2008: The Year of Greg Jackson
by Luke Thomas on Dec 23, 2008 1:06 PM EST
in MMA News
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Georges St. Pierre. Rashad Evans. Keith Jardine. Nate Marquardt. Leonard Garcia. There are more, but you get the idea. Few trainers have been as busy or successful as Jackson and his network of coaches in what was a watershed year for the crew from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Cut from the cloth of coaches and trainers who weren't great at their craft but excelled in teaching and explaining, Jackson is best at centering and focusing fighters' minds on the task in front of them. Nowhere has this skill been more prominent than in his time spent with UFC welterweight champion St. Pierre.
A testament to the plug-and-play training methods Jackson employs with associated coaches from Denver to Montreal to New York, he never lets ego get in the way of farming out fighters to specialists. But when it's time to game plan, and work the corner, and support a fighter, few are better than Jackson.
For me, Jackson's talent hits close to home. Watching Jackson coach Johnny Dodson through his fight with Lloyd Irvin-trained Mike Easton was insightful as Dodson's game plan made up the huge distance the size differential caused. Easton got the nod, but no one will tell me the fight was anything but extremely close. Then to watch the same coaching rivalry played out through Keith Jardine besting (albeit barely) Brandon Vera the following week was equally instructive. Irvin, like Jackson, is an intense and thoughtful game planner. To see Jackson do so well and to do so consistently amidst fighters of different sizes, styles and abilities is the rarest of talents.
Does he have the ability to coach his student Rashad Evans over the equally well-prepared and coached Forrest Griffin? We'll find out Saturday, but without question Jackson asserted himself as the creme de la creme in the MMA coaching world in 2008.
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Right on!
His camp seems to constantly be able to allow/make fighters evolve in ways they did not seem able to do. Couple that with the fact he seems very likable & it is no wonder he is so successful.
On a little different note,
I do not understand why Rampage would not enlist the help of Jackons’s camp full time. I heard that he trained a little with them when he first became champ & seeing how he makes a fighters strengths that much better & minimalizes their weaknesses it would make sense for him to give them a shot.
In the Kid's defense
I think that Kid Nate meant that comment in regards to Rashad being Jackson’s focus. Jackson has more interest in training Evans for the title fight. Rampage isn’t going to get the attention he wants from Jackson. Remember that both Evans and Jackson are fighting on the same card.
"Stop smiling you are about to be punched in the face !"
I do not think that comment was based
on training for this particular card, at least not my comment. I meant in general.
Like when Rampage split from Juanito.
Jackson like all trainers have several fighters training to fight at the same time so this would not be something new. This happens all of the time even on the same card.
Don't forget The Cowboy
Donald Cerrone is going to be another champ in the Jackson Camp real soon!!!
Yeah,
one good thing that I saw Jackson’s camp (Cerrone included) was on Tapout. That was a pretty cool like inside of a training camp with the fighters.
by dnevil001 on Dec 23, 2008 1:20 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Rec'd
Great camp with great athletes. Every guy that trains at Jackson’s is as down to earth as Jackson himself.
by Gunslinger20 on Dec 23, 2008 1:23 PM EST up reply actions
And Villasenor was #1 contender for Lawler’s belt before EliteXC imploded.
by George Lucas on Dec 23, 2008 2:45 PM EST up reply actions
I say Marquardt screws up the Nipple Tweak streak
:P
Seriously though, Jacksons stock skyrocketed this year. Great year for him and his team. Congrats!
Greg Jackson Rocks!
I love Greg Jackson. I really like the way he handles interviews. Does any one know what art form he may have competed in. My guess is boxing but I don’t know. An in depth examination of the evoloution of his career would be really interesting. If any of you BE writers feel like tackling that topic and educating us, I for one would really appreciate it.
"Stop smiling you are about to be punched in the face !"
His experience is in...
boxing and wrestling. He’s been a wrestling coach for a long time but he got involved w/ boxing and then kickboxing. Jackson’s use to be a self defense school. Thats all I know from a buddy that trains at Jacksons.
by Gunslinger20 on Dec 23, 2008 1:35 PM EST up reply actions
Wow, look at how the MMA boom has affected his life/school!
I would think that a self defense school may do ok business, but compared to his success now it cannot even compare.
Done a lot for Albuquequere too
Economy has actually gotten better and a lot of aspiring fighters are relocating there to get the chance to train w/ Jackson. You have to get invited to train there by Greg Jackson now, but some other great gyms are opening up in the surrounding area so that he isn’t too far away from getting noticed.
