Dillon Danis, like a lot of other people, saw what Raja Jackson did at a pro wrestling show this past weekend.
Jackson, the son of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, appeared at a Knockx wrestling event and appeared to brutally assault pro wrestler Stuart Smith, AKA Syko Stu. Jackson slammed Smith hard to the canvas and began delivering a series of unanswered punches to an unconscious Smith before other wrestlers pulled him off.
Danis, who competes in an MMA bout at Misfits 22 this Saturday against Warren
Spencer, couldn’t believe what he saw in the viral video.
“To be honest, it’s hard to watch, but in a way, he might have something wrong, maybe like anger problems because, why would he do that?,” Danis told MMA Fighting. “Anybody who has trained, or anyone that has a brain knows when someone’s working… that’d be like me going with you right now and you’re like, ‘I’m going to pick you up and we’re working, we’re doing a WWE match.” You could slam me on my head. I’m giving you my weight.
“So the guy obviously let him pick him up. And then slamming him like that is ridiculous, first off, especially being a guy that’s trained. I know he’s only 0-1. … Any person in WWE can do that to each other. People are acting like, ‘Oh, that’s Rampage Jr.,’ or something like that. The guy jumped up for you to carry his weight and he’s trusting you to take care of his body. And then he’s throwing those shots, and I get you can kind of lay one in. … But the first one was like a f*cking haymaker. He’s trying to, like, kill the guy and it’s just sad. Like, I don’t understand what happened.”
Danis had a tough time watching the clip, and letting it sink in for a couple of different reasons. One, the grappling ace believes it makes MMA fighters, and combat sports athletes in general look bad to the general public who already didn’t look fondly upon the mixed martial arts seen.
Secondly, Jackson is the son of an MMA legend, and former UFC world champion that Danis respects immensely, which makes it tougher to talk about.
“It’s hard to understand what happened, and it looks bad for us, too,” Danis said. “Anybody can do that. I can go into the ring in WWE and do that. You’re supposed to have a trust, and that’s a different sport. It’s pro wrestling. It’d be different if it was like, ‘Hey, f*cking kid. F*ck you, I really want to fight you.’ Then, yeah, beat the shit out of the f*cking guy, but it didn’t seem like that.
“He did the prop can… and then he apologized. It’s so sad. I was actually going to help him with money, maybe training, but then he shot on the other guy and couldn’t get the other guy down. The guy was letting you work with his body. When you’re training, and even when you pick somebody up in sparring, you’re not going to slam a guy on his head. That’s basically what they’re doing in pro wrestling. … But I like Rampage a lot, and you certainly don’t want to blame Rampage. That’s the only reason why I don’t want to go too hard on his son because Rampage is a legend, he’s a great guy. But if it wasn’t Rampage’s son, I’d be like, ‘That motherf*cker.’ But that shit’s f*cked up to do to someone, especially on an indy show like that.”
As of now, Smith is conscious and recovering from his injuries, according to multiple posts from family and friends on social media. Charges have not yet been filed, per Los Angeles County records.
For now, Danis hopes Smith can recover from the brutal attack, and if Jackson ends up paying for his sins through the hands of the law, Danis believes the punishment fits the crime.
“You’re a martial artist at the end of the day, you know when someone’s unconscious,” Danis explained. “It’s f*cked up, and I feel bad for the guy he did that to. It puts us back a little bit. It went viral and it makes us look f*cking [like we’re bad people]. Maybe there’s a deeper meaning. Maybe he had something go wrong with him. But like, to snap like that? The guy didn’t even do anything. … It’s very sad to see. I hope the guy recovers fully and I hope he does something to help him out. …
“It’s just f*cked up, and I could say a lot about it, but in respect to Rampage, because he’s a legend and you don’t want to go there. But he definitely deserves what he has coming to him. That’s not cool.”
