Winning Above All: The Greg Jackson Formula

More strategy in fights should require fighters to have to be more well-rounded in their art.

I think it will also prolong the career of some fighters as minimizing long-term damage from fights will allow for some fighters to fight sooner and more often.

Fantastic athletes. Boring gameplans. All too happy to minimize risk on the way to a lackluster decision just because it’s a win.

Was this the type of fight Guillard had in mind when he Got on the mic and called out stephens? Was dancing in and out, point fighting what he was excited about? Certainly not. The fans didn’t want that either. So what happened? Greg Jackson got in the way.

The only reason this sport is popular and lucrative, the only reason it works on a PPV business model is because people are willing to pay good money to see people finish fights or exert a clear, concerted and admirable effort to do so. Without finishes or Dunham – Sherk efforts to get that finish, this sport will not live up to its best potential; it won’t make as much money and won’t attract the best athletes.

I don’t agree at all with your characterization. Jackson is excellent at game planning and he clearly wanted Melvin to minimize on inside exchanges with a very powerful Jeremy Stephens (whose most heralded KO was an inside uppercut on Dos Anjos). How that is an illustration of his coaching style is beyond me. Because of this, Rashad’s recent wrestling-heavy approach and GSP’s amazing wrestling & grinding ground game, he has a philosophy of asking guys not to engage? Please.

Melvin won’t be as conservative in his next outing, I guarantee it.

GSP isn’t a conservative fighter. He takes plenty of chances. Right off the top of my head, in GSP’s last two fights he took a chance at a sub and ended up on his back thanks to the efforts.

Plenty of Jackson fighters aren’t that conservative at all. This is a silly article imo.

was the “He’s limited by the canvas in his ability to paint”. That, to me, is the true measure of a trainer. Anyone can have success with a driven, talented professional like GSP or Lennox; it’s what he does with the Guillards of the world that determine if his influence is key.
Also, I wouldn’t call Hearns a “wild and attacking” fighter. He had an astounding base for his punching, nearly straight up and down that he could get away with because of his height. He didn’t really turn into a knock-out machine until after much training by Steward, who polished his rudimentary skills (he’s always said the boxer he patterned himself after was Ali, who was not a wild attacking fighter either).
But as I said above, Steward always had a gym of Jr. Olympic caliber fighters; but Hearns’s natural physical advantages and determination set him apart.

Jackson tries to work to his fighters strengths, whether they be wrestling, Guillard’s speed, or working with Jardine’s redonculous stand-up.

What he also gauges is the plan that gives them the best chance at winning. If he feels his fighter can use a skill-set to dominate his opponent and deviating would only increase the risk of a loss, he’ll coach this game-plan to his fighter. If he feels his guy has a better chance aggressively going after finishes, he’ll coach that. If you look at the fighters he’s coached he has people who would fall into both categories, and he’s had them fight both ways.

What really surprised me was his talk with Guillard after the 2nd. Not just what he said but the tone. It was exactly what Guillard needed to here to stick to the gamplan and not use his old style. That being said, at the time I wasn’t sure that was the best advice for Melvin. It was a very close fight that could have been scored either way, most people would have said go out their full speed ahead to take it out of their hands or leave them with a clear impression of the third. Jackson was alright with fighting for the decision, maybe he’s just really clued in on how judge’s tend to score and knew if Melvin kept at it he would pull out the decision.

Someone with way too much time on their hands should compile a statistical breakdown of what Greg Jackson says between rounds (either be more aggressive, more cautious, or not definite either way, and the outcome of the fight).

but I can’t agree with everything. Greg Jackson is all about strategy. He’s all about using one’s strengths to attack the opponent’s weaknesses and exploit them there. GSP is the prime example of that. When he fought Fitch, he tooled him in the stand-up game. When he fought BJ Penn, he wore him out with wrestling then proceeded to tenderize him with some great ground and pound, and only exchanged with him standing after Penn was already tired. After that, he wrestles Alves knowing Alves’ wrestling and ground game were the weak points. Sure, GSP actually beat Alves in exchanges on the feet, but only when he had to. With Hardy, it was all about the ground game, and unlike Alves, Hardy had no ability to get back to his feet. And as good as Kos has become over the years, his stand-up just isn’t as good as he thinks it is, so I’m betting GSP keeps the fight standing and takes him out on the feet.

