Dana White: Jackon’s MMA is a f@$%!#’ business, not a family
Saturday night former Jackson’s MMA teammates Jon Jones and Greg Jackson fight for the UFC Lightheavyweight title at UFC 145, live on PPV….
Saturday night former Jackson’s MMA teammates Jon Jones and Greg Jackson fight for the UFC Lightheavyweight title at UFC 145, live on PPV. On one side of the Octagon is Jon Jones and his cornermen Greg Jackson and Mike Winklejohn.
“I have the coaches that taught (Rashad) how to fight,” gloated Jones. “They taught him the guard passes he uses, the ground-and-pound system that he uses, the punches that he used to throw and the combinations. I mean, it almost seems not fair sometimes.”
On the other side is Rashad Evans, backed by his new Blackzilian team. He is bitter at his former coach and his former teammate.
“That’s why I feel so disrespected,” said Evans. “It’s like, ‘So, now Greg, you’re gonna go against me? You’re gonna go against me, right? You gonna go against Georges St. Pierre? Oh, OK. You gonna bring in Carlos Condit? He helped make you too. So where does your loyalty lie?’ So, if you’re gonna go against the people that helped make you, and I was somebody like in Jon’s position, I’d be like, ‘Man, if he’ll go against some people that were with him, to help him get his notoriety, to help him get where he is, then damn, what would he do to me?’ “
Jones joined Jackson’s against Evans’ wishes. with the explicit understanding that he would never fight Rashad Evans. “Absolutely not,” said Jones at the time. “If Rashad Evans won the belt, which I’m hoping he does, my only goal would be to be the toughest contender there is, and keep whipping butt without being champion … I couldn’t, he’s my mate … If Rashad held the title belt, then I’d wait forever.”
Evans expressed similar sentiments of solidarity. “Me and Jon fight all of the time in the gym, it’s just no-one gets to see it! I don’t want to fight him. He’s young and he’s got a lot of time. When you train with someone you develop a bond – I can’t get good training if my training partners aren’t giving me their best, and to do that sometimes you have to expose your weaknesses. It’s a no-win situation. it splits up the camp as people have to take sides.”
Then an unpredicted series of events led to Saturday’s fight:
Evans lost his title, to Lyoto Machida;
Evans got hurt training for a title shot, against Shogun Rua, who had succeeded Machida;
Jones accepted an offered title shot, and won;
Jones said he would consider fighting Evans if UFC President Dana White asked him to;
An outraged Evans ‘divorced’ his former team, and created the Blackzilians, in Florida.
Eventually, Jackson, who had said he would not corner against Evans, changed his mind, on the advice of Jackson’s MMA cofounder Winkejohn.
While the issue of fighting friends is contentious, it would have been absurd for Jones to turn down the offered title shot. “I don’t want to try to hurt my friends” makes sense. “I won’t fight the champ because my friend, if he stops getting hurt, and does well against other contenders, and I win, might fight me some day, I think” is not professional, or even rational.
Evans himself agreed at the time. “I’m happy for Jones,” said Evans. “I think it’s a great fight for him. I think Jones is going to smash Rua … He’s hungry, he wants it, so I’m glad if it’s going to be someone to step into my place, I’m glad it’s him … I’m still not going to fight Jon. I will always find something to challenge myself. I will go up to heavyweight or down to middleweight. But I will not fight Jon.”
Evantually of course Jones ended up with the title. It is unfortunate that at that point rather than publicly express dismay at a difficult situation while privately discussing with a teammate what was probably an inevitable fight, Jones instead spoke out:
“I respect Dana White a lot,” said Jones early last year. “If that’s what he absolutely wanted to happen then, you know, I guess that’s what would have to happen. Me or Rashad would not want to get fired over the situation. It would just be majorly awkward for us. Rashad and I have a lot in common; we’re both young, African-American men with families, we both like to sing and have fun, we’re both elite MMA fighters, I mean we have a LOT in common. We really clicked really well and there is just so many other great fighters in the world that we could compete against. And we’re not animals, we’re friends and we’re people, we’re human beings. I just would hate to have to fight my own teammate. I would never want to.”
Following those comments, Rashad too appeared to accept that the fight would happen. “I made my home at light heavyweight, and I think that I’d be playing myself if I went down to 185 or up to heavyweight. Those fights would be fun to do if there was a match worthy of doing it, but I think, for the most part, light heavyweight is my home … I don’t know what to expect from the UFC anymore, I’m not on Dana’s fab five so it can go either way. If it does happen and I get a title shot, then I have to think about whether I take it depending on who it is … Jones expressed last night in an interview that he would fight me for the title; I’m no punk, so…”
Greg Jackson, the most successful trainer in MMA, expressed regret in a recent interview with MMAWeekly Radio.
“I always try to take my responsibility in every situation, even if it doesn’t go well,” said Jackson. “There was a protocol thing that … we should have had earlier on, and I think that’s directly and 100-percent my fault that we didn’t have a plan for when this stuff would happen. I take responsibility on that end of it, for sure. We weren’t ready for it. A lot of people had to pay prices for that.
In an interview with Kevin Iole, UFC President Dana White offered a characteristically blunt take on the situation.
“There is one thing that is an absolute fact, and no matter how often Greg Jackson pumps that family s—, Greg Jackson is a f—— businessman,” said White. “The more top guys he brings in, the more money he makes. There’s nothing wrong with Greg Jackson, but he’s a f—— businessman. Some of these fighters, who ought to know better but don’t listen to that [expletive] and don’t take it for the crock of s— that it is. These guys need to make the decision where they train based on where they think they’ll get the best work and develop the best, and not on this f—— crazy idea that you’re becoming a part of a family.
“Greg Jackson f—— told Rashad this wouldn’t happen, that they’re family and all that other s—, but look what is going on now. Look and see who is at Jackson’s and who is not. Train where you think it’s going to be best for you and if that’s Jackson’s, that’s fine. Just don’t buy into this family s— because there’s nothing to it. This is the fight business, not the friend business.”
