A recent episode of Quinton "Rampage" Jackson's JAXXON Podcast, has sparked a heated feud between the veteran and UFC light heavyweight Anthony Smith.
The controversy began when Jackson and guest TJ Dillashaw discussed Kevin Holland's career trajectory, with the latter stating that Holland's lack of discipline will prevent him from ever becoming a champion.
Smith, who co-hosts the On Paper podcast, took issue with the episode — but not because of Dillashaw's comments about Holland. Instead, his criticism stemmed from Jackson’s recent interview with controversial UFC fighter Bryce Mitchell. That episode was later removed from the podcast's YouTube channel after Mitchell made pro-Nazi remarks.
However, Smith went beyond that specific interview, accusing the hosts of repeatedly disrespecting fighters, potentially jeopardizing their ability to book future guests.
You bring fighters on, you sh*t on them — it happened to me,” Smith said. “You brought me on, you were super cool to me. I had a good time. I love Rampage, he’s my favorite fighter, I’ve said that for years. You’ve heard me say that a hundred times — Rampage is my favorite fighter. You bring me on, I have an amazing time, and several months later, you’re on there with Dillashaw f*cking making fun of me.
That’s what they do, that’s their thing. Honestly, it’s less Rampage — he’s just kind of the funny ‘ha ha’ guy, and he just laughs about stuff. They’re just not great to fighters, they make fun of a lot of people. They did the same shIt to Ian Garry when he was supposed to go on the show, and then they spent the show before that calling him a cuck. Whether you think Ian Garry’s a cuck or not, you can’t bring the motherf*cker on the show the next episode after calling him a cuck and making fun of his family dynamic or him and his wife and his kids... I don’t agree with that.
Jackson Fires Back
Smith’s comments didn’t sit well with Jackson, who responded with an explosive rant on his YouTube channel. The former UFC champion was visibly angry, going so far as to threaten "Lionheart" with a physical confrontation.
I love doing this podcast. This podcast got me back into MMA, and I’ve met a lot of fighters since I started doing this f*cking podcast,” Jackson said. “I saw this f*cking post that Anthony Smith did, I saw it this morning, f*cking pissed me off. When TJ sat right motherf*cking here and said you’ll never be champion and said that you f*cking gave up, Bear and I f*cking had your back. That’s why we were saying, ‘Lionheart,’ with a f*cking nickname like Lionheart? Not ‘Lying Heart.’
Jackson claimed that he reached out privately to Smith via direct message to clarify that he wasn’t mocking him, but Smith ignored the message.
I DM’d you. I looked at it, and I could see how you could think that I was making fun of you, too. So I DM’d you. I f*cking said to you in the DM, ‘Look here, I wasn’t making fun of you.’ Because I could have made fun of you,” Jackson continued. “Fighters, we make fun of each other. Yeah, I’m a comedian pretending to be a motherf*cking fighter, but the problem is motherf*cker, I really can fight. I hope I calm down before I see you, because motherf*ckers like you get b*tch-smacked for real.
Jackson also pointed out that he refrained from mocking Smith's knockout loss to Khalil Rountree in December 2023 despite having the opportunity to do so. He compared it to his own career, which ended with a brutal TKO loss to Fedor Emelianenko in 2019.
I’m telling y’all, b*tch-ass motherf*ckers, soft-ass motherf*ckers out there, y’all need to chill the f*ck out and quit being little b*tches,” Jackson said. “Yeah, T.J. shouldn’t say somebody shouldn’t be a f*cking champion, but that’s TJ, and I respect him for that. He’s standing on business. He’s one of the greatest to ever do it in his motherf*cking weight class. Some of you guys are just bitches.
This sh*t got me pissed off. I’m going to tell you — tell that Anthony Smith motherf*cker, call that motherf*cker up, tell him to keep my motherf*cking name out of his motherf*cking mouth. If I see his b*tch ass, I’m going to smack the f*ck out of him.
With tensions at an all-time high, it remains to be seen whether this feud will escalate further or if cooler heads will prevail.