Jason Jackson was disgusted to see footage released recently that showed UFC veteran Kevin Lee getting rocked by a training partner during a sparring session at Kill Cliff FC in Florida.
The viral video drew strong reactions from many of the fighters who train out of the Florida-based gym, including Jackson, who has called that team home long before the current name took hold. After the video exploded on social media, Mirali Huseynov went public and identified himself as the sparring partner who landed the punch with a post on Instagram explaining his side of the situation that he later deleted.
For his part, Jackson claims Huseynov has a reputation for going too hard with his sparring partners and he actually warned Lee that could happen.
“I was devastated because that guy is known for that,” Jackson told MMA Fighting. “He hurt me in the gym. He’s known for that. So when I saw the video, even the apology, it wasn’t sincere. Everybody ate it up. We felt betrayed as a community.
“All the people that was in the gym was commenting on his page, the Russians and everybody with him, I felt even bad about it like damn, you don’t see nothing wrong in that doing? That’s complicit right there.”
Watching the video, Jackson knew that none of the blame fell on Lee after he pulled up on a jumping knee strike rather than landing it flush and potentially hurting his training partner. In return, Lee got blasted with a huge hook that put him down on a knee, leaving him rocked and wobbled as he tried to stand again.
Jackson says he learned from his own past experiences training with Huseynov that he can’t pull punches to keep them both safe because that would only result in absorbing more damage from a dangerous sparring partner.
“You could tell Kevin did not want to land that knee,” Jackson said. “He’s done it to me twice. The thing is that same week I pieced him up bad because I said when I go with you it ain’t no touch, touch and then boom you hit me hard. I’m coming right after you. I’m not coming with no love, brother, brother, you hurt me.
“If you know you’re going to hurt me, let’s make it clear from the get go. I respect you [more] as a training partner instead if you touch, touch and then you try to hit me hard. They all come in with that type of style. That’s how they fight.”
Deep down, Jackson believes Huseynov was trying to get attention with the video showing him knocking down a former UFC title challenger during a training session. However, he feels the video going public only looks bad for the entire team because of the old adage “What happens in the gym, stays in the gym.”
“I was uncomfortable with the situation because now it makes the gym look like a spy and not a team,” Jackson said. “Nobody taking care of nobody.
“Trying to get famous off of that. Saying, ‘My coach did it, my coach didn’t know.’ Well if you know your coach is that person that can’t control himself, you’re not supposed to have him in that environment with a camera phone. It’s still showing that you’re not holding yourself accountable as a man. He’s young and he’s looking for fame. That’s all it is.”
Despite warning Lee about what might happen, Jackson says the Detroit native still opted to train with Huseynov but it still doesn’t excuse what happened.
“I felt bad for [Kevin Lee], too. He didn’t deserve that because I warned him,” Jackson said. “I told him to stay away from that guy. But the fact that [he] was Muslim and Kevin is Muslim, he kind of thought they was going to take care of him but that guy is not good.
“Because in training, I’m simulating my training to take it a notch down so you can move in certain positions and you’re going to control and hurt me. That just shows that you have no control. You feel as a teammate [you’re supposed] to protect your sparring partner. I told Kevin that, like, stay away from him.”
After the sparring footage leaked, rumors circulated that Huseynov was actually banned from training at Kill Cliff FC, but Jackson doesn’t know if that’s accurate or not. All he knows is that viral video made his entire gym look bad and Jackson acknowledges that sometimes there’s just no coming back from that.
“I’m not sure [if he’s banned],” Jackson said. “I wasn’t in there with whoever banned him. They can say whatever they want. Until I see it physically, then I don’t know because I heard he was going to do some [reality] show or something like that. Down the line, he becomes a celeb and they just bring him right back.
“Nobody was happy. Because we know we protect our guys. Those guys just come in and use it like a training facility. Not a team. It’s just a training facility. They’ve got their own team, their own coaches, they just come in here and try to use guys that have more skills and everything and just go about their business. Those guys, I don’t know if I could consider them a teammate. It’s hard.”
