Greg Jackson speaks about fight cancellation, Dana White

Quote :

Minutes after UFC president Dana White announced that UFC 151 was cancelled because Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones declined to fight potential Dan Henderson injury replacement Chael Sonnen, Mauro Ranallo talked to Jones' head trainer Greg Jackson about the fallout, specifically White's comments about Jackson being "an (expletive) sport killer".

Jackson pointed out that Jones didn't turn down the fight on eight days notice but that it's really three days due to fight week being full of weight cutting and media obligations.

"I was asked if it was smart to take a fight on three days notice and I don't think it's smart to do that," Jackson said on The MMA Show. "Three days to fight a guy that caliber is not a smart thing to do. I'm not trying to ruin the sport or cancel an event. I don't know about that stuff, but thought it wasn't a wise course of action."

Jackson said that to fight someone of Sonnen's caliber, you "need to have a full training camp. That would seem smart to me. Fighting on three days notice isn't taking (the sport) seriously to me." He added that the decision wasn't solely his, but that Jones' entire team met and discussed whether to take the Sonnen fight on short notice. He merely added his opinion.

At the time of the interview, Jackson said he hadn't talked to Jones yet. He was also surprised at the negative reaction from White. After the jump, get the details about what Jackson thinks about his relationship with White given Thursday's comments.

SBN coverage of UFC 151: Jones vs. Henderson




On his feelings toward White now, Jackson said that he wasn't mad but confused. "I really like Dana and respect him...there is no ill feelings. I'm more confused than anything else."
"It's a serious fight with serious ramifications. I don't think I need to reach out to Dana. I didn't mean to cancel an event and was asked to give an opinion and I gave it. We all got together and are on the same sheet of music. These guys are professional promoters and that's what they do," he continued.

"I didn't know they had it all riding on one fight. It's one of those things...as a trainer. I'll give you my opinion. I'm not a yes man...I do what's best for my guy. I'm surprised by the veracity of his response but that's my opinion."

Jackson also said that if Sonnen was presented as an opponent for Jones in late-September instead of Lyoto Machida, they would have taken the fight.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/8/23/3263249/ufc-151-cancelled-greg-jackson-responds-dana-white-jon-jones-chael-sonnen-mauro-ranallo

So its only 3 days notice- not 8- because he has to cut weight and fulfill media obligations.
Hey asshole! You were going to be doing that anyway!!!! How does that change depending on who you're fighting?!

And he said he hasn't talked to Jones yet? So he decided to cancle the fight without even asking Jones? I find that very hard to believe.....

greg jackson is a chump!....he cares more about his team name getting w's more than the the art form in which his team practices....his style is bad for the ufc and mma but may be good for point based competition.......im ready for dana to ban jackson mma from the octagon just like he did with many brands and logos

side note maybe jones is a little bitch also!

This is not Jones fault, main events get canceled regularly and the fight still goes on because there are 2 or 3 gnome brand fights on the card. The UFC spread themselves too thin this summer and put together too many weak cards that rely too heavily on the main event. It just came around to bight them in the ass this time. They need to go back to monthly PPV events with bigger name cards.

Grey Suit wrote:

This is not Jones fault, main events get canceled regularly and the fight still goes on because there are 2 or 3 gnome brand fights on the card. The UFC spread themselves too thin this summer and put together too many weak cards that rely too heavily on the main event. It just came around to bight them in the ass this time. They need to go back to monthly PPV events with bigger name cards.

To a point i see where you are coming from and i do agree to a point that the UFC should not put all there eggs into one match so to speak and making the rest of the card lack luster in the mean time.

Flip side of that coin is i dont think the UFC was ever anticipating that there champ would go back out all together. Injuires happen all the time and do force some fights to be scrapped but usually the non injuried will get a new opponet and will gladly take it still so they can get payed and keep a card alive. Jones on the other hand said henderson or nobody and even being pushed by dana and fans still wouldnt do it.

So I guess what i am saying is yes it is not jones fault the henderson fight was cancelled but he had a big roll in the entire fight card being cancelled. Even more so in the fact that going into a fight with sonnen almost every advantage would have been for Jones in that fight and would have still been a big money maker for Mr Jones.(seeing thats all he really cares about) So i dont see what the problem would have been him taking the fight. Big paycheck,low risk this shouldnt even have been a debate for jones and his camp. They should have taken the fight.

Gecko wrote:

Grey Suit wrote:

This is not Jones fault, main events get canceled regularly and the fight still goes on because there are 2 or 3 gnome brand fights on the card. The UFC spread themselves too thin this summer and put together too many weak cards that rely too heavily on the main event. It just came around to bight them in the ass this time. They need to go back to monthly PPV events with bigger name cards.

To a point i see where you are coming from and i do agree to a point that the UFC should not put all there eggs into one match so to speak and making the rest of the card lack luster in the mean time.

Flip side of that coin is i dont think the UFC was ever anticipating that there champ would go back out all together. Injuires happen all the time and do force some fights to be scrapped but usually the non injuried will get a new opponet and will gladly take it still so they can get payed and keep a card alive. Jones on the other hand said henderson or nobody and even being pushed by dana and fans still wouldnt do it.

So I guess what i am saying is yes it is not jones fault the henderson fight was cancelled but he had a big roll in the entire fight card being cancelled. Even more so in the fact that going into a fight with sonnen almost every advantage would have been for Jones in that fight and would have still been a big money maker for Mr Jones.(seeing thats all he really cares about) So i dont see what the problem would have been him taking the fight. Big paycheck,low risk this shouldnt even have been a debate for jones and his camp. They should have taken the fight.

