Athletes always want to get an edge.

In MMA, there are the old classics of greasing and PED’s, but it appears there may be a new method breaking into the fold.

UFC 135 headliner, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson did an interesting interview with Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports in which he accuses light heavyweight champion and upcoming opponent, Jon Jones, of having a spy in Jackson’s camp.

Not only that, but Jackson also claims that he had a rat in his camp when he took on Rashad Evans.

Jackson said in an interview with Yahoo! Sports on Monday that he made up a story about having a hand injury last week. Yet, four hours after he mentioned the story in his gym, he said his manager received a call from UFC matchmaker Joe Silva asking about it.

Jackson said he first became wary about a spy in his camp during the days prior to his May 29, 2010, fight at UFC 114 in Las Vegas with Rashad Evans. He said he injured his knee in training, but kept it quiet and let no one know. He was pleased when the injury never found its way into the media.

Yet, Jackson said that during the fight, Evans punched him repeatedly on the injured knee.

“In all my years of fighting, I’d never been punched in the knee before and I never saw anyone punch someone in the knee,” Jackson said.

These are some pretty strong accusations, but intriguing nonetheless.

If I were a member of Jackson’s camp, I would be pretty nervous right now. It’s like something out of The Departed.

Here is another little excerpt from the piece chronicling Jackson’s attempt to catch the rat.

Jackson said that made him wary that someone in his camp had been disloyal. But it wasn’t until recently, when he received a message from a fan on Twitter telling him that Jones had a spy in Jackson’s camp, that he began to consider it a possibility. It prompted him to make up the story about the injured hand to see where it would go.

Jackson said that four hours after he first made mention of the supposed injury, Silva, who was attending UFC 134 in Brazil, called his manager, Anthony McGann, to inquire. When McGann assured Silva that Jackson was not injured, he asked where Silva had heard the information.

To Jackson, the response was predictable: Silva said he had gotten a call from Jones’ manager Malki Kawa.

If this story unfolds and is true, it raises the question: Which is more sleazy, spying on your opponent, or being a rat in your team’s camp?

My feeling is I would rather be the opponent spying, because if you are found to be a rat, nobody is going to be able to trust you again and want to bring you into their camp. Not to mention, you are only good to the fighter you are helping for a limited amount of time. After the fight is over, they probably want nothing to do with you.