When it comes to the impending fight between newly minted light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones and former champ Rashad Evans, trainer Greg Jackson is sticking to a long-held policy not to corner fighters against one another.Other coaches are still figuring things out. It's admittedly an uncomfortable situation not only for Jackson but those who've worked with both fighters, or work with the Jackson team.
"Everybody's doing soul searching right now," Jackson today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).
Not long ago, Evans and Jones were meeting on the mats of Jackson's MMA academy in Albuquerque, N.M., as Evans prepared to face light-heavyweight champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 128. When Evans hurt his knee in early February, Jones went in his place and dominated the Brazilian champion en route to a third-round TKO.
That win has fractured the working relationship. Evans recently announced that he'd left Jackson, and both he and Jones agreed to a fight sometime this year.
"Rashad is 100 percent on board to fight Jon Jones," UFC president Dana White said following UFC 128. "Rashad is fired up about this. He wants to fight Jon Jones."
Jackson said the fight materialized even before this past Saturday's pay-per-view event.
"Everything was great," the trainer said. "Then I think Jon gave an interview where he said he would fight him, and that hurt Rashad's feelings, and it was just kind of a cascade from there. It's just one of those unfortunate things that happen. But here we are."
Prior to his knee injury, Evans had been in line to fight for the title and passed on other fights in late 2010 as he waited for Rua to recover from a knee injury. Rather than delay Rua's return, the UFC gave Jones the title shot following his impressive victory over Ryan Bader at UFC 126.
Evans vented on Twitter about Jackson's decision to work with Jones following the recent title fight.
"I decided to leave Greg because I felt like he didn't have my best interest anymore," Evans wrote. "Greg is not the same coach he use to be."
But Evans said his partnership with the trainer may have been more in spirit than in practice. He wrote that he had worked with Jackson only a handful of times in his most recent two fights.
Jones, on the other hand, has been a steady fixture at the academy in Albuquerque, and that may play a part in keeping him there for the fight against Evans.
"I'm kind of leaning toward working with Jon, and Rashad had not opted to work with me personally in his last few fights," said Jackson partner Mike Winkeljohn. "I feel like there had been a small split between us. I love the guy to death, and if there's anybody that has the tools and uses them right and can challenge Jon Jones, it would be Rashad Evans. I just don't know if I can coach against Rashad. So I haven't figured that one out yet."
Indeed, the coaches' final decisions may have less to do with which fighter spent more time with them and more with a philosophical preference, much like Jackson's choice.
"It's hard because we're all friends," said Trevor Wittman, who's worked closely with Evans at Jackson affiliate Grudge Training Center but only minimally with Jones. "It's something that's going to happen, which I figured was going to happen, and I kind of helped Rashad mentally prepare for it. But it's ultimately up to the fighters."
Jackson, meanwhile, said his relationship with Evans will survive the recent split.
"On my end, Rashad Evans is one of my best friends," he said. "I love him to death. I don't know how he feels, but I'm staying out of the fight, and I'm always cool."
However, he had mixed feelings about the recent turn toward the teammate vs. teammate fight.
"I was really happy for Jon," Jackson said of his student's recent win. "I was really sad that he and Rashad were going to fight. So it was really bittersweet for me. Even if the whole thing had to happen that way, I still would feel the same.
"The world title, that's for the guys. That's not for me. I just enjoy the process of the fight and gameplanning and doing everything right in the corner.
"Obviously I wish it was different. But that's life, and you've got to do the best you can with the hand you're dealt."
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