• UFC 135

Spying row 'a ploy to distract Jones'

ESPN staff
September 1, 2011
Rampage Jackson prepares to throw a haymaker at Matt Hamill © Getty Images
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Rampage Jackson's allegation of spying is just a ploy to distract Jon Jones ahead of their bout at UFC 135, according to Jones' manager Malki Kawa.

Jackson believes that information is being passed from within his camp to Jones and Kaiwa, leading him to fabricate a hand injury as a test case.

The UFC subsequently confirmed they were made aware of the injury by Kaiwa, who claims he heard the news on Twitter.

"He is unwilling to state who this 'spy' is but is more than happy to attempt to damage other reputations in his wake," Kaiwa said. "This leads me to believe that Mr. Jackson is simply looking for a way to create a distraction or create more pre-fight hype.

"Mr. Jackson has made accusations of cheating against multiple fighters throughout his career, none of which has ever been remotely close to being proven true. This case is no different. Mr. Jackson has informed the media and public more of what is happening in his training camp in the past three days than any spy he believes is present could have possibly shared.

"At this time, the entire team at First Round Management considers this non-issue dead."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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