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Why TJ Dillashaw had to leave Team Alpha Male
By Ryan McKinnell
October 6, 2015 7:52 PM
After Duane Ludwig left his position as head trainer at Urijah Faber’s Team Alpha Male, many wondered how long it would take Ludwig’s star pupil, TJ Dillashaw, to follow suit.
Apparently that answer is: About a year.
Following a report from Brazilian outlet Combate, Dillashaw has left Team Alpha Male and will be holding all of his future fight camps at Team Elevation in Denver, Colorado.
Colorado is also where Duane Ludwig calls home.
"In regards to my upcoming fight camp, I will be doing my training in Colorado." Dillashaw told MMAFighting. "The last six years at Team Alpha Male have been irreplaceable and my brothers there will forever be family to me. I thank each and every one of them for helping me along the way and being a part of this journey we've shared. This is not the end of being a part of the Team Alpha Male family, but a new chapter in my career.”
Although Dillashaw’s new camp is in Colorado, Ludwig will not be his full-time coach. Instead, the champ will train with Team Elevation in Denver and will receive regular coaching from Ludwig as he sees fit.
Despite the lack of official title ‘head coach,’ make no mistake about it: This move has everything to do with Duane Ludwig.
Dillashaw and Ludwig share a special bond as trainer and trainee. Before Ludwig arrived at Team Alpha Male in 2013, the team had yet to produce a UFC champion.
Then, within a year, Ludwig helped Dillashaw win the UFC bantamweight championship, when he stunned the pound-for-pound king of the division, Renan Barao.
Dillashaw began his career with Faber at Team Alpha Male fresh out of college at Fullerton State. Over the next six years, Faber groomed Dillashaw into a contender. But it was Ludwig who was credited as the missing ingredient that allowed Dillashaw to blossom as the virtuosic striker we see today.
After Dillashaw’s first win over Barao (he beat Barao for a second time in July), rumors surfaced that the relationship between Ludwig and Faber had begun to sour.
At the heart of the disagreement was money.
After dispatching of Barao, it was announced that Ludwig would no longer be the full-time coach at Team Alpha Male.
Ludwig said he would still train Dillashaw at his home gym in Colorado, and his door would always be open to Team Alpha Male fighters. Even after the departure, Ludwig could still be found at Team Alpha Male on occasion working with Dillashaw and other fighters, despite not being ‘head coach’ any longer.
Then Duane Ludwig said in an interview that no one at Team Alpha Male ‘actually wants to be champion’ outside of Dillashaw.
Then Faber said Ludwig is a racist who is shady about money.
Then Ludwig said Faber was punchy from all the hits he’s taken to the head.
And that brings us to today, with TJ Dillashaw officially departing from the only fight team he has ever known.
For one, Faber and Dillashaw fight in the same division(s), as both have competed regularly at bantamweight and featherweight. Faber is quite possibly the most storied lighter-weight fighter in the history of the sport and Dillashaw is the unquestioned ‘new breed’ of champion.
Prior to Dillashaw's departure, talk of a Faber-Dillashaw matchup seemed silly -- almost disrespectful to even suggest.
Now, all bets are off.
And given the legitimate animosity between Faber and Ludwig, the narrative for a mentor/student rivalry is certainly there.
The other issue to look at here is the individuality of training and the life of a fighter.
Fight teams have a purpose, for sure.
However, if you look at combat sports at the highest fiscal level (boxing), 'teams' don’t really exist.
Sure, you have Floyd Mayweather and “The Money Team,” but that team only exists because of one man. Without Mayweather there is no money, and there is most certainly no ‘Money Team.’
And let’s be honest, it really isn’t much a ‘team,’ is it. It's Floyd Mayweather, his trainers, his training partners and a bunch of sycophants.
Point being: If Mayweather wants you on the team, he pays you to be a part of the team. That's not the case in MMA.
So, at the end of the day, Dillashaw leaving Team Alpha Male is just a logical evolution in a champion’s career.
Sure, it’s nice having a solid group of training partners to bounce your skills off on a weekly basis. Having great training partners is a large reason Dillashaw is where he is (Team Alpha Male houses some of the best lighter weight fighters in the sport).
But the only reason teams like Alpha Male exist is because of the lack of money in the sport of MMA.
If MMA fighters had Mayweather money (or, 10 percent of what Mayweather makes), you wouldn’t see fight teams like we do in MMA. Instead, you would see fight camps centered on the individual needs of a specific champion.
The champion would foot the bill for each training camp, focusing on an individual gameplan tailored specifically to his, or her needs. The fighter would presumably make enough money to pay for all the high-level training partners he/she needed.
Teams like Alpha Male can’t necessarily offer that sort of focused training.
After all, when Ludwig was brought in to Team Alpha Male, he was the ‘head coach,’ training all the fighters on the roster – including Faber, Dillashaw, and contenders like Joseph Benavidez and Chad Mendes.
It is probably really great having a room full of buddies to train with, but if you’re trying to spend all your time becoming a world champion, do you really want your training sessions divided between other fighters?
Dillashaw’s departure isn’t necessarily a sign that change is upon us because we are still very much stuck in a forgotten era.
