After injuries forced Jon Jones out of his highly anticipated grudge match against Daniel Cormier, disappointed mixed martial arts fans everywhere were in need of someone to blame. The first culprit was Alistair Overeem, with whom Jones was training when he suffered a torn meniscus and an ankle injury. But UFC president Dana White has put the blame on someone else, Greg Jackson.
Jackson is Jones' head coach in Albuquerque, NM. He said Overeem fell on Jones' leg during wrestling practice, forcing the light heavyweight champion to withdraw from his scheduled Sept. 27 title defense. The bout has been rescheduled to Jan. 3 at UFC 182.
White said that when he first heard Jones was training with Overeem he considered contacting Jackson, but he decided against it.
"Greg Jackson and I had many issues in the past," White told The Jim Rome Show. "I wanted to pick the phone up about twenty times and call him and say 'What are you doing? Why's he training with Alistair Overeem to fight Daniel Cormier? Please tell me how that makes sense?' But I didn't. I bit my tongue, until right this second."
White said he thinks it was a bad decision on Jackson's part to have Jones train with Overeem, a heavyweight, in the first place.
"It drives me crazy," White said. "First of all he's fighting a 5'10" unbelievable wrestler - that's who he is facing in Daniel Cormier. (But) he's training with 6'10" no-wrestling, all-standup kickboxer Alistair Overeem. And Alistair Overeem lands on his leg and busts his knee up and gives him a high ankle sprain. I mean I just don't know why he would be training with Alistair Overeem for a fight when he's going to fight a 5'10" wrestler. I don't know, it's frustrating."
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