Rashad Evans: Greg Jackson is About Greg Jackson, Not the Team

The word divorce rarely comes along with anything but a negative connotation attached to it.

Whether it's a couple splitting up or a company separating from an employee or shareholder, divorce is never easy.

So it's without much surprise that the very public split between UFC 145 headliner Rashad Evans and his former coach Greg Jackson has been anything but friendly.

Fighters leave training camps or coaches all the time in MMA, but rarely does the reason why hit the headlines like it has in the case of Evans and Jackson. It all stems from the introduction of Jon Jones to the team by Greg Jackson, according to Evans, and it was all downhill from there.

“Like I told Greg at the time, I told Greg I don't think it would be a good idea, but Greg did what Greg wanted to do for Greg,” Evans explained about how Jones was brought into the camp and team.

“That's why Greg brought him on because Greg wanted to do what he wanted to do for Greg.”

Evans worked with Jackson for several years and came up in the UFC under his expert tutelage, but now they stand on opposite sides of the cage, and the former light heavyweight champion has had few kind words to say about his ex-coach.

Evans says that Jackson is more about self-promotion than actually being the best coach to the athletes on his team.

“That's the thing about him. Greg talks about ‘for the team, for the team.' The team consists of ‘I' which is Greg Jackson. That's what the team consists of, it's about Greg Jackson getting the ‘Coach of the Year' awards. That's what it consists of,” Evans said candidly.

Most of the fighters at Team Jackson would probably argue with Evans when speaking about their coach, but the former Michigan State wrestler isn't budging on his opinion, and it was a harsh lesson learned at the time.

Evans has now been a part of his new team at the Blackzilians for the better part of the past year, and he says he'll never be put into a situation like the one he had with Jones and Jackson again.

Never ever again.

“I wouldn't do that; I wouldn't put myself in the position again. I wouldn't bring myself with somebody that I knew would be a contender,” said Evans.

“I would never put myself in that position again.”

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