Among mixed martial arts followers during the sport's darkest period lived a maxim: If they can watch it, they will.
The stars of the late 1990s, more cult heroes than celebrities, probably needed six months to sign as many autographs as UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell (Pictures) will this Memorial weekend.
Through no fault of their own, great, charismatic mixed martial artists toiled in obscurity, dreaming of nothing more than earning enough money to … train full time.
That was the reality for most, including Liddell, who before settling into his place as MMA's biggest fighter worked his way up through seedy Brazilian arenas and quiet Central California villages on Native American lands.
Today, you'd be as hard pressed to find a legitimate fighter who holds a second job as you would guessing which of his cars The Iceman was going to cruise through San Luis Obispo, the town in which he went to college and still resides some 15 years later.
The landscape is different. Yesterday's cult heroes have morphed into today's superstars. Yet as big a star as Chuck Liddell (Pictures) might seem right now, there'll be someone who comes along that dwarfs his profile -- it could very well be his challenger tonight, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.
The 28-year-old Jackson, who hails originally from Memphis, Tenn. but in recent years has made different parts of Orange County, Calif. his home, just has a knack for saying things that others couldn't -- or wouldn't.
"I'm the token black guy."
"You need a Tic Tac."
"It's all about the cheddah."
Stand around him for a good 10 minutes and you're bound to hear these things, not because he doesn't have anything better to say, but because he says what he wants when he wants, and does it in a tone and with a smile that are completely endearing.
There are few, if any, conversational boundaries for Rampage, a nickname from childhood that he credits to the torture of cousins. And by beating Liddell tonight inside what's expected to be a near-capacity MGM Grand Garden Arena and in front of a pay-per-view television audience buoyed by an incredible amount of coverage from mainstream sport giants, whatever professional boundaries he may have thought existed before will be lifted under the guise of "If they can watch Rampage, they will watch Rampage."
Beating the Iceman
If Jackson could retire questions like the Bronx Bombers retire jerseys, he would have hung up the "Do you have it mentally?" query a long time ago.
"Oh hell yeah," the light heavyweight from said via telephone from his Big Bear, Calif. cottage a week ago Friday, where he was closing shop on training camp. "I did a million interviews and that's all that people talk about."
Doubts about Jackson's mental strength, which have followed him since a knockout loss to Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) in 2004, will either disappear after tonight, or linger in perpetuity as definitive statements.
As annoying as it can get when your mental capacity to do what it is you've chosen to do in life is repeatedly brought into question, here's why it really sucks for Jackson: It's completely relevant.
"It's not a stupid question, because fighting is very mental," Jackson admitted. "I think it's mostly mental. Think about it, you gotta have the right mentality to get up everyday and train. To not be such a party guy and want to go to the clubs and clubbing every night, and then you got to get mentally strong and eat the right food and go on a strict diet. You gotta be very mentally strong to lock yourself into this cage with this guy that's trying to knock you the hell out."
That said, he's looking forward to quieting the doubters with a fistic counterargument.
"I just want to do all my talking in the cage, then after the fight … I just like to shut certain people up in certain ways," he said.
Some would suggest it's Liddell who needs to call upon his mental fortitude, after all it was The Iceman that was mauled when the light heavyweights fought in November 2003.
Jackson said he "panicked" in that fight, his lungs betraying him after enduring the ash-strewn air brought about by raging wild fires near Big Bear in the weeks leading up to their engagement in Japan. Yet Rampage took it to Liddell, bouncing the Iceman around the ring -- PRIDE bouts at the time were fought inside a five-roped ring -- with surprising effectiveness before finishing it some 13 minutes into the fight.
"You've got to fight Chuck to beat Chuck," said Jackson's trainer, Juanito Ibarra, who joined the challenger's corner last year. "You've got to fight him. People don't fight Chuck. People don't fight to his right side. Look at all the guys that have lost against Chuck, and Chuck is a left-hooker but he's a right-hander. He sets you up. He wants to crack you. He wants to put you to sleep, but you beat his power, brother."
Liddell is in fact a bomber, who in recent performances has fallen in love with his one-and-done ability to call it a night. A vicious overhand right and odd-but-effective left hand, with which he can throw traditional hooks or lash out with a flick of the wrist, has made Liddell one of the most feared strikers in UFC history. At this point in his career, there's no doubt Liddell knows how to cultivate a knockout, having done so in his last seven fights.
For many, this is where the fight will be decided: Liddell's power versus Jackson's knack for taking a shot and returning with his own fire.
