Greg Jackson explains why he's breaking protocol to corner Andrei Arlovski vs. Alistair Overeem

UFC Fight Night 87 represents a rare occasion for famed MMA coach Greg Jackson: He’ll corner against one of his own.

The event, which takes place May 9 at Ahoy Rotterdam in Rotterdam, Netherlands, sees Jackson-Wink MMA heavyweights Alistair Overeem (40-14 MMA, 5-3 UFC) and Andrei Arlovski (25-11 MMA, 14-5 UFC) meet in the FOX Sports 1-televised headliner.

When fighters from the gym are scheduled to face off against each other, Jackson usually removes himself from the situation and avoids lending support or sharing strategies. That won’t happen this time, though.

“I’m going to work with Andrei and corner Andrei for the fight because I promised him I would,” Jackson told MMAjunkie. “Usually I step out, but Andrei’s kind of a special case.”

Overeem, No. 7 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA heavyweight rankings, carries the momentum of a three-fight winning streak into the event, which marks the UFC’s debut in his native Netherlands.

“The Reem” completed his UFC contract with a second-round knockout of former heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos at UFC on FOX 17 in December. He said there was little doubt he would re-sign with the company, but getting a spot on the event in Rotterdam was essential.

He got his wish but will have to best a teammate in order to push his winning streak to four. No. 5-ranked Arlovski, another former ex-champ, comes into the fight off his first loss since he returned to the UFC for a second stint in June 2014.

Arlovski was riding a hot streak until January, when he ran into Stipe Miocic and suffered a 54-second knockout loss.

Both fighters are preparing for the matchup at the Albuquerque, N.M., gym, but Jackson said there will be no overlap.

“Alistair will come train at different times, Andrei will train at different times, and it will be business as usual,” Jackson said. “We’re an enormous team and we knew we would have to fight each other at some point.”

Jackson said both fighters are comfortable with the situation. Overeem recently said “The Pitbull” isn’t his friend and will have no problem taking care of business on fight night.

While it’s certainly not ideal, Jackson said that if both fighters can deal with it, he can too. It’s not the first time it’s happened, and it certainly won’t be the last.

“We put protocols in place to deal with it when it happens,” Jackson said. “It’s unfortunate. I don’t like it, but it’s part of the job, and I’ll deal with it.”

Check out the full interview above.

And for more on UFC Fight Night 87, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.