Greg Jackson is perhaps the most sought-after trainer in professional mixed martial arts trainer here in the United States and he does it all for free, according to a recent feature on Yahoo!Sports.com.
Whether it’s Diego Sanchez, Nathan Marquardt, Rashad Evans — or even former 170-pound champion Georges St. Pierre — Jackson doesn’t ask for a penny in return for his services.
Here’s a snip:
“… Jackson refuses to accept money from any professional fighter. He makes his living from those who enroll in classes or for private instruction at his academy.”
It’s a rather amazing revelation, considering that the New Mexico native could most likely charge thousands and the high-level fighters would pay it.
But, his circle is small and he seems content to keep it that way. Perhaps he puts more value on the relationships and progress he makes with his tight-knit camp rather than trying to make a quick buck.
Whatever the reason, his method to madness seems to be paying huge dividends for his fighters inside the Octagon.
Despite the recent losses of St. Pierre and Sanchez — who are still top five in their division — Jackson-trained fighters were on a roll this past year. One of them, Marquardt, has a title shot at UFC 73 on July 7, and another, Evans, could earn one later this year if he can defeat Tito Ortiz that same night.
Sounds priceless if you ask me.
31 Comments »
not a penny? I’d go there too!
I read this too and thought, huh, that’s old news. But I guess it’s not for a lot of ppl. I think I remember Goldie or Rogan saying that during a broadcast on Spike or a PPV. Leonard Garcia is now training there also, right?
I’d switch from MuayThai to MMA immediately if he’d take me in – Greg Jackson seems to be a great trainer. What most guys don’t know about him and his gym: he trained Steve Irwin, the late crocodile hunter.
[quote comment="51195"]I’d switch from MuayThai to MMA immediately if he’d take me in – Greg Jackson seems to be a great trainer. What most guys don’t know about him and his gym: he trained Steve Irwin, the late crocodile hunter.[/quote]
I heard he trained the stingray that submitted Irwin too.
Honor, that’s why I watch MMA.
Great Story.
[quote comment="51198"]I heard he trained the stingray that submitted Irwin too.[/quote]
Great way to show respect to the dead.
hes legit and has legit fighters good for him and even better for his fighters haha wasnt mcdonald training with them for the franklin fight too… lotta good that did haha just kidding but thats cool of him… whats funny is he charges people to take classes who probably dont have money and gives the ufc fighters who are making some good money free training… as for the sting ray lol but that kinda fu*ked up
I didn’t know that, kinda cool that not everyone in the professional business is money hungry….ie Tim Silvia’s 40 dolla autographs
[quote comment="51222"]whats funny is he charges people to take classes who probably dont have money and gives the ufc fighters who are making some good money free training…[/quote]
What’s the benefit of having some average Joe train MMA basics? Exactly, none. Therfor its a simple transaction: money for training. An UFC fighter on the otherhand is a free marketing gig. Train one UFC fighter (for free), get a dozen of his fans as customers. Also, since UFC fighters usually train and do sparring with various guys, having them around might actually result in more experience/knowledge for the gym’s trainers and local fighters. Its a win-win and thats what a good deal usually is.
[quote comment="51249"][quote comment="51222"]whats funny is he charges people to take classes who probably dont have money and gives the ufc fighters who are making some good money free training…[/quote]
What’s the benefit of having some average Joe train MMA basics? Exactly, none. Therfor its a simple transaction: money for training. An UFC fighter on the otherhand is a free marketing gig. Train one UFC fighter (for free), get a dozen of his fans as customers. Also, since UFC fighters usually train and do sparring with various guys, having them around might actually result in more experience/knowledge for the gym’s trainers and local fighters. Its a win-win and thats what a good deal usually is.[/quote]
Yeah bro we understand why, and that it does benefit him, still dosnt change the fact that it sucks for the rest of us.
Wow! thats crazy. Although I’m sure the fighters break him off alittle something. He’s got two TUF winners and Jardine who will clearly be in the 205 mix soon. This camp is no joke. Greg jackson does seem like one of the best at the time
He says many watch it over boxing because it is viewed as being more violent. Nah man, it is becaue boxing is a sport, a game, and MMA is fighting, more practical, and has infinently more dimensions. Why watch only one aspect of a fight (boxing) when you can watch them all thrown into one?(boxing jiu jitsu, wrestling, mui thai etc.)
