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Greg Jackson has himself to blame for teammates fighting each other, Rashad Evans says.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship chose to have new light-heavyweight beltholder Jon Jones make his first title defense against former champion Evans. When they were teammates at the Albuquerque, N.M. camp run by Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn, the fighters vowed never to fight each other.
They're not teammates anymore.
"I decided 2 leave Greg because I felt like he didn't have my best interest anymore," Evans posted Sunday on his Twitter account. "Greg is not the same coach he use 2 b."
Evans started working with Jackson after winning Season 2 of The Ultimate Fighter in 2005. When Jones inquired about joining the camp in 2009, Evans "straight up" opposed the notion.
"I told him that the kid was talented and that the sky was the limit with him, but that was the type of guy I wanted to fight, not train with," Evans told Bloody Elbow. "After awhile, Greg was so high on this kid coming in. I met Jon Jones and he was a very nice and very sweet kid, so eventually I said ... let' s bring him in."
Jackson has said he washes his hands of the upcoming match-up because he does not like seeing teammates fight each other. But the coach should have known better to begin with, Evans said in the Bloody Elbow interview.
"You can't say you are not going to have anything to do with it when you are a big part of the reason why the situation originated," Evans said. "That's like spilling a glass of milk and then walking away and saying that you don't want to have anything to do with it. You (freaking) spilled the milk."
Evans won the 205-pound title in 2008 with Jackson as his coach. But the coaching network that includes Jackson and Winkeljohn also has other gyms, such as Trevor Wittman's Grudge Training Center in Denver. For his last two fights, against Thiago Silva and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Evans did most of his training at Grudge, rather than in Albuquerque.
Now he plans to form his own camp so he doesn't have to worry about fighting teammates. Evans said his primary trainer will be UFC veteran Mike van Arsdale, one of the coaches at Jackson's camp.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship chose to have new light-heavyweight beltholder Jon Jones make his first title defense against former champion Evans. When they were teammates at the Albuquerque, N.M. camp run by Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn, the fighters vowed never to fight each other.
They're not teammates anymore.
"I decided 2 leave Greg because I felt like he didn't have my best interest anymore," Evans posted Sunday on his Twitter account. "Greg is not the same coach he use 2 b."
Evans started working with Jackson after winning Season 2 of The Ultimate Fighter in 2005. When Jones inquired about joining the camp in 2009, Evans "straight up" opposed the notion.
"I told him that the kid was talented and that the sky was the limit with him, but that was the type of guy I wanted to fight, not train with," Evans told Bloody Elbow. "After awhile, Greg was so high on this kid coming in. I met Jon Jones and he was a very nice and very sweet kid, so eventually I said ... let' s bring him in."
Jackson has said he washes his hands of the upcoming match-up because he does not like seeing teammates fight each other. But the coach should have known better to begin with, Evans said in the Bloody Elbow interview.
"You can't say you are not going to have anything to do with it when you are a big part of the reason why the situation originated," Evans said. "That's like spilling a glass of milk and then walking away and saying that you don't want to have anything to do with it. You (freaking) spilled the milk."
Evans won the 205-pound title in 2008 with Jackson as his coach. But the coaching network that includes Jackson and Winkeljohn also has other gyms, such as Trevor Wittman's Grudge Training Center in Denver. For his last two fights, against Thiago Silva and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Evans did most of his training at Grudge, rather than in Albuquerque.
Now he plans to form his own camp so he doesn't have to worry about fighting teammates. Evans said his primary trainer will be UFC veteran Mike van Arsdale, one of the coaches at Jackson's camp.
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