Absolutely.
This isn't as simple as a guy getting hurt close to fight time, and the UFC just trying to roll with the punches like they usually do.
Typically, if a fight (main event or otherwise) is altogether scrapped, its because an injury to one of the fighters happened so close to fight day that its basicly impossible to get a replacement fighter to take the fight on such short notice, so Dana just says "No way, its not happening".
That wasn't the case here. Dana went out immediately and scrambled to find someone to take the fight, and he did. He did his job.
Then Jones refused to fight. That's unheard of.

This is definitely Jones' fault.

Yeah ... all he had to do was take a way less dangerous fighter and everybody goes home safe happy and paid.....

oh and someone from the PIT found this

^^^^^^^^^

oh man that was good, thats some gas for the fire right there for old chael and other fighters.

Krieger wrote:

Yeah ... all he had to do was take a way less dangerous fighter and everybody goes home safe happy and paid.....

oh and someone from the PIT found this

link or GTFO

Chrom wrote:

Krieger wrote:

Yeah ... all he had to do was take a way less dangerous fighter and everybody goes home safe happy and paid.....

oh and someone from the PIT found this

link or GTFO

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/8/23/3264254/jon-jones-just-to-clear-the-record-ive-never-turn-down-a-mma-fight

As per your request sir!

It appears that since this tweet started making the rounds Mr Jones has removed it.

Hahaha, thats the best! So it was just a few months ago that he posted that!

I don't get the whole "8 days notice!!!!" thing. Wasn't Jones training to fight Henderson?? If anyone's taking the fight on short notice it's Sonnen. And does anyone remember when Joe Riggs missed weight against Hughes and they took the title shot away? Or better yet, when Filho missed against Sonnen in the WEC and they did the same?? I'm sure Jones and his management could've appealed to remove the title fight from the card and just had a matchup against Sonnen. Worst case scenario, Jones gets KO'd in the 1st round (lmao) and still retains his belt. Sonnen vs. Jones rematch for the strap this time = $$$$$. Best case scenario, Jones annihilates Sonnen and skates away with his millions and saves face by fighting anyone at any time like a real champ says he will do AND THEN ACTUALLY DOES. And by the way, I remember when an obviously aging Matt Hughes (a real champ with NOTHING to prove) stepped up to fight Thiago Alves (a contender with EVERYTHING to prove) and got his ass kicked in short order. I know it wasn't a title fight, I'm saying that Hughes didn't have to do shit if he didn't want to. He's already rich, already has a huge legacy and an HOF career, but the UFC needed a fight like yesterday and he said yes.

The prima donna BS is what kills boxing, and get ready boys because here it comes. But speaking of boxing, 40yo Shane Mosley trained 12 weeks to fight up and comer Andre Berto, who then pulled out after losing half his family in the Haiti earthquake. Mosley then took a tougher opponent in Floyd Mayweather, but gave Floyd enough time for a short camp to be ready in order to give the fans a fight. Mosley continued training the entire time. So at worst, the UFC could postpone the card until the.... ahem.... champion Jon Jones can prepare for Sonnen, then have 151 and 152 closer together. Why is this not an option?? Oh yeah because Jones' entire day was ruined. Piss off.

Ahhh I see what you are trying to do there DEP .... impose logic on system that thrives on illogical and emotional reaction with little thought.

I believe a BIG part of Jones' decision was Greg Jackson, a mentor for the young Mr. Jones. Jackson does like to believe he is some sort of Sensei to his fighters and gleefully imparts his philosophies on his students.

Unfortunately the world of the Shaolin monk does not always translate well into the commerce of prize fighting.

Yeah, I don't give Jones much the blame at all. He is going to do what Jackson tells him. Jones is far from the sharpest pencil in the drawer.

Whoa whoa whoa.... I may be understanding why Jones made the decision he did... but at the end of the day he is a man and responsible for the decisions HE made Jones is the guy that said "no thanks Dana I will not fight Chael".

It's sad but Jackson is even more of a tool because he is throwing Jones under the bus by running scared and pointing out that Jones made the final decision. The least Jackson could do is stand by Jones and said something like " we made the decision together".

He's a man, but he's also a very young, immature, irresponsible man. He reminds me of so many young NFL/NBA athletes that get so much money thrown at them early and they just cannot handle it.
Seriously, the kid owns so much bling, drives a Bentley, just got a huge Nike contract, but he is a career ending injury away from being ass broke in 5 years.

So sure. You can say it is all on him to make the ultimate decisions, but he's not really in a mature enough position to do so. He needs responsible leaders around him to help him make these decisions. Unfortunately he does not.

Well let's not get carried away. Jones is 25.
Yeah, that's young, but it's not "I have no idea what life is" young.
I give Jackson some of the blame, but Jones deserves his fair share, as well.


I see this turing very ugly at the Jackson camp.
How long until Jones or Jackson say something a little out of line about the other in order to defend their own name? How long until the other responds?
This could escalate into an all-out domestic dispute.

Also, I'm curious how Cub Swanson or any other Jackson fighter who had their fight cancelled feels about all of this. I can't help but think there's gotta be some resentment there.

Does anyone know why Machida didn't accept the fight at UFC 152?

He wanted to be fully prepared for a title fight with Jones. Is what Soares said.