs. Rampage, suggesting there’s still some heat between the fighters. However, as far as Smith is concerned, the beef has been squashed following private correspondence between he and Jackson.
“I never want any heat with with Rampage,” Smith said. “I told him yesterday and I told him today and I’ve said it to his face and I’ve said it 100 times on multiple different platforms. Rampage was and is my favorite fighter. Since I was a teenager, since I got into this sport and started watching it, Rampage is who I wanted to be like.
“He had the type of success and styles of fights and knockouts and that aura that I always wanted. I would never do anything to purposely create any kind of heat or riff or any kind of issues with Rampage. When I met him the very first time—Chael [Sonnen] always says be careful meeting your heroes, because they’ll they’ll always disappoint you—he was exactly what I had hoped he was going to be when I met him. He’s f*cking hilarious. And I got a little bit sensitive one time when I thought he was making fun of me, and he was very sure about that, that he wasn’t. And so Rampage and I are good.”
