Rashad Evans: Nobody was paid to join Blackzilians

As one of the men behind the launch of the Blackzilians camp, Rashad Evans wants people to know that no fighters were paid to jump ship and join the team.

Evans (19-3-1 MMA, 14-3-1 UFC) has been out of action due to knee injuries since dominating Chael Sonnen en route to a Round 1 TKO at UFC 167 in November 2013.

While he hasn’t been active in the cage, he’s still a crucial part of the daily life in the Blackzilians gym. The gym is, after all, one that Evans helped create in advance of a bout with Jon Jones.

“I do like to be here even though I can’t spar; I like to be here with the team,” Evans told MMAjunkie in March. “I like to give the guys some pointers when I see it. I love to coach. If I can’t fight, then I’ll coach. Being in here with the guys is as close as I can get to it now.”

Now the Blackzilians and rival gym American Top Team are the central focus of the current season of “The Ultimate Fighter.” Several fighters have jumped from ATT to the Blackzilians in the past and a long standing rumor is that manager Glenn Robinson paid fighters to jump ship.

Evans did his best to shoot down that talk and explain his decision to leave former manager Jervis Cole during an appearance on MMAjunkie Radio.

“There was no signing bonus at all,” Evans said. “Me leaving Jervis Cole was more of a business decision for me where I felt like I needed to take my career to another level. I never received any money and I don’t know anybody else who has received any money. Glenn is the type of guy who makes sure that his fighters – that they’re not in a situation where they have to worry about money.

“If paying for a fighter means, ‘Yeah, I’m going to put you up in this hotel.’ Or, ‘I’ll put you up in this apartment and help you get on your feet and you go from there,’ he has done that. But (American Top Team co-founder) Dan Lambert has done that as well. One thing I think that any good management team, when it comes to fighters – you have to understand, at some point you’re going to help these fighters out. Fighters don’t have money. I’ve done that myself. I’ve had a few fighters come and live at my house and I give them a car to drive and stuff like that – help pay for their things in order to help them get on their feet. That’s what I call paying it forward to the game.”

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