Trainer Greg Jackson Says Rashad Evans’ Knee Injury Was a Freak Incident

Legendary MMA trainer Greg Jackson was at the Izod Center in New Jersey Saturday evening to support his fighter, Andrei Arlovski, who was fighting in Strikeforce’s Heavyweight Grand Prix. Jackson was interviewed by HDNet during the prelims and was asked about another one of his fighters, Rashad Evans.

Evans had to pull out of his UFC 128 fight with Shogun Rua because of a knee injury, opening the spot for teammate Jon Jones. Not much information was given about Evans’ status other than he was hurt, but Jackson shed some light on the matter.

“People were wrestling next to him while he was wrestling” Jackson explained, “and they ran into the side of his knee.” He added “[Evans] is probably out for at least a month and a half, I think it was his MCL. Just one of those things. Instead of being bitter, he’s a fighter and he’s already looking forward to his next fight and getting into rehab and doing everything he needs to do.”

If he’s out for at least a month and a half, he probably still should be able to be ready for UFC 130 in case he’s added to that card. We passed along word of the rumored rematch between Evans and Rampage Jackson, but it appears as if Matt Hamill will receive the fight instead. Bottom line, from the sounds of things, it was just awful luck that Evans got hurt. Hopefully he returns completely healthy.