Review for UFC: Rampage Greatest Hits

Introduction

Whether you love or hate Quinton Jackson, better known by his 'UFC name', Rampage, you cannot deny his place in MMA history.

A superstar in Japan with Pride Fighting Championships and a former UFC Light Heavyweight champion, Jackson has enjoyed an illustrious career thus far.

His aggressive style and quick wit has earned him an army of fans and a Hollywood film career outside the Octagon.

However it seems to be a curious time for the UFC to release a highlights DVD of Jackson's career, especially after the public falling out betweenthe fighter and UFC president Dana White.

Speaking of White, it is well known that the outspoken president likes to make money, and that could be the reason why it is indeed the perfect time to release a Rampage DVD. After all, at the time of it's release Jackson was in the midst of hyping his turn as BA Baracus in the A-Team movie and was preparing for his main event bout with hated rival Rashad Evans.

Evans went on to defeat Rampage in the aforementioned bout and forced the UK trained fighter to reconsider his film career in order to re-establish himself as a contender in the light heavyweight division.

So is this DVD a collection of highlights as the career of Jackson as it comes to a close? Or is it just the start of a new beginning in the career of Rampage? Only time will tell.

What we do have though is a collection of Rampage's greatest fights from Pride and the UFC. If you're a fan of the Tennessee native, then this is a must have.

Video

Video is presented in 4:3 PAL, and is exceptional. Even the old footage from Pride is well shot, and captures the spirit well from the much missed Japanese organisation. The UFC fights are exceptional, as usual.

Audio

Audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 and is good. For those not familiar with Pride colour commentary comes from former UFC star Baz Rutten, and he is just as much (if not more) fun than his UFC opposite, Joe Rogan. Everything else is good, including the chaos of the Pride events and you might want to turn your volume down just before Rampage slams Ricardo Arona, or else you might blow your speakers.

Extras

 Unfortunately we don't get any extras. You can navigate around the menu and skip straight to the fights that you want to watch, but there's nothing extra to be had here. Shame.

Conclusion

If you are a fan of Rampage, and by Rampage I mean the classic Pride Rampage Jackson, the man who slams people on their heads, the man who tries to knock out everyone put in front of him and the man who captured the UFC light heavyweight title with his second career win over Chuck Liddell, then this DVD is for you.

This Rampage isn't the would be actor or the one paced fighter who lost a decision to rival Rashad Evans recently. This is the Rampage who became one of the most popular fighters of all time.

This is a good solid DVD, if a little oddly timed. On here are all of Rampage's best career wins so far, chronicling his rise from Pride to UFC champion. We get no less than ten full fights, including videos and features before each bout.

It seems odd to complain about the fact that his losses (losing the title to Forrest Griffin apart) are not really shown here, especially considering he was involved in wars with Wanderlei Silva (twice) and Shogun Rua whilst in Pride. Therefore it gives the DVD a little bit of a promoting feel, but it isn't a huge problem, and doesn't take much away from a good DVD.

The same can be said of the extras. There mightn't have been a whole lot of other extras they could have gotten onto the DVD, maybe a little footage of his oldest fights would have been a bonus, maybe some training footage or some more features on Rampage the man rather than the fighter. Any of them would have added something extra to the DVD.

As mentioned before, the timing of this release also seems rather strange. Rampage was on the verge of one of the biggest fights of his career against Evans, and had he won it would have made another huge highlight.

All in all this is another solid DVD from the UFC. And it is an essential addition to the collections of any Rampage fan. But with a bout with former champion Lyoto Machida on the horizon and at only 32 years of age, there may be more chapters to be added to an already extraordinary career yet.