Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White was none too happy when learning that his light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, suffered an injury was because he was training with the much larger Alistair Overeem.
An injury that forced "Bones" out of his scheduled title fight against Daniel Cormier, which was set to go down at UFC 178 on Sept. 27, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and subsequently forced the promotion to move the bout to UFC 182 on Jan. 3, 2015.
In White's assessment, it "doesn't make sense" for Jones to be training with a kickboxing specialist who outweighs him by more than a few pounds, when he's going to be taking on a smaller, stockier wrestler.
So why was "Bones" training with "The Reem?"
Because that's what training partners do, says Oveeem, who told MMA Junkie that the unfortunate accident is something that just happens in the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA).
His words:
"This was just one of those freak accidents on a takedown. Listen, I was looking forward to that fight. Everybody was looking forward to that fight. Jon Jones was looking forward to it. Accidents happen. There’s no fault to blame. What is he doing training with me? We’re in the same gym. We’re teammates. We have lunch (together) and we drive around together."
And as far as the recent allegations from past teammate Anthony Johnson and current Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA stablemate Andrei Arlovski, who both claim the towering Dutchmen hurts everyone he trains with, Alistair vehemently denies it.
"There was no intent (to hurt him). There’s always something you can say. Sometimes it’s best to say nothing and it is what it is. That’s just my two cents."
Despite this unfortunate incident, all is well with his new camp, and Overeem couldn't speak more highly of his new teammate down in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
And as he gears up to take on Ben Rothwell this weekend (Sept. 5, 2014) in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 50, it will be interesting to see if the change in scenery and training staff/partners, has helped the 34-year-old striker learn some new tricks.