Oh shoot hahaha, wrong arcticle, the above was meant for the Lampley post, I don’t even know how I did that.
i hope diego didn’t have to pay him for the shitty training and advice for the koscheck fight, i blame that loss on greg jackson, it wasn’t hard to see diego needed to try and take koscheck down, shitty advice to have him stick to his game plan of standing with koscheck after the first round…
Yeah, Diego should have realized after the two seconds it took him to get Josh’s back in round one, that the ground was where he needed to be.
Don’t blame Greg Jackson for Diego. If a fighters breaks off the game plan when they’re in the round, he can do nothing about that. Just look at BJ Penn on TUF show screaming to his fighter to “take him down!!” but did he? no. Do you also blame BJ for that loss?
I respect him because he’s in it for the love of the sport, not just the size of his wallet.
no i don’t blame bj for that loss, but i would have given him credit if the dude won, the diego fight is different because this was a fighter listening to his corner like he’s supposed to and jackson kept giving him shitty advice, he’s supposed to be the best, but he couldn’t help his fighter adjust in one of his biggest fights, it was pathetic, the wang fight was just a fighter not listening at all to his corner, completely different…
Thats cool but its always the same, star’s always get stuff for free.
I hope Greg told DS to take Kos down at some point and DS didn’t listen. I doubt Greg let DS just stand there for 3 rounds.
thats what happened, he never told diego to switch up his game plan, he thought he was smart by having diego change up his style that got him to 19-0 and have him switch to a stand up fighter, and thats not what he is, even if during the fight he told diego to try for some takedowns, which i don’t think he did or else diego would have, he still fucked up by having diego training so much on his stand up for koscheck, he tried to fix something that wasn’t broke and he ended up breaking it, he got it all in diego’s head that he was a stand up KO artist after the riggs fight and i blame that loss on greg jackson and i always will, i wish they would announce diego’s next fight already, the dude needs to come back with a big win i don’t care who its against…
Serious, how could anybody let it go the way it was going for Diego for after the first round? I mean somebody who was trying to help him win.
[quote comment="51209"][quote comment="51198"]I heard he trained the stingray that submitted Irwin too.[/quote]
Great way to show respect to the dead.[/quote]
Actually, I think its been long enough for that to be hilarious. Anyway…
I agree this is a great marketing stint but at the same time, it is a small group. Either way, I am an Evans fan and like the Dean of Mean despite having the worst fight name ever. Like someone said in a reply to an earlier article, the only fights of Marquardts online are his losses so I’m looking forward to possibly seeing him have success for once.
thats what happened, he never told diego to switch up his game plan, he thought he was smart by having diego change up his style that got him to 19-0 and have him switch to a stand up fighter, and thats not what he is, even if during the fight he told diego to try for some takedowns, which i don’t think he did or else diego would have, he still fucked up by having diego training so much on his stand up for koscheck, he tried to fix something that wasn’t broke and he ended up breaking it, he got it all in diego’s head that he was a stand up KO artist after the riggs fight and i blame that loss on greg jackson and i always will, i wish they would announce diego’s next fight already, the dude needs to come back with a big win i don’t care who its against
He needs a big win but, the problem is he won’t get it. His winning stops at kos’s level. He couldn’t take down a much better wrestler and he was out struck by a way better striker,no supprise. The chance of Diego being champ are slim and none, and slim just left.
[quote comment="51222"]hes legit and has legit fighters good for him and even better for his fighters haha wasnt mcdonald training with them for the franklin fight too… lotta good that did haha just kidding but thats cool of him… whats funny is he charges people to take classes who probably dont have money and gives the ufc fighters who are making some good money free training… as for the sting ray lol but that kinda fu*ked up[/quote]
If MacDonald had started training with Greg Jackson Earlier he might have done better… (Jackson’s camp is seriously bad ass! When Jmac asked if he could train for Rich Jackson had a meeting with their(UFC) guys, and decided as a team if they would take him in.
