The process of mining anyone who’s been a training partner of Jon Jones and Rashad Evans for their opinion on the former teammates budding feud, has begun full swing. It’s a ‘hot button issue’ right now, and of course, we’re totally on board (until extremely odd Youtube videos surface from either dude, or they begin using a catchword like ‘winning’, which quickly saturates every medium known to man).
One of the pivotal players in the Jackson Team’s success has been Keith Jardine, who long before Jones became a member, was working his way up the UFC rankings alongside Evans. In fact, Jardine and Evans were two of the first notable competitors to annoy Dana White by saying they wouldn’t fight each other. Well, in an interview with ESPN, Jardine was quick to compliment Rashad for what he did for the Jackson Team, and pointed to that now ‘infamous’ interview Jones had with Ariel Helwani, for the sh-tstorm that is now unfolding.
“It all started from that interview that Jon did, talking about the possibility of fighting with Rashad [with Ariel Helwani on Versus],” Jardine said. “That’s just something that doesn’t need to be said. Of course they could have been made to fight, and they both knew it. But for Jon to go out and say that made Rashad look like a punk, and that’s kind of what happened to start it all. It was already sensitive, so it blew up after that.”
Jardine qualified that comment by saying “Jon’s just a kid,” and that the new champ probably “regretted” what he had said to Helwani afterwards. Perhaps…perhaps not (cue sinister music). Plenty more to come on this no doubt.
