Is Jacksons MMA Unfairly Targeted?
I say it is. I don’t say this as a fan of Greg Jackson. I do not know the man personally; I have never had any contact with the man or any of his fighters. I have no vested interest in Jacksons MMA being successful. Once you boil the emotion out what transpired with the Clay Guida and Gray Maynard fight and look at it objectively, the numbers do not stack up in favour of Greg Jackson’s game plans ruining MMA.
There have been two, high profile instances in the last year where expectations were high for a slugfest and we were delivered a stick-and-move style from a Jackson fighter. The cases in question are the Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz fight as well as Guida and Maynard. The game plans are not what we expect from these two fighters. We expect high energy scraps based on their body of work as a fighter. That is the expectations that we place upon them. In both situations these fighters were working toward title shots, Carlos as a number one contender and Clay to put himself in title contention.
Now, if you were to objectively put yourself into these two fighters’ shoes and consider their situation. Both were facing serious knockout artists, both used what would be an element of surprise to their opponent. I bet facing Guida and Condit would have been frustrating as hell. It was frustrating to watch. Guida and Condit had a job to do. Like it or not their first loyalty should be to their families, get that win and move on to bigger and better things. Getting the win trumps us as fans almost every time. It is easy to say that they owe us as fans but realistically, both fighters have given us great finishes in the past. I can look past a blemish or two on a record. Not many fighters have a career of nothing but highlights.
If you look to a coach to be solely responsible for how his fighter performs in a cage, it’s not the case. Try telling Wanderlei Silva to fight the way Clay just did. He would likely be offended and probably smack you one. A fighter like Wanderlei will fight as Wanderlei does; the game plan is a guideline. When he gets in trouble, watch him swing for the fences. Look at the fighters list that Greg Jackson has now that are exciting to watch. Jon Jones is destroying the fighters that have ruled the 205lb division for years. Shane Carwin is a knockout machine, regardless of cardio issues that man is a head hunter. Diego Sanchez fights with high energy which is entertaining. Clay Guida is exciting when fighting that style that we have come to expect. Brian Stann is great to watch with heavy hands. Jon Dodson is making waves since winning the Ultimate Fighter. When I see any of these names on a card, I note them as a fight to watch whatever the outcome.
When people get successful, it seems to be human nature to bring people down. We are all guilty of it at some point in our lives. I admit I was waiting for Jon Jones to make a mistake. I felt he was too fake and too perfect to be true. I definitely felt a pathetic justification when he became an easy target to my disgust. Here in Australia they call it “Tall Poppy Syndrome” where when someone is getting too far above the rest we try to cut them down. I feel maybe this is the case with Greg Jackson. He is influential, unassuming and physically unimpressive man with a great deal of success and maybe it is a little threatening to some. Like Greg or not, the amount of time and effort he puts into his team is well beyond what most people will put in to pursue their dreams and that along with several other factors is what makes him a success. From the outside looking in, we see the result but rarely the work that goes into that result.
Some fighters can train for weeks on end, training for a knockout or a submission only to get in the cage and find what he has been working on just isn’t coming together. They revert to what they know works, their strengths. When under pressure, you never saw Chuck Liddell go for a flying armbar. He went to his hands. When Georges St Pierre knows he’s at a disadvantage on the feet he takes it to the ground. It is their opponent’s problem to solve. You take your opponent where they are at a disadvantage. Greg Jackson told Clay to stick and move which he did. As the fight went on Guida struck less and moved more. The responsibility for that falls on Clay. Had Clay struck more often, he would have walked away the victor because Gray couldn’t get close enough to put him away. It would have been far worse for Jackson to tell Guida to go toe to toe with Grey because Clay cannot put Grey away on the feet and would get badly hurt standing and trading until someone goes down.
When our favourite football teams fail, the first person we tend to look at is the coach because it is the easiest point of reference. You can have the best coach and game plan in the world and if the players can’t execute it, you find no success. The responsibility always comes down to the players. If Greg Jackson’s fighters want to make a statement to defend Greg, go out there and finish a fight in nasty fashion. Let it be known that was the game plan. Get on the mike or in the media and lay it down because it seems this perception that Jackson’s fighters play it safe. Some fights that look like instant classics suck, that’s the way it is. They can’t be winners all the time.
By Alex Durward
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