Greg Jackson Won't Train Either GSP or Condit in Preparation for UFC 137

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One of the interesting subplots of the Georges St-Pierre vs. Carlos Condit UFC 137 main event is the fact that both fighters currently train under Greg Jackson.

MMAFighting.com spoke to Jackson shortly after the UFC announced the welterweight title fight on Wednesday to find out where his allegiances will lie come Oct. 29.

A transcript of our conversation can be found below.

Ariel Helwani: Greg, two of your star fighters are going to fight each other in October. What will do you?
Greg Jackson: Teammate protocols are pretty clear in this situation so everybody knows what happening. I step out, the other coaches -- John [Danaher], Phil [Nurse] and Firas [Zahabi] -- will take care of GSP and probably [Mike] Winkeljohn and some of the other guys here will take care of Carlos. But I step out of it, so I won't be cornering either guy. They'll fight each other. Those are the new teammate protocols. We knew this would be coming -- it will probably be coming again --but this time we are very well prepared.

Carlos trains in Albuquerque full-time, while GSP's home base is in Montreal, so how will you not offer advice when you see him in the gym?
Carlos is still training with a team. I am just not going to do game plans and private lessons and everything that I normally do for the guys because usually it's a pretty intense process -- I give them private lessons all the time -- heavy on the game planning, heavy on the personal growth plan, and for this, I'll just let the other coaches do that for both Georges and Carlos. So I'll just step out. They're all amazing coaches. Geez, I'm the worst coach on the team. They'll all do their thing.

Are you disappointed that they have to fight each other?
Nah, I mean, I don't like it. They are two of my friends. Me and Georges, I mean, I love that man to death. And Carlos has been, since he came back to the gym, has been on a destruction streak. So they both have to eat, they have to make money. I really love training, working with my guys. There's two of my favorites that I don't get to work with this time, so that's kind of a bummer. But I don't care about the money; I don't care about the fame; I don't care about any of that stuff. They've got to make a living, but I can't look across the cage at one of my guys. I just can't do it.

Will GSP come to New Mexico for this camp?
No, I don't think so. That wouldn't make much sense if Carlos was here. The team is such a well-oiled machine after so many years of being together it's not going to be a big deal.

Have they ever trained together?
Not much. I don't know if they have at all, so not much. Carlos only came back a little bit ago and Georges comes in and out, and I go up there [to Montreal]. So I don't think they have trained together at all.

I'm guessing you won't offer a prediction on the fight?
Absolutely not (laughs). Since they're both members of our team, I predict somebody from our team is going to win.

Where will you watch the fight?
I'll be there because Donald Cerrone is fighting that night, Eliot Marshall ... I got, like, four other guys. I'll be there, but hopefully I'll duck out before the main event. It's just not something I want to watch. That's their business. Sometimes brothers got to fight and it will be what it is and everything will be good again. They're both really stellar, standup guys. You know, Georges, I cannot say enough good things about him. Not only Georges St-Pierre the fighter but Georges St-Pierre as a person. That man is phenomenal and the same for Carlos Condit. Such a good guy with a good heart. They're going to have a great dust up, I hope they get Fight of the Night and then they can feed their families.

 

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Rua or Griffin? Evans says Forrest, video experts like ?Shogun?

The most intriguing fight at UFC 134 might be Mauricio "Rua" Shogun against Forrest Griffin. Griffin manhandled Rua at UFC 76. Yet he's a huge underdog heading to the fight in Rio De Janeiro. Remember this is also the same Rua who was destroyed by Jon Jones back in March. So who wins? Fellow UFC light heavyweight star Rashad Evans sees a repeat of the first meeting.

"There's something that happens in a fight sometimes, and the way Forrest beat him the first time, he took a piece of him with him. And when you take a piece of somebody with you?well, Shogun recognizes that. I think they might pick up right where they left off, because there's no fear. That's gone. You know, Forrest is going to go in there, and Forrest is going to push the pace. Let's be honest here. Shogun does not have the best conditioning. I think that was a problem in their first fight, and I think it's going to be a problem in this second fight."

RawVegas.tv panelists Damon Martin (MMAWeekly.com) and Larry Pepe (ProMMARadio.com) don't agree with Evans. They're both worried about Griffin's passion for the fight game.

You can watch UFC 134 right here on Yahoo! Sports

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Sonnen exclusive: Silva?s going down against Okami at UFC 134

Anderson Silva is clearly the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. When healthy and interested, he's destroyed every UFC opponent put in front of him. but Chael Sonnen sees an opening for Yushin Okami against the middleweight champ and thinks the Japanese star is leaving UFC 134 with the title strap.

"[Silva]'s lost to Okami once before. This is a rematch and Yushin already beat him once," said Sonnen speaking of a 2006 match up at 170 pounds where Okami picked up a win via disqualification because Silva delivered an illegal upkick. "Yushin is a lot better now, so I can't imagine how he wouldn't beat him again."

Sonnen says Silva has ducked opponents who play to his weakness, takedown defense. He went as far as saying the fight against Okami won't even be competitive. Sonnen's entitled to his opinion. After all, he's the guy who beat Silva for four and a half rounds at UFC 117 before getting caught in a late submission.