The point is, it’s all about risk vs reward. Take the least amount of risk you have to in order to get the greatest reward. Guillard was just fine in his last fight. This fight, Stephens had the very realistic ability to KO him. It made sense to fight the way Guillard did. I think being with Team Jackson has really turned Guillard around. It’s given him structure and discipline, so instead of getting into trouble, he’s training. Would I have liked to have seen a barn burner of a fight last night? Of course. That would have been great. I’m not going to lie. But I’m not going to criticize someone for trying to win and be successful, even if they have to play it a bit conservative. After all, it’s not like I, or most people, take a lot of unnecessary risk in our own lives if we can avoid it.

Given that UFC has shown a tendency to cut fighters who manage to lose two in a row and even a single loss can toss one from top of the card to curtain jerker or prelims, one can hardly blame fighters for wanting to win above all. In order to keep one’s job at UFC despite losing, one has to be something really spectacular. Sadly, not nearly every fighter has the tools for that.

Greg Jackson’s job – like every other coach’s job – is to train his fighters so they win. Good, bad or indifferent – winning is where it’s at. If you win, it means your career progresses. If you don’t, you’ll probably have to take a step back. Simple as that. If a coach does not develop the best strategy he can come up with, he’s not doing his job.

Greg Jackson’s MMA philosophy has really come under fire after the recent performances of 3 Jackson trained fighters in particular: Melvin Guillard, Rashad Evans, and George St. Pierre. But think about it, how smart would it be for Melvin, Rashad, and George to go out and trade with guys that are proven KO artists in Jeremy Stephens, Rampage, and Dan Hardy respectively? Remember we are dealing with a sport here, and the goal is to win. It’s a tad unrealistic for some MMA fans to want every fight to be highly entertaining (in the JUST BLEED sense) while maintaining sporting merit. That said, in the interest of winning their recent, respective bouts, Melvin, Rashad, and GSP did what that had to do to WIN. If they had gone out and exchanged with guys that wanted them to do just that, they would have probably ended up on the short-end of the stick and everyone afterwards questioning their strategy. Snowden, I think you would agree that playing to your opponents strengths is not the smartest game-plan?

having seen GSP beat the brakes off of GSP and Fitch, then watching him dry hump Hardy for 5 rds all but entirely on the ground…..was atrocious.

seeing Guillard with the clear advantage in speed and reaction dance around for 3 rds was also boring. Guillard has legit explosive power and the reaction time to use it at this stage in his career. that athleticism won’t last forever and when that changes, fine, go for the conservative/safer plan. but to do it now is just meh.

which is to prepare his fighters for win$$. Guillard used to gight like a dumbass which is entertaining but leaves hom with nothing.

The guys from Grudge seem to take risks and the guys at Jackson’s don’t. Greg is a great coach but I do feel he take’s the safest road to victory with a lot of his fighters. The success of GSP & Rashad have made him extremely sought after and unfortunately this also means success must continue. Fighting safe fights means the greater chance of coming away with a win.

Also are guys still traveling to Albuquerque or are they going to Denver now?

“Last night Melvin Guillard fans saw something they had never seen before. Instead of a dynamic and aggressive performance, Melvin danced in and out, only occasionally throwing a punch at Jeremy Stephens and almost never throwing more than two at any one time. It was an atypical performance from Guillard.”

Obviously, you’ve never seen Guillard’s fight with Gleison Tibau.

This article suggests that fighters take too much of a physical toll from football and don’t make enough money. http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2010/9/26/1713627/the-myth-of-the-big-money-ufc-sponsor-check-exposed

While this article suggests that there is something wrong with a fighter trying to minimize that physical toll. Hmm… There is no winning. I guess we should pay them more so they can justify more brain damage?

Nice read! Very observatory, I enjoyed how you linked Steward to Jackson. I believe we have yet to see the extent of what Jackson is capable of doing with the talent he is working with.