Bang: Urijah just mad cause he got punked by Conor
Duane Ludwig: “He’s just wrapped up in drama mode from being punked on the show from Conor McGregor so much. Conor really got in his head.”
Top trainer Duane “Bang” Ludwig and Team Alpha Male founder Urijah Faber have been involved in an extended disagreement following his tenure as head striking coach at Team Alpha Male, after which he left to form his own team. TAM’s sole UFC champion, TJ Dillashaw, then left the team to join Colorado’s Team Elevation, and to train with Bang, who also lives in the state.
Faber characterized Ludwig as a peanutbutter seller with racist and sexist leanings. Ludwig suggested maybe Faber is punchy. Faber most recently accused Dillashaw of walking away from family, and said he was no longer welcome in the gym. Ludwig appeared recently on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, and cited Conor McGregor as a source of the conflict.
“So let him do this thing and let him ride his drama wave,” said Ludwig, as transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting. “He’s just wrapped up in drama mode from being punked on the show from Conor so much. Conor really got in his head, so he’s trying to take it out on me and then it’s just overspilling. It’s just escalating. Just put the brakes on it, man. Nobody needs this right now.”
“It’s super unfortunate that Faber kicked him out. I don’t think that’s quite supportive or being a friend. I think we should all be working together, especially as martial artists. And for anyone to close the door on somebody else just isn’t fair. I don’t think that’s ethical. It’s his decision, but I don’t think it’s best for T.J. and the guys. They should be working together.”
“From day one when I started training him, it was one of those things where we are meant to train together. But I’m not telling him to leave Team Alpha Male, I’m not telling him to move here. I think it’s the best decision for him, but it’s also a good piece of the puzzle to be able to work with the team, the Team Alpha Male guys.”
“A lot of the gains that are made for an athlete are between camps, when you don’t have all the stress and everything going on with a fight camp. The gains are made between camps. So look how well T.J. performed last fight and he was going back and forth. Now for him to stay here and make gains between the fights, it’s only going to be better.”
“I think he’s handling it pretty well. But having your supposed friends close on the door so you can’t be in here, that’s not right. I don’t think he’s handling that very well, which I wouldn’t handle that very well, either.”
“I 100 percent am glad I took the job (at TAM). I wasn’t saying that at all. I love working with those guys.”
“(Faber) is very cunning and manipulative. He can manipulate stories very well to paint the picture he needs to paint. … I wasn’t quite sure what I felt I did wrong. Then he’s like changing all these stories and manipulating them. He’s trying to paint a bad picture of me.”
“I’m not a frickin’ bad guy. I’m here to help people. It’s unfortunate for the way he perceived the events. It’s crazy to me. But we all see things differently.”
TJ Dillashaw fights former champion Dominick Cruz at UFC Fight Night 81 on Jan. 17 in Boston. Dillashaw arrives in Denver on Monday.