In one of the most bitter exits since Wolverine left the X-Men, Rashad Evans ‘divorced’ Jackson’s MMA, for what he identified as favoritism by head coach Greg Jackson, for now UFC Lightheavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Rashad joined forces with a new group, based out of Imperial Athletics in Boca Raton, FL, that calls itself the Blackzilians. Former EliteXC heavyweight champion Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva, former Sengoku Raiden Championship middleweight titleholder Jorge Santiago, Anthony Johnson, TUF 12 finalist Michael Johnson, and ‘JZ’ Cavalcante are among the prominent fighters who have called the facility home.
Melvin Guillard left the Jackson’s MMA New Mexico camp to train for a week with his TUF 2 housamate Evans, in preparation for his fight on PPV at UFC 136 this Saturday.
I know a lot of people look at it like, ‘How are you at Jackson’s and you train with Rashad?’ ” Guillard told Sherodg.com. :Well, Rashad’s been like a brother to me since Season 2. Jon … he’s my boy, he’s my teammate. I stay out of their beef, and I keep myself neutral to everything. For everybody that don’t know, that’s what it is. I still love Rashad like a brother, and I love Jon like a teammate. There are gonna be other times when I’m gonna go to Imperial, and I’m probably gonna train there again.
Until it presents a problem as far as my coaching goes, then I’ll deal with it when it comes. I’m my own boss; my coaches work for me, so it’s whatever I choose that I want to do to be successful in this game. I’m going to take those options.
Guillard’s striking coach at Jackson’s MMA, Mike Winkeljohn was measued in his comments
You always care about them wanting to wheel and deal their way into your fighter’s heart through offers or different things to make [him] work out with them, Winkeljohn said. I just told Melvin, ‘You know what, go learn some new stuff.’ I got no problem with it as long as he learns something, and he comes back and shows you what he learned — because we don’t know it all.