Greg Jackson has done a lot for the Denver MMA scene, too. His association w/ Nate Marquardt’s High Altitude Martial Arts has had pretty much the same effect.
by Gunslinger20 on Dec 23, 2008 1:43 PM EST up reply actions
Forrest will end the Nipple tweak winning streak! (did not mean for it to rhyme haha)
http://weoweoweo.deviantart.com/
Exclusive Rashad Evans Interview Via cagepotato.com
This is just the nipple tweaking part of it.
CP: Level with me here. When you get in the Octagon, you’re standing across from Forrest, they’re announcing your name, Bruce Buffer does his little turn and the camera pans to you, are we going to see the nipple-tweak?
RE: You know, I’m not sure. I might have a little variation on it this time.
CP: A variation? But it’s been so successful in its current form.
RE: I know it has. It has been successful, and I don’t want to get away from it and get my teammates mad at me, but let’s just say I might have something slightly different for this fight.
Should be interesting to see what exactly he’s talking about. Just as long as he doesn’t do a Jardine version. :P
by xFenixKnightx on Dec 23, 2008 2:35 PM EST up reply actions
Josh Gross was spot on in nearly all the awards
I must commend Josh Gross, nearly all of his awards are spot on with my own.
Maeda v. Torres was my fight of the year, by far. It was an unreal battle. Kawajiri vs. Alvarez was a close second, and it did have one of the most exciting slugfest rounds we’ve seen this year. Rashad’s KO was the most spectacular knockout of the year, and Hazelett’s submission was without a doubt impressive in the transition.
Kudos to Gross for not going with UFC favorites.
Editor-in-chief of MMA-Analyst.com
Yeah,
Evans KO was bad ass but for me it was watching Jeremy Stephens running and throwing that sick uppercut that almost knocked dudes head off was the one!
While that was a great knockout, reminiscent of Shroyuken Dragon Punch in the face… I still think Rashad’s KO was brutalizing not only for Liddell physically, but career-wise.
The two guys standing toe-to-toe burns an image of an old boxing fight from way back in the 30’s or 40’s, ya know. Toe-to-toe with Rashad throwing the overhand to win…
Editor-in-chief of MMA-Analyst.com
by Leland Roling on Dec 23, 2008 2:18 PM EST up reply actions
You are right, that was a great KO.
For me just because that Stephens KO reminded so much of Mike Tyson’s Punchout it is my favorite. No disrespect to Evans the victory & KO were great, but much Lesnar KOing Randy they are both at the end of their careers & their reaction/quickness has slowed considerably. Still definitely a great though.
That Stephens uppercut looked like it could have sent dudes head straight up like Rock em Sock em robots.
I don’t know how you could give Fight of the Year to anything but Hansen vs. Alvarez. It was a great showcase of everything the sport has to offer, encompassing all aspects of fighting in one blisteringly exciting back and forth fight. It’s what I show my friends who are only vaguely interested in the sport as an example of the best foot MMA can put forward.
I won’t complain about Torres vs. Maeda though.
I have a hard time with Gina Carano being Female Fighter of the Year over Megumi Fuji. Fuji is on a longer winning streak (16-0), has won more fights in 2008 (3 compared to Carano’s 2), has won more impressively (early subs compared to Carano’s decision and doctor stoppage), against better competition (Seo See Ham ranked higher than anyone Carano has fought) and has been totally uncontroversial in doing so (no weight issues, no celebrity BS).
by George Lucas on Dec 23, 2008 3:03 PM EST up reply actions
Yup
tell that to Keith Jardine after he got knocked out by Wanderlei Silva. Greg Jackson said “I should of came up with a better gameplan than that.”
I’m not buying Greg Jackson as trainer of the year.
Ricardo Liborio
The Co-Owner and Head Instructor of American Top Team.
I mean Thiago Alves, JZ, Mike Thomas Brown, Denis Kang, Thiago Silva, Jorge Santiago, Cole Miller, Jorge Masidval, Jeff Monson, Wilson Gouveia, Hector Lombard, Bobby Lashley, Thiago Tavares, Ben Saunders, and now Ishii is coming over in 2 months!
I say ATT has got the camp, and with them have top fighters, underfeated fighters, and top ranked fighters.. I would say he gets trainer of the year.
Oh - and Donald Cerrone.
Add him to the list of Jackson successes.
by Derek Suboticki on Dec 23, 2008 6:18 PM EST reply actions
What else would you expect from me, lol???
Eliot Marshall: Bader won. Like I said in the episode, I'm not going to make any excuses. It's my job to be able to deal with when somebody's doing that. It's not his job to change up his tactics.
http://eliotmarshall.com/
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