Two Jackson-Winkeljohn fighters will be competing against one another this May when Andrei Arlovski and Alistair Overeem meet at UFC Fight Night 87 in Rotterdam.
In a rare move for coach Greg Jackson, he’ll actually be coaching and cornering Arlovski, rather than stepping aside and delegating those responsibilities to one of the other team coaches. In an interview with MMAJunkie.com, he said it was a rare situation, but shouldn’t be an issue with the two heavyweights continuing to train at the Albuquerque camp until the bout.
“I’m going to work with Andrei and corner Andrei for the fight because I promised him I would,” Jackson said simply. “Usually I step out, but Andrei’s kind of a special case.
“Alistair will come train at different times, Andrei will train at different times, and it will be business as usual. We’re an enormous team and we knew we would have to fight each other at some point.”
Penick’s Analysis: Jackson’s stepped aside on a number of occasions, but it makes sense enough in a situation like this where he’s worked with Arlovski for longer than Overeem’s been there. Besides, with a camp as large as theirs, these situations will arise further with more high level guys needing to be willing to fight one another. It works for Arlovski and Overeem, it works for this event, and it’s a good heavyweight fight for the UFC this May.
[Photo (c) Jayne Kamin-Oncea via USA Today Sports]
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