It’s definitely foreshadowing though.
By Ryan McKinnell
October 6, 2015 7:52 PM
After Duane Ludwig left his position as head trainer at Urijah Faber’s Team Alpha Male, many wondered how long it would take Ludwig’s star pupil, TJ Dillashaw, to follow suit.
Apparently that answer is: About a year.
Following a report from Brazilian outlet Combate, Dillashaw has left Team Alpha Male and will be holding all of his future fight camps at Team Elevation in Denver, Colorado.
Colorado is also where Duane Ludwig calls home.
"In regards to my upcoming fight camp, I will be doing my training in Colorado." Dillashaw told MMAFighting. "The last six years at Team Alpha Male have been irreplaceable and my brothers there will forever be family to me. I thank each and every one of them for helping me along the way and being a part of this journey we've shared. This is not the end of being a part of the Team Alpha Male family, but a new chapter in my career.”
Although Dillashaw’s new camp is in Colorado, Ludwig will not be his full-time coach. Instead, the champ will train with Team Elevation in Denver and will receive regular coaching from Ludwig as he sees fit.
Despite the lack of official title ‘head coach,’ make no mistake about it: This move has everything to do with Duane Ludwig.
Dillashaw and Ludwig share a special bond as trainer and trainee. Before Ludwig arrived at Team Alpha Male in 2013, the team had yet to produce a UFC champion.
Then, within a year, Ludwig helped Dillashaw win the UFC bantamweight championship, when he stunned the pound-for-pound king of the division, Renan Barao.
Dillashaw began his career with Faber at Team Alpha Male fresh out of college at Fullerton State. Over the next six years, Faber groomed Dillashaw into a contender. But it was Ludwig who was credited as the missing ingredient that allowed Dillashaw to blossom as the virtuosic striker we see today.
After Dillashaw’s first win over Barao (he beat Barao for a second time in July), rumors surfaced that the relationship between Ludwig and Faber had begun to sour.
At the heart of the disagreement was money.
After dispatching of Barao, it was announced that Ludwig would no longer be the full-time coach at Team Alpha Male.
Ludwig said he would still train Dillashaw at his home gym in Colorado, and his door would always be open to Team Alpha Male fighters. Even after the departure, Ludwig could still be found at Team Alpha Male on occasion working with Dillashaw and other fighters, despite not being ‘head coach’ any longer.
Then Duane Ludwig said in an interview that no one at Team Alpha Male ‘actually wants to be champion’ outside of Dillashaw.
Then Faber said Ludwig is a racist who is shady about money.
Then Ludwig said Faber was punchy from all the hits he’s taken to the head.
And that brings us to today, with TJ Dillashaw officially departing from the only fight team he has ever known.
For one, Faber and Dillashaw fight in the same division(s), as both have competed regularly at bantamweight and featherweight. Faber is quite possibly the most storied lighter-weight fighter in the history of the sport and Dillashaw is the unquestioned ‘new breed’ of champion.
Prior to Dillashaw's departure, talk of a Faber-Dillashaw matchup seemed silly -- almost disrespectful to even suggest.
Now, all bets are off.
And given the legitimate animosity between Faber and Ludwig, the narrative for a mentor/student rivalry is certainly there.
The other issue to look at here is the individuality of training and the life of a fighter.
Fight teams have a purpose, for sure.
However, if you look at combat sports at the highest fiscal level (boxing), 'teams' don’t really exist.
Sure, you have Floyd Mayweather and “The Money Team,” but that team only exists because of one man. Without Mayweather there is no money, and there is most certainly no ‘Money Team.’
And let’s be honest, it really isn’t much a ‘team,’ is it. It's Floyd Mayweather, his trainers, his training partners and a bunch of sycophants.
Point being: If Mayweather wants you on the team, he pays you to be a part of the team. That's not the case in MMA.
So, at the end of the day, Dillashaw leaving Team Alpha Male is just a logical evolution in a champion’s career.
Sure, it’s nice having a solid group of training partners to bounce your skills off on a weekly basis. Having great training partners is a large reason Dillashaw is where he is (Team Alpha Male houses some of the best lighter weight fighters in the sport).
But the only reason teams like Alpha Male exist is because of the lack of money in the sport of MMA.
If MMA fighters had Mayweather money (or, 10 percent of what Mayweather makes), you wouldn’t see fight teams like we do in MMA. Instead, you would see fight camps centered on the individual needs of a specific champion.
The champion would foot the bill for each training camp, focusing on an individual gameplan tailored specifically to his, or her needs. The fighter would presumably make enough money to pay for all the high-level training partners he/she needed.
Teams like Alpha Male can’t necessarily offer that sort of focused training.
After all, when Ludwig was brought in to Team Alpha Male, he was the ‘head coach,’ training all the fighters on the roster – including Faber, Dillashaw, and contenders like Joseph Benavidez and Chad Mendes.
It is probably really great having a room full of buddies to train with, but if you’re trying to spend all your time becoming a world champion, do you really want your training sessions divided between other fighters?
Dillashaw’s departure isn’t necessarily a sign that change is upon us because we are still very much stuck in a forgotten era.
It’s definitely foreshadowing though.