Rampage Jackson is coming off a UFC 130 win over Matt Hamill Saturday, and he wants Jon Jones’ belt next. Before he gets to belts, he’ll have to unglue his face from chests. Continuing a pattern he’s long established of harassing females, Rampage got a little cozy with Karyn Bryant who interviewed him Saturday evening after his fight. At the end of the interview, Rampage mock motorboated her breasts. Here’s the video:
There are several aspects of this sort of behavior that needs to be addressed.
First off, this is a pattern for Rampage (see the videos below for further proof) and it’s clear he doesn’t understand how to treat females like professionals. Seriously, the guy borders on assault during interviews. His actions can be considered harassment in the workplace and are clearly inappropriate.
Secondly, the woman should be fired for her behavior. She was playing back to Rampage and more or less encouraging the behavior. Worse yet, she sadly wrote on twitter “I wasn’t offended by [Rampage] at all. We were clowning around. I thought it was funny! Plus, he didn’t ACTUALLY motorboat me! Never even touched me… I do have a pretty good right hand in case. Knees aren’t bad either. LOL”
What’s sad is that there are so many females who face the issue of respect in the locker room. Some players feel like females shouldn’t be in locker rooms. Moreover, many females feel pressure to acquiesce to their boss’ demands, many of which can be construed as sexual in nature. Having someone accept and enjoy the behavior does a disservice to females who really are victims of harassment.
Thirdly, the UFC is notoriously strict and subjective when it comes to issuing media credentials. If you’re extra critical of the UFC and they don’t like it, they won’t issue you credentials. Respected reporters like Josh Gross and Loretta Hunt were turned down for credentials to Strikeforce’s Diaz-Daley card in April. The UFC, if they don’t take action, is sending the message that reporters need to be female, good-looking, and willing to let fighters motorboat them in order to be credentialed. If you’re interested in actually covering an event or asking some real questions, the UFC isn’t interested. That’s a poor policy and one they need to address.
Thanks to Michael David Smith at MMA Fighting for the heads up on the Bryant interview. He also reminds us of some of these past examples of Rampage’s harassment of females:
