Quinton Jackson had his first taste of combat sport as a wrestler for Raleigh Egypt High School where his successful career was punctuated by All-State honors, as Jackson finished 5th at the Tennessee State tournament at 189 lbs as a High School Senior. Originally, Jackson had intended on pursuing a career in professional wrestling upon finishing high school, but ultimately ended up extending his amateur career in junior college before discovering mixed martial arts. Impressed by the success of other wrestlers in MMA, Jackson decided to try his own hand at the budding sport. Jackson built up a record of 11 wins and 1 loss fighting for a variety of smaller scale American promotions, including King of the Cage, Gladiator Challenge, and Dangerzone.

It was not upon native soil, but rather in Japan's PRIDE Fighting Championships in which he rose to fame in the world of mixed martial arts. Coming into the Japanese promotion as a previously unknown fighter, Jackson was matched at PRIDE 15 against fellow wrestler Kazushi Sakuraba, who was at that time Pride's most prominent domestic fighter. Though taken down repeatedly by the smaller Sakuraba, once on the canvas Jackson refused to be controlled, using his wrestling ability and raw strength to fight off numerous joint-locks and choke attempts from Sakuraba. Repeatedly he elevated Sakuraba off the mat and slammed him down in order to break free from submission holds. An exhausted Jackson eventually succumbed to a rear naked choke from Sakuraba, but his performance opened the eyes of PRIDE's fan base and its executive office both.

After besting pro-wrestler Alexander Otsuka in a fight for the Battlarts promotion, he was invited back for PRIDE 17 where Jackson scored a KO victory over Otsuka’s stable mate, Yuki Ishikawa. Jackson was then disqualified for an accidental low blow in his next PRIDE appearance against Daijiro Matsui, but with a win in PRIDE 20 over Masaaki Satake, he initiated a five-fight winning streak in high profile PRIDE contests, which took him all the way to the finals of the 2003 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix.

There, Jackson fought for the championship against Brazilian rival Wanderlei Silva in what was called fight of the year by various MMA media. However, after taking Silva down and bloodying him with in the ensuing ground and pound assault, a stand-up was called by the referee and Jackson was subsequently TKO'd with a series of knees to the head.

In Pride, he went on to defeat Ikuhisa Minowa and Ricardo Arona before suffering a second defeat to Wanderlei Silva in 2004. In this rematch the fighters went at each other as viciously as possible both slamming and repeatedly striking one another from the ground and standing. While Silva emerged the victor this brutal knockdown drag out affair cemented Jackson as an MMA force to be reckoned with. Months later he would win a surprise decision over Murilo Rua. After the decision, Jackson acknowledged that the decision had been a bad one, telling Rua and his corner that Rua deserved the win, even going as far as to offer the trophy to Rua as Rua left the ring. The controversial ending to this fight setup a fight between Jackson and Rua's younger brother, Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua at Pride's Total Elimination, the 1st round of the 2005 Middleweight tournament. Jackson lost to the younger Rua in the opening round after taking numerous knee strikes to the head and body, suffering broken ribs early in the fight.

On October 23, 2005, Jackson earned a technical knockout victory over Hirotaka Yokoi. Jackson won his next bout at PRIDE 31 in a unanimous decision victory over Judo specialist Dong Sik Yoon; this would be Jackson's last appearance with the company.

After his last fight with PRIDE, his contract lapsed and he expressed interest in fighting in other organizations. On May 16, 2006, the World Fighting Alliance announced it had signed Jackson to a multi-fight deal. He defeated Matt Lindland by split decision at WFA: King of the Streets on July 22, 2006. "He is a good fighter," Rampage said. "I trained hard. He is an Olympic silver medalist. So much respect to him. I knew I had to bring it." The match turned out to be a tough one for the Memphis, Tenn., native who got caught in a choke hold twice. Rampage managed to get out both times and slammed Lindland a few times before cutting the bridge of his nose with ground and pound on his way to the win.

On December 11, 2006, Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, announced it had acquired select assets from the World Fighting Alliance, which will cease operations as a part of their sale agreement. UFC President Dana White has told The Fight Network that Jackson's contract is one of the assets they have acquired. In an interview on the UFC show Inside the UFC Jackson said it was time for him to enter the UFC, and he hadn't before because of his friendship with Tito Ortiz. Jackson said that because Ortiz was the head fighter in the UFC, he didn't want to ruin that. Jackson made his UFC debut at UFC 67, when he beat Marvin Eastman in a rematch, defeating him in the second round due to referee stoppage. Eastman defeated Jackson in his first fight in 2000 by unanimous decision.

At UFC 71, May 26, 2007, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson once again defeated Chuck Liddell via K.O. in Round 1 to become UFC Light Heavyweight champion. After much of the first minute and a half was spent feeling each other out, Liddell threw a solid punch that hit Jackson's body. As Liddell stepped back, however, Jackson caught him with a powerful right hook, knocking him to the ground. He then proceeded to throw a few more punches from right side control while Liddell was down. An elbow from Jackson struck Liddell on the right temple, causing Liddell's arms to go limp. Liddell was unable to defend himself, forcing Referee Big John McCarthy to stop the fight at 1:53, much quicker than their 2003 bout, with Jackson the winner by K.O. Jackson is the only person to beat Chuck Liddell twice, and remains Liddell's only unavenged loss.

--Wikipedia