Jon Jones, Rashad Evans? UFC 145 feud affects teammates and coaches, too

With the ongoing feud between former friends and training partners Rashad Evans and Jon Jones, it's easy to just focus on the crumbled relationship between the two men. After all, it's their shared dislike that has made their march to UFC 145 so interesting.

But fighters don't train in a vacuum. They have coaches and training partners who walk every step with the fighter until that last one into the Octagon. A fighter's team will live and breathe that bout, which is why so many fighters refer to themselves as "we" when talking about their fights. Jones and Evans' feud ripped apart more than their friendship. It pulled Evans away from Greg Jackson, the coach and friend he had worked with for years.

For the first time, Jackson will look across the cage at Evans. He made that decision after getting advice from Mike Winkeljohn, Jackson's partner in their MMA gym in New Mexico. Winkeljohn told Bleacher Report why he wanted Jackson to corner Jones:

But he upset me in that he kept throwing Greg under the bus. Enough is enough. You have your disagreements, I understand that, but there's more important things out there. And it's time for Greg to work in Jon's corner. Jon's here everyday, helping everybody else out. I mean Jon's that guy. He goes out of his way to help everybody here on the team. So I told Greg, "work his corner."

Though fighting is a business and everyone is expected to act like a professional, that doesn't make it easy for Jackson to work against a fighter he helped build.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/jon-jones-rashad-evans-ufc-145-feud-affects-174414861.html

Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves  Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger  Jimmy Ambriz

Mo Lawal?s dismissal emphasizes need for Zuffa policy on Twitter

"King" Mo Lawal was cut from Strikeforce yesterday. He received a suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission for testing positive for a banned substance after his January win over Lorenz Larkin. Shortly after his hearing with the NAC, Lawal called a commissioner a racist b**** over Twitter. According to Strikeforce's Scott Coker, Lawal's reaction was to blame for the dismissal.

Calling a woman the b-word is wrong, no matter the circumstances, which is exactly what I told Lawal yesterday. He's been a friend of mine since long before either of us were involved in MMA, so I told him what I would tell any friend of mine. If you don't want it said about your mother, you shouldn't say it about any woman. Though I don't know if I influenced his decision, he deleted the tweet not long after.

What he tweeted was wrong, but he should not have lost his job, just like Miguel Torres should not have lost his job late last year. I didn't think Torres should have lost his job then, nor did I think Forrest Griffin should have lost his job over a tweet about rape, or Rashad Evans over his comment about child abuse, or Joe Rogan for calling me the c-word, or White for calling MMA reporter Loretta Hunt the b-word.

What every one of these cases called for is punitive action. Some combination of a reprimand, a fine that will benefit the aggrieved parties, a public apology, a suspension, and corrective action like sensitivity training would be more appropriate than being fired. The offender would be more likely to learn something from their offenses than if they suddenly have to look for a job, or if there had been little done about the offense.

The problem, once again, is that Zuffa has no policy on fighter (and commentator) behavior. A fighter doesn't know if he's crossed the line until he's crossed it. Fighters can't even learn from each other's actions because there is no consistency on how incidents are treated. Considering how White called Hunt the same word that Lawal to describe the commissioner and then never apologized for it (he only apologized for using a slur against homosexuals), how could Lawal know Zuffa would have a problem with it?

The UFC usually holds their fighters' summit in June. It's the end of March. They have a few months to formulate a policy that is clear and fair to fighters.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/mo-lawal-dismissal-emphasizes-zuffa-policy-twitter-130830350.html

Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo  John Alessio 

Jon Jones, Rashad Evans? UFC 145 feud affects teammates and coaches, too

With the ongoing feud between former friends and training partners Rashad Evans and Jon Jones, it's easy to just focus on the crumbled relationship between the two men. After all, it's their shared dislike that has made their march to UFC 145 so interesting.

But fighters don't train in a vacuum. They have coaches and training partners who walk every step with the fighter until that last one into the Octagon. A fighter's team will live and breathe that bout, which is why so many fighters refer to themselves as "we" when talking about their fights. Jones and Evans' feud ripped apart more than their friendship. It pulled Evans away from Greg Jackson, the coach and friend he had worked with for years.

For the first time, Jackson will look across the cage at Evans. He made that decision after getting advice from Mike Winkeljohn, Jackson's partner in their MMA gym in New Mexico. Winkeljohn told Bleacher Report why he wanted Jackson to corner Jones:

But he upset me in that he kept throwing Greg under the bus. Enough is enough. You have your disagreements, I understand that, but there's more important things out there. And it's time for Greg to work in Jon's corner. Jon's here everyday, helping everybody else out. I mean Jon's that guy. He goes out of his way to help everybody here on the team. So I told Greg, "work his corner."

Though fighting is a business and everyone is expected to act like a professional, that doesn't make it easy for Jackson to work against a fighter he helped build.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/jon-jones-rashad-evans-ufc-145-feud-affects-174414861.html

Jermaine Andrè  Yoji Anjo  Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi