Jardine: Jackson’s MMA will never be the same
“[Monday] it was business as usual,” said long-time Jackson member Keith Jardine. “Once the hype for the Jones/Evans fight starts…
“[Monday] it was business as usual,” said long-time Jackson member Keith Jardine. “Once the hype for the Jones/Evans fight starts happening, I don’t know. Is Jon going to stay in Albuquerque? I don’t know. Right now there are no weird feelings in the gym or any of that.”
“One thing to remember is Rashad is instrumental in this whole Jackson phenomenon starting. Without Rashad, who knows if it ever would have happened? He was one of the first guys to come in from out of town and join the team. And he was a guy who, when the sport was growing, he was winning fights and everybody was looking at him as he was getting better. People were calling Rashad up and he was bringing people to town, and without him, who knows if any of that would have ever happened? Without Rashad Evans, maybe this Jackson’s phenomena never happens.”
“You know, I haven’t thought about it too much, but no question I would be supporting Rashad,” Jardine said. “He’s one of my closest friends in the world. I have a lot of loyalty and friendship with him.”
“It’ll never be the same, you know? This gym, when the UFC broke out in 2005, was built on me, Rashad, Nate Marquardt, Joey Villasenor and Diego Sanchez. Nate’s going to stay in Denver most the time now. That’s sort of like the old generation, and they’re welcoming the future with Jon Jones, and that’s kind of where it is right now. For me, there’s no hard feelings; it’s just business.”
“It all started from that interview that Jon did talking about the possibility of fighting with Rashad. That’s just something that doesn’t need to be said. Of course they could have been made to fight, and they both knew it. But for Jon to go out and say that made Rashad look like a punk, and that’s kind of what happened to start it all. It was already sensitive, so it blew up after that.”
“Jon’s just a kid. He doesn’t really think through a lot of things of what he says. And I’m sure he probably regretted it right afterwards and all that, so I don’t think he had malicious intent in doing it.”