Will Rampage Jackson's Arrest Hurt the Sport of Mixed Martial Arts?

Rampage Jackson's arrest has garnered as much, if not more, coverage than any one of Jackson's fights inside the Octagon. There are plenty of people who probably barely knew Jackson's name before who now associate it with lawlessness. That's not a good thing for Jackson's image, obviously, but does it have the same effect on the sport?

MMA has been growing steadily and battling a stigma of being barbaric all the while. A high-profile arrest is sure to cement a negative opinion into some people's minds but could it go beyond that? MMAPayout.com addressed that issue earlier today.

When an MMA fighter finds himself in trouble with the law, the immediate reaction of just about everyone in the community is to ask "how badly will this hurt MMA?"

Truth be told, Rampage's incident won't. Not really.

I agree with that take. People who already disliked the sport will have more fuel for their fire but it's hard to see too many fans being turned off by one bad incident. People didn't stop watching the NFL because of Pacman Jones, after all, and his actions were a lot more malicious than anything Jackson did in Orange County.

The people that like the sport will still watch it and the people that don't will continue to rail against it. When you take a look at the ratings for UFC this weekend, I'd be surprised if there was any change because Jackson got arrested.