Greg Jackson has a great rep, I just really hope that his monitary situation doesnt turn dim one day by him not accepting money from top talent. Guy is a great asset to MMA fighters around the world…
[quote comment="51577"]thats what happened, he never told diego to switch up his game plan, he thought he was smart by having diego change up his style that got him to 19-0 and have him switch to a stand up fighter, and thats not what he is, even if during the fight he told diego to try for some takedowns, which i don’t think he did or else diego would have, he still fucked up by having diego training so much on his stand up for koscheck, he tried to fix something that wasn’t broke and he ended up breaking it, he got it all in diego’s head that he was a stand up KO artist after the riggs fight and i blame that loss on greg jackson and i always will, i wish they would announce diego’s next fight already, the dude needs to come back with a big win i don’t care who its against
He needs a big win but, the problem is he won’t get it. His winning stops at kos’s level. He couldn’t take down a much better wrestler and he was out struck by a way better striker,no supprise. The chance of Diego being champ are slim and none, and slim just left.[/quote]
thats crazy talk bro, the dude had one bad fight, remember when gsp lost to matt serra and cro cop lost to gonzaga and so on…fighters have bad nights, diego is still a contender and i don’t think it was that he couldn’t take koscheck down, i just think he chose not to, big difference, which is why i put a lot of the blame on his trainer for training him wrong, you forget that diego was 19-0 before he lost to koscheck, i guess those 19 wins in a row were all flukes and the only fight that showed the real diego was his one loss to koscheck, thats crazy bro, you’ll see, he’ll be back, remember to guy who fought karo, thats the guy you’ll see from now on, not the guy who fought koscheck, diego lost that fight, koscheck didn’t win
[quote comment="51249"][quote comment="51222"]whats funny is he charges people to take classes who probably dont have money and gives the ufc fighters who are making some good money free training…[/quote]
What’s the benefit of having some average Joe train MMA basics? Exactly, none. Therfor its a simple transaction: money for training. An UFC fighter on the otherhand is a free marketing gig. Train one UFC fighter (for free), get a dozen of his fans as customers. Also, since UFC fighters usually train and do sparring with various guys, having them around might actually result in more experience/knowledge for the gym’s trainers and local fighters. Its a win-win and thats what a good deal usually is.[/quote]
So it’s really for advertisment? So not really hoorah for him, just smart bussiness.
thats what happened, he never told diego to switch up his game plan, he thought he was smart by having diego change up his style that got him to 19-0 and have him switch to a stand up fighter, and thats not what he is, even if during the fight he told diego to try for some takedowns, which i don’t think he did or else diego would have, he still fucked up by having diego training so much on his stand up for koscheck, he tried to fix something that wasn’t broke and he ended up breaking it, he got it all in diego’s head that he was a stand up KO artist after the riggs fight and i blame that loss on greg jackson and i always will, i wish they would announce diego’s next fight already, the dude needs to come back with a big win i don’t care who its against
He needs a big win but, the problem is he won’t get it. His winning stops at kos’s level. He couldn’t take down a much better wrestler and he was out struck by a way better striker,no supprise. The chance of Diego being champ are slim and none, and slim just left.
thats crazy talk bro, the dude had one bad fight, remember when gsp lost to matt serra and cro cop lost to gonzaga and so on…fighters have bad nights, diego is still a contender and i don’t think it was that he couldn’t take koscheck down, i just think he chose not to, big difference, which is why i put a lot of the blame on his trainer for training him wrong, you forget that diego was 19-0 before he lost to koscheck, i guess those 19 wins in a row were all flukes and the only fight that showed the real diego was his one loss to koscheck, thats crazy bro, you’ll see, he’ll be back, remember to guy who fought karo, thats the guy you’ll see from now on, not the guy who fought koscheck, diego lost that fight, koscheck didn’t win
I’m not saying Diego isn’t good ,he is, but not champion material. I know he’s 19-0, but go to sherdog and look at the majority of those guys records, they are pathetic, 1/2 of them have more losses than wins, and the few half decent guys he fought ,he only eeked out a decision. He better be destroying those B level guys if he’s going to have a hope against GSP. Diego can hang with anyone on the ground but his striking sucks big time. Now I know Hughes was champ without being able to strike a match,but now there’s a knew breed of fighter who are good at everything. I’ve just never seen a guy with a jerky punching stile like Diego’s, turn into a good striker. I agree Kos didn’t win, they both should’ve got a loss for that lame performance.
Really want some footage of him training Steve Irwin, That would be funny shit.
just because its a win by decision doesn’t mean he eked it out bro, he beat nick diaz, karo, and allesio all by UNANIMOUS decision, and he dominated kenny florian and brian gassoway and he made joe riggs look stupid, especially if he such a shitty striker, i looked all those up on sherdog too and those were just his last six fights in the ufc before the kosckeck fight, you say half of his fights are against guys with losing records, but i don’t see that, especially his last seven fights in the ufc, he’s proven himself time and time again, he is definitely a contender, he’s a dominating fighter bro, he just had a horrible game plan against koscheck, he and greg jackson over thought the fight and blew it, he should have went in there and just been himself and he would have won, shit he might have even been able to knock koscheck out if he took him down and tired him out some, who knows, but don’t question his versatility, he’s a very well rounded fighter…