By Tim Gilmour:
Many people still view MMA as a brutal sport; human cockfighting, as some politician who may or may not have attended cockfights once put it. They see the blood, the knockouts and the broken bones and rather than smile, laugh and see the fun of it, they see violence. I know, I don’t get it either. What the sport is really all about is building friendships, is it not?
Guys make fun of their buddies. That’s the only real way to know you’re buddies in the first place. It’s a manly way of expressing affection. (Is there a manlier word for affection?) It stands to reason that a kick to the head is just a stronger expression of that friendship. Gotcha, pal!
Friendships are obviously forged among training partners. But a fight itself can calm a feud between fighters who previously were not the best of friends. That may not change, but fighters with a rivalry can’t help but respect the other man once the fight is over, evidenced by Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra, “Rampage” Jackson vs. Rashad Evans, or Frank Mir vs. Brock … no, scratch that one. Nevertheless, it’s generally a sport of great sportsmanship.
And truthfully, most fighters much prefer to fight someone they don’t go to the movies with. There was a time when training partners Jon Jones and the aforementioned Evans went above and beyond, frequently proclaiming they were “like brothers.” Under no condition, under no circumstances, would they ever fight each other. Man, how things can change.
Once UFC management convinced the two light heavyweights that the time had finally come for them to meet in the Octagon, each man pulled a 180.
“We fought each other in practice. A finish has been possible several times and it has always been me finishing him,” said Jones, current champion of their light heavyweight division.
“I feel disrespected by Jon because when I think about when we trained or when we were chilling, was the s**t even real? Or was he just trying to be a master manipulator and try to manipulate the situation so he could get what he wanted out of it?” said Evans.
The tension began after Jones finally cracked and said he could, in fact, be persuaded by those in power into fighting his teammate. The situation has gotten more and more tense ever since. Jones’ first title defense was arranged to be against Evans before the champ injured his thumb, leading to a scheduling and then canceling of surgery. Evans suggested the injury was fake, used as an excuse to sidestep the fight altogether. There was also a supposed tense confrontation at a Las Vegas nightclub.
But there’s no hatred here. Their previous stance was to avoid a fight to protect the friendship (and awkwardness at the gym). Now, ironically, the best solution to rebuilding their friendship may be to have that fight. Their dislike, or annoyance, arose from an uncomfortable situation, one that didn’t go according to plan. And now there will be no lack of material to hype a fight between the two, if and when that happens. It’s a simple remedy. Time heals all wounds. But that takes too long, let’s just fight it out.
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Previously on the Beatdown.
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Tim Gilmour is a sports reporter and author of the humor blog LetMeThinkForYou.com. His column appears each Monday.
