Dana White: Greg Jackson is a Businessman, He’s Not Your Family

When UFC 151 was cancelled, Dana White aimed both barrels at light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and his trainer Greg Jackson and fired, pointing the finger at them for the show not happening.

Now almost two weeks removed from that fateful day in late August when the first ever UFC event was scrapped, White admits that the blame for the event’s cancellation was more widespread than just Jones and Jackson, but he’s not taking back a single word he said that Thursday on a media conference call.

Moreover, White still believes exactly what he said about Jones’ trainer and coach Greg Jackson, who advised the fighter against taking any fight on 8-days notice after original opponent Dan Henderson was forced out of the fight due to injury.

“The Greg Jackson stuff, this guy, this is my philosophy on trainers – you need a good trainer, a guy that’s going to be there for you, who can kind of keep you in line, keep you training and everything else, trainers don’t make fighters…talented fighters make trainers,” said White on Tuesday during an appearance on UFC Tonight.

“That’s a fact.”

White continued when speaking about Jackson and his approach towards his team of fighters, and the family atmosphere he promotes so often.

“The thing you have to understand about Greg Jackson and I’ve said it before, this guy is a businessman, first and foremost. Before anything, this guy is a businessman. He’s built a business. ‘We’re a family, we’re a family’, that’s what he kept telling Rashad (Evans) and Jon (Jones), so they wouldn’t fight because they’re a family,” White explained.

“I told Rashad and Jon, he’s not your family. Greg Jackson is not your family member. If things go bad for you tomorrow, brother Greg isn’t going to be there for you. Is he going to pay your bills? Is he going to take care of your family? No he’s not.”

White points directly towards the fallout that happened between Jon Jones, Rashad Evans and Greg Jackson as to why the trainer and coach is more about business than protecting any kind of family interest.

“You saw when push came to shove, who did Greg Jackson pick? Who did he ultimately pick at the end? He picked Jon Jones, the guy he believed would beat Rashad, that’s a fact. That’s a business, he’s a businessman,” White said about Jackson.

White doesn’t appear to be backing off in any way when speaking about Jackson or his influence on his fight team, but it’s not likely either of them will be going anywhere, any time soon.

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