MMA Mailbag #3 The 128 Edition: Shogun, Rashad vs Jones, Miller Title Shot?

Added on Mar 21, 2011 by John Petit in

UFC & MMA

If you have questions for me about MMA, please shoot them to me on twitter.com/scream13 . I try to answer all the questions I get on twitter, but I pick the best questions and write on them here in the Mailbag.

Do you believe the lengthy lay off between fights had a negative affect on Shogun? He did not look like himself.

This is a tough question, and it got even tougher when I watched the fight the second time. Did Rua look like the Shogun we saw in Pride? Absolutely not, but when was the last time we saw that guy? We will have to wait to hear about Shogun’s knee, and if he had any injuries going into the fight, but he was hopping around and looked to be really frustrated by Jon Jones’ reach. At one point in the second round, Shogun through a leg kick, and Bones blasted him with a right hand. That means his kick was shorter then the reach of Jones, and that doesn’t happen a lot. Shogun is the type of fighter that jumps in and uncorks, and gets out of dodge. That’s how he beat Machida, Shogun was never going to stand in front of him and just trade hands. The same goes for Bones, and we even heard Shogun’s corner say keep your distance to him in between the first and second. Bones was able to keep him completely focused on him attacking from every direction, and that prevented Shogun from really having a chance to really size up Jon. Great performance by Jon Jones.

Who do you see Greg Jackson training with for the Jones Vs Evans fight? Are you surprised by the early lines?

Right now, Greg Jackson says he will not be working with either of them for the fight. However, Rashad Evans has become quite salty about the situation. He feels slighted by Greg Jackson, because Jackson told him training with Bones would be just like training with Keith Jardine. They verbally agreed that they would NEVER fight, and Evans says he predicted this happening. Those of us who have had a close eye on Jones over the couple of years certainly felt that Jones would one day be champion, but no one on earth thought it would happen this quickly. I can only assume thats how Greg Jackson saw it, and thats why Evans reluctantly went along with having Jones in camp. Another thing people need to remember is that Jackson isn’t a trainer per say, and I mean that in the most polite way. He isn’t the “there at camp every day” guy, some refer to him as an architect or someone who just organizes everything well. Freddie Roach is a striking coach who is there in the gym with the fighters he trains with, but Jackson isn’t like that.

Rashad Evans said he will no longer be using Jackson, and if that is the case, then I wouldn’t put it past Greg Jackson to change his mind on this one. I wouldn’t blame him either.

Here is a quote from Rashad on Bloody Elbow:

“You can’t say you are not going to have anything to do with it when you are a big part of the reason why the situation originated. That’s like spilling a glass of milk and then walking away and saying that you don’t want to have anything to do with it. You f**kn spilled the milk…so you’re at least going to help clean it up right? When Jon Jones came to the gym over a year ago Greg Jackson came to me and said, “listen, what do you feel about having this kid on the team?” I told him straight up that I didn’t like it. I told him that the kid was talented and that the sky was the limit with him but that was the type of guy I wanted to fight not train with. Greg came back saying, “No, no, no this will be just like you and Keith where he will be just like a brother.” I still told him that I didn’t want to do that. Then Greg said if that situation ever did arise between Jones and I that he would have to turn the fight down because that’s how it works. He would have to turn down the fight with me so that way I wouldn’t be put in a position where I looked like a punk. That’s how it works in the Greg Jackson system. After a while Greg was so high on this kid coming in and I met Jon Jones and he was a very nice and very sweet kid, so eventually I said f**k it, let’ s bring him in. After he got there and I trained with him and tried him out a little bit, something didn’t feel right so I moved my camp up to Denver to train at Grudge for awhile. That is where I spent the majority of my time over the past two fights.”

On the odds question: It didn’t surprise me at all. I was actually predicting a higher number from the books. The initial odds I saw had Jones coming in at -525, but I thought we would hear -600 and it would come down toward the fight.

Do you think Jim Miller will be getting a title shot after his win?

No, and I really wish that wasn’t the case. He has now won 7 in a row, and he finished four of them. His only UFC loss is Gray Maynard. That said, this is sadly a clear “get to the back of the line” situation. With the bottleneck after the Frankie Edgar Vs Gray Maynard draw, and the fact that Anthony “Showtime” Pettis would be a close second, I don’t see him getting one. If a bunch of training injuries plague the division, then I would say maybe. Miller is clearly a victim of the WEC merger, and I am sure it must sting when you are so close, but he will get a tough top 5 opponent, and will probably get the shot after that.