Celebrity Byte

Rampage Jackson poses for UFC promotional shots.

How did you get into video games?

I have an older brother who's six years older than me and he's always been a video game freak. So there was always a game console in my house. First it was the Colecovision and I was addicted to Bump n' Jump. I've been playing video games all of my life. I thought I was a really good gamer until I moved out to California and the kids out here are way better than me. I had the chance to meet Fatal1ty (Johnathan Wendell) and Ryan Ward, the best DOA4 player in the world. I did a skit with Ryan and Fatal1ty was there and it should come on DirecTV soon.

What do you think about the Championship Gaming Series? These guys get paid to play video games.

I'm in the wrong business. Fatal1ty told me he comes out with his own gaming things that he invents. That's me. That's how I am. I invent things for fighting. Do you know what I would do if I could make money just playing video games instead of getting my ass whooped in the ring? What the hell. God is good. I guess God needed me to be a fighter and he needed him to be a video game player.

I know a lot of fighters play games. A lot of us are big kids. But I don't give a damn about them, I just care about me.

Rampage Jackson about to beat Chuck Liddell's face in two during a UFC fight.

What impact do you see the new THQ UFC game having on growing your sport?

I think the video game industry is one of the biggest industries in the world and it will really help our sport. Even guys who don't watch UFC will probably buy or play the game. Then once they start playing the game they'll realize these are real people and they might tune into the show or see one of us on an airplane or in a club. The thing about my sport is that we're very accessible. Mixed-martial arts guys are out there. You'll never see a boxer like Oscar de la Hoya at the mall without a hundred people around them. With us, you might see us with one or two friends or with our girls, so you can talk to us. The best thing about this game for me, since I'm a video game freak, is now I can play as myself. I was in one video game back in the day, the Pride video game, but it sucked, so I didn't like playing as myself. Now I can play with myself in public and over at friends' houses. I can just play with myself.

What was it like seeing yourself in that UFC game trailer?

It looked great. I just didn't like the way they had Chuck (Liddell) whooping my ass like that when I gave him two ass whoopings in real life.

How big are video games in the UFC?

I know a lot of fighters play games. A lot of us are big kids. But I don't give a damn about them, I just care about me. And I play games a lot. I like to play adventure games. I played all of the Resident Evil games and I like the Perfect Dark games from Nintendo. I like racing games like Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2. That's the best racing game. I don't like the Gran Turismo games. I don't like the way the cars control in the Gran Turismo games. I prefer the arcade handling to the simulation racing games. I think I could be like Fatal1ty with the arcade racing games. But the sim racing games are too hard to turn and it's just not fun. Need for Speed is a great concept with the police chasing you and stuff. Come on, man, I'm a black man. Running from police...that's fine. I rarely lose at Need for Speed.

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