"It's like the bull versus the matador," said Ibarra. "Well I think the bull has learned some patience. I know what Chuck's thinking. He's thinking this man is going to come straight at me, and I'm just gonna keep cracking him counter-punching. Rampage is learning. His footwork is better. He strategically believes in how he has to beat Chuck. And I tell you, styles make fights, and he has the style to beat Chuck Liddell (Pictures)."
Having the "style" is a start.
Liddell's training camps, despite what you might think of the champ's Buddha belly, get him ready to fight. John Hackleman sees to that. Weak training camps, however, have plagued Jackson, but that's changed as his profile has risen and as his relationship with Ibarra has grown.
No longer is he in need of sparring partners, employing an armada in advance of May 26: UFC veterans Cheick Kongo (Pictures), James Irvin (Pictures) (who also fights on the UFC 71 card), Scott Smith and others including boxing-turned-MMA fighter Jeremy Williams.
That's a pretty decent list of guys that like to stand and bang, undoubtedly intentional considering the task at hand.
"To be honest, some sparring partners I had tried to mimic Chuck," Jackson said. "Some where good, but then it's kind of hard to mimic someone and get your ass whooped. You can't pay somebody enough to say, ‘Hey, fight like Chuck and get your ass whooped.'"
Good sparring, hard training under the attentive eyes of Ibarra and a proper diet have led Jackson to one conclusion: he's ready.
"I can tell I'm ready by the way I trained," Jackson said. "I'm not a gym guy, so I know when I'm looking good in the gym, I'm a very good fighter [on fight night]."
Footwork was a major stressing point during his weeks in the Southern California mountain resort that's turned into a fighter's retreat. "Juanito likes a lot of movement," said Jackson.
"Chuck can move pretty good. He cuts off the ring," Jackson yawned, fresh from a nap. "He does a lot of good movement, but most of the movement he'll be doing is after the fight … ‘ooh, I'm sore. Ohh.'"
Always making jokes, always clowning. Even when he's at his most serious, Rampage finds time to lighten the mood. Try finding another guy that can make you laugh about your alleged bad breath an hour after power-bombing one of the best Brazilian grapplers in the history of mixed martial arts unconscious.
Ibarra is Jackson's serious half, and as the fighter glosses over Liddell's footwork, the veteran trainer who worked with a young Oscar De La Hoya, sees The Iceman in HD-quality detail.
"Chuck knows how to use every square foot of that cage, that 30 feet," said Ibarra, who will likely walk out to the cage wearing his trademark hat. "He slides across the cage. He opens up his front foot to throw a right hand. He does unorthodox stuff. He throws right hands ends in the southpaw position. All that stuff, but he knows how to do it. Not too many fighters can do that kind of stuff."
Not many fighters possess what Rampage does when it comes raw strength.
"I knew that since I was a little kid that I was stronger than most kids my age," said Jackson, whose cartoon fare included The Incredible Hulk and He-Man. "I was stronger than most kids older than me, so I kinda knew that a long time ago."
Physically gifted children often standout and -- whether it's right or not -- get praised as a result. Jackson wasn't an exception to the rule.
"I heard it from enough people," he said.
Yet natural strength alone, particularly if it's just in the physical realm, is hardly enough when you're a self-proclaimed "lazy" fighter who hates training. While some have questioned the effectiveness of the kinds of trainer Jackson associates himself with -- a more authoritative presence, as much father figure as tactician -- the gap-toothed light heavyweight readily admits he needs that kind of influence.
"That's why I always have a trainer that forces me to do what I have to do," he said. "I won't have a trainer that let's me dictate everything. I want a trainer that pushes me in training."
He said it's worked.
"Well, I feel strong everywhere," said Jackson, which includes between his ears.
For Rampage, strength these days has come to mean identifying a problem, doing what needs to be done to address it, and finding a solution.
"One of his biggest strengths, is his strength," said Ibarra. "And if he don't understand it, I sure don't. But I know this: when he's ready to apply himself and he makes up his mind, he sees it in his mind, he achieves it. I know when he's being lazy in the gym and I know when he's not. When he wants to do something, he's going to do it right. And this is the difference with this camp. He's wanted to do it right. He's wanted to be on. If he has to go five, he'll go five. If it was seven, he'd go seven. The man is ready to fight."
As he's aged a bit and experienced life in and out of the cage, Jackson has also become a bit of a realist.
"There's a 50/50 chance if you step into that ring or Octagon, you'll get your ass whooped," he said. "You'll win or lose. That's what's going down on May 26th. Either I'm going to win or I'm going to lose. I'm prepared to win. I've done everything I can do, and I'm prepared to go out there and take that chance because I'm getting paid. It's my job. My job is to go out there and take those odds."
The odds might pay off huge tonight in Las Vegas, especially if "they" are watching.