Sonnen also told a story about Vitor Belfort on "The MMA Insiders" show in Las Vegas on ESPNRadio1100/98.9 FM. He was so bullish on Belfort's chances against Silva at UFC 126 that plunked down a little money on the underdog. He said all hopes ended when he saw Belfort at the weigh-in. He says Belfort backed down to Silva's attempts of intimidation. After that, Sonnen ripped up his ticket.

Listen here for the entire "MMA Insiders" show. Co-host Kevin Iole was joined by FX's John Landgraf and Sonnen.

You can watch UFC 134 right here on Yahoo! Sports

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Free clips for Chris Sharma ?King Lines? climbing video?

Interested in downloading high-quality clips of Chris Sharma climbing? Today I checked out the website for Chris Sharma’s King Lines movie - and there’s a new addition! Early versions of the DVD didn’t feature all of the extras properly, so the website features downloadable clips from the extras. This won’t replace the need to buy the DVD, but [...]

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Nick Diaz No-Shows UFC 137 Presser, GSP Now to Face Carlos Condit

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In a stunning development, Nick Diaz has effectively gone missing in action from the UFC, forcing company president Dana White to remove him from a UFC 137 welterweight championship match with Georges St-Pierre.

Diaz will be replaced by Carlos Condit, who was already scheduled to fight on the same night.

Diaz had been scheduled for press conferences Tuesday in Toronto and Wednesday in Las Vegas. White said that Diaz missed a series of flights for his Canada trip, and hasn't been heard from him since Monday night after the company tried to re-book him multiple times.



"I'd had my reservations about Nick Diaz for a long time," White said during a press conference at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. "You've heard me use the term 'play the game.' All I asked him for was this much. When he signed, I said, 'Let me tell you what kid, add up all the purses of you career, this will be biggest fight of your life.' You have the opportunity to fight GSP and win the welterweight title. But I need you to do certain things."

Diaz has always been notoriously media averse, but White said in his history of promoting over 1,600 fights, he's never had this happen. St-Pierre, too, was in a state of shock over the situation.

"I just don't understand why someone doesn't show up to an opportunity like this," St. Pierre said. "I just can't believe it. It's amazing. It's crazy."

"He was going to make life-changing money for this fight," White added. "And maybe the thing is with Nick Diaz, maybe he did crack under the pressure. Maybe he folded under the spotlight."

White said he wasn't yet sure if he would release Diaz, but acknowledged it was a possibility.

The already shocking press conference turned even more bizarre midway through, when Diaz's manager Cesar Gracie called White as he was on the podium and apologized for Diaz's behavior, saying he has been unable to locate him.

At that, St-Pierre shook his hand.

"Maybe he is here and he is going to come out and say, 'This is a prank,'" St-Pierre said. "Are you trying to prank me?"

White later mentioned that Diaz had been staying with Gracie at his house and "snuck out the back door." Since then, he's essentially gone missing. White said even Nick's brother Nate Diaz could offer no leads on his whereabouts.

The St-Pierre vs. Diaz fight was essentially a title unification bout, with Diaz recently surrendering the Strikeforce belt despite being the reigning champion in order to re-sign with the UFC. Diaz had won 10 straight fights leading up to the GSP matchup, but St-Pierre said he believes Condit is a more dangerous opponent.

"I do believe Carlos Condit is more dangerous than Nick Diaz," he said. "If they fought, I would put my money on Carlos Condit, so for me it's a bigger challenge."

Condit and St-Pierre were both stablemates at Team Greg Jackson, but St-Pierre said he had no issues with facing Condit.

White said that when he called Condit and offered him the title fight, Condit broke down crying in appreciation of the opportunity. White added that Condit immediately got on a plane to head to Las Vegas and meet with the press.

Shortly after the announcement, Condit released a statement voicing his excitement for the match.

"I've been fighting for nearly a decade and there has been a lot of blood, sweat and tears that has gone into that," he said. "A lot of sacrifices have been made both personally and professionally, and I'm looking forward to showing the UFC that I am deserving of this opportunity."

Diaz is 27-5 overall with four straight wins and victories in 12 of his last 13 bouts. St-Pierre (22-2) has held the UFC championship since recapturing the belt in August 2007, winning nine straight fights.

White said the change comes as a "pretty big financial blow" to the UFC, saying the promotion spent over $15,000 just in flights over the last two days. He also said completed advertising would have to be changed, and that tickets went on sale today for the October 29 event. Fans who purchased tickets expecting to see St-Pierre vs. Diaz will have the opportunity to receive a refund, though White said he wasn't expecting many to make those requests.

White said he was not yet sure of plans for Condit's originally scheduled opponent, BJ Penn.

 

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Are You the 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14 / ZZR1400?

The internet has been abuzz lately with leaked/early/spy photos, some real, and some not so much. Looking a bit like the genuine article, we get another alleged glimpse at a soon to be released motorcycle before its public unveiling. While Kawasaki has been busy teasing the interwebs with videos that feature a nice exhaust note, a flash of green light, and the date: 10/10/2011,  it looks like Asian motorcycle magazine Young Machine has released its issue ...

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