I have had the opportunity to interview Quinton "Rampage" Jackson on many occasions.

I have known his trainer, Juanito Ibarra, for many years, since back in the mid-1990s when Juanito was trying to get a boxers' union going.

Jackson is one of the most charismatic, playful and approachable athletes I have come across since I began covering the fight game for The Register in 1993.

I have watched Jackson interact with fans, patiently signing autographs and taking photos for everyone who asks. I tagged along with him and Juanito on a trip to visit the troops at Camp Pendleton.

Jackson is one of those people that is fun to be around with his quick wit and self-deprecating humor, which came through on his recent stint as a coach on Spike TV's "The Ultimate Fighter 7."

Jackson and Ibarra have made a great team since they hooked up in 2005. Jackson, 30, an Irvine resident, turned his career around under the guidance of Ibarra. He won six consecutive fights, including a first-round TKO over Chuck Liddell to capture the UFC light-heavyweight title and a unanimous decision over Dan Henderson. Jackson lost his title to Forrest Griffin via a unanmous decision earlier this month in Las Vegas.

Jackson's personality and fighting style have made him a hit in the UFC, the largest mixed martial arts promotion in the world.

So I was absolutely floored when I heard about Jackson's rampage through the suburbs of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach on Tuesday afternoon. Jackson plowed his raised pickup truck into several cars, crashed across a center divider and onto a sidewalk at one point before he was arrested, authorities said.

Jackson was booked at the Costa Mesa Jail on suspicion of hit-and-run driving, felony evading and reckless driving. Alcohol didn't appear to play a role in the incident, according to Costa Mesa police Lt. Paul Dondero.

So what the heck was going on?

This kind of thing doesn't fit the Quinton "Rampage" Jackson I have come to know.

Hopefully, he has some kind of explanation for what happened, but it doesn't look good at this point.

I got Juanito on the phone, but he would not comment on the situation.

We're all human and we all make mistakes. The good thing is no one was injured during the incident. Hopefully, Jackson can learn from this mistake.

It remains to be seen how the UFC will respond to the incident. The UFC has been working hard to get mixed martial arts sanctioned in every state.

The UFC has spent a lot of time and money trying to turn around the image of MMA, which was once branded as "human cockfighting" by Sen. John McCain in the mid-1990s.

The UFC has been very successful in its efforts to bring the UFC and MMA into the mainstream. This kind of thing doesn't help.

Related story:

"Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson arrested after Costa Mesa car chase"

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