Greg Jackson Reflects on Team Turnaround

Greg Jackson's camp, Jackson's MMA, is riding high after a stellar showing in 2008. Two champions now reside there, welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and new light heavyweight champion Keith Jardine, and standouts Keith Jardine, Nate Marquardt, Leonard Garcia, and Donald Cerrone are all coming off victories.

In mid-2007, things looked bleak. Jardine was knocked out by Houston Alexander. Evans drew with Tito Ortiz, and Nate Marquardt was stopped by Anderson Silva at UFC 73. For a stretch, it looked like Jackson had lost his touch.

"We were just making mistakes," Jackson told MMAInsider. "We were winning, winning, winning--I think we still have one of the best records, I forget exactly--and I was overtraining people. I'm pushing a little too hard. So we had a summer where everybody just lost. We didn't lose like 100 fights. I know our younger guys were winning, but stuff was going wrong there."

Jackson says the turnaround came after a session of good old fashioned brainstorming.

"I had to be a little introspective, and try to figure out with the help of my other coaches what we were doing, and I think we just solved the problem," he continued.

Now that the team is successful again, Jackson says there's no guarantee the team will continue to win. Since enduring the first slump, he's taking a Zen attitude about the future.

"It's just been our night a couple times," he said. "That might reverse again. But if it does, I know that I can look inside and say, 'what do we need to do to get better?' And just constantly try to grow and be reflective. As long as I can do that, I think we'll be ok."