Talk about a rough couple of minutes for Greg Jackson.
The famed mixed martial arts (MMA) trainer had to watch his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight Champion, Jon Jones, lose the first round of his UFC 165 title fight against Alexander Gustafsson last Saturday night (Sept. 21, 2013) in Toronto.
Then, to kick off the second stanza, he was forced to exit stage left.
That's because the Ontario Athletic Commission had a "miscommunication" with the Albuquerque-based fight guru, removing him from "Bones'" crowded corner to meet the regulatory limit of three coaches. And who said top billing was unimportant?
Jackson was listed as the fourth man.
Commission: "What's your name, man?"
Jackson: "Uh, Jackson."
Commission: "Jackson? You're not on the list, you can't be in the corner."
Jackson: "Okay ... Hey, listen, they just kicked me out of the corner. Yeah, they did, and now I can't get to my guy. They just literally kicked me out of the corner. Yeah, just now, I can't go in there. Because they only allow three guys in and they took me off the thing and I can't go in. I can't go in at all."
Not that it mattered.
Once Jackson was removed, Jones was able to battle back and regain the lead on the judges' scorecards (see them here). Following five rounds of epic action (and a pair of fugly punch faces), "Bones" had retained his 205-pound title and sent the crowd home happy.
Earlier this week, Jackson (via MMA Hour) downplayed "getting kicked out" of the Octagon.
"I was there, but I had move back a little bit. They only allowed three cornermen and because of name shifts or something my name wasn't on the corner list so I had to back up a little bit and I was on the outskirts. But the other coaches handled it just fine, and I was kind of yelling and screaming from where I could be and it worked out. It was a good fight, and it worked out. I've got a great, great team and they're much better coaches than I am. And it worked out. And I was right there, sitting right next to the corner, so I could yell stuff."
Holler back! (Literally.)
All's well that ends well for Team Jones, but you can be sure that Jackson will be pulling rank for his next trip to the cage. No word yet on when that will be, as UFC has yet to decide if this man is deserving of the next crack at the crown, but Super Bowl Weekend is looking pretty good right now.
That's something worth screaming about.
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