Duke Roufus faces sharp criticism following a death in the ring

It began with an investigative journalism piece into the death of Dennis Munson Jr, by John Diedrich in Milwaukee’s Journal Sentinel. Munson was an amateur kickboxer who trained at the famed Roufusport; on March 28, 2014 he competed on a Roufus-promoted card, and died.

Munson’s death in the ring is painful to read about and nearly impossible to watch. Roufus subsequently shuttered the kickboxing team, and no longer promotes kickboxing bouts. Further, although he trained in Holland’s notoriously rough gyms, Roufus has discussed since 2010 on an UnderGround thread how training in his facility has evolved, becoming kinder and gentler.

However, in various social network postings and on The UG, former Roufusport fighter Rose Namajunas drew parallels between the death on Munson and training at Roufusport, using messages she in turn had received from former members of the academy.

rosenamajunas

I remember talking to her before I left roufus sport for good

Rose Namajunas

Crazy that I finally speak out against the people that are responsible for this tragedy and now other people are coming out too it’s sad it takes someone’s life to bring awareness. This is about one of them, coach Scott cushman on tuf who was in the corner of Dennis Munson.

I keep getting messages from former roufus sport students about their own experiences. The truth needs to be told.

Good to know I’m not the only one

More stories about the messed up controlling power trip mentality of these coaches

Namajuna’s messages started a major thread on the UG, and the fighter herself joined in.

uberstrikersopenweight

Maybe someone should put Rose on blast. I’m sure she has a past.

From: ThugRose

Sure we all make mistakes and I’ll admit any mistakes I’ve made I haven’t murdered anyone though. They are blatantly trying to cover it up tampering with evidence, not creating awareness about fighter safety, not firing those responsible etc.

Corey

She didn’t put anyone on blast until they did not pick her on TUF. She knew the guy died and after the fact still wanted to be picked and coached by team Pettis as she stated on another thread.

From: ThugRose

Wrong they swept it under the rug I never knew about this shit.

H_Man

Still didn’t find their training shitty enough to not want to be on their team in the first place though did you? Takes a death for you to crawl out and speak up, not saying it isn’t suspect on their part but your motives have to be questioned.

From: ThugRose

My motives are for preventing another death. I knew they are hard on us and I grew up with sexual abuse and molestation all my life so what I dealt with at the time was nothing compared to that. But after seeing the video and learning more about this situation yes it takes a death to say something. Hopefully it can prevent it in the future

—

At this point several UGers, including a current member of Roufusport defended Duke.

RyannVonDoom

It’s going to be a bunch of guys who couldnt handle the pro team traneing and crying about it. They wouldnt have made it at MFS, TQ, Chute Box etc… Integrity, it’s lacking and this is making me dislike rose highly.

I’m getting blasted for basically believing the same – Duke is a highly respected guy , never heard a single negative word about him.

Friend of mine went to MFS years ago – I asked him how the training was and he said this “fuck bro I was in a fight , they go hard ! Probably why they have so many champs, can’t wait till tomorrow !”

jlondo

^^^ALL OF THIS…

I’ve been taking kickboxing classes at Roufusport for a few moths now, and have not witnessed anything even remotely close to a “cancerous gym”, as someone else put it.. Every student, every coach i’ve met so far have been super nice, friendly, very helpfull, and full of knowledge.

Trust me, I wouldn’t keep going there if it was anything like what people are saying here..

Idk, maybe some things have changed since people left and/or since Dennis passed away in March?, but the posts on this thread are describing a much different environment than what i’ve seen at Roufusport so far.. but, again, i am noob-ish, i’ve only been there a few months. Just speaking on my personal exeperience there. People are told to ease up when they start sparring too hard (which honestly they do on their own..). The ranking system keeps partners on the same level, so it’s not like a newcomer is paired up with a pro.

The few coaches i’ve met and had class with were great, friendly, helpfull, and didn’t push anyone to do things they couldn’t do or weren’t comfortable doing.

I reluctantly watched Dennis’ fight video. The ref could’ve/should’ve stopped that fight on 3 or 4 different occasions.. I feel so bad for his family. It is sad beyond words (and hits close to home) to have a local fighter (from the gym i go to) die in the ring (in his 1st fight) at a concert venue i’ve been to numerous times.

—

Then former Roufusport coach, former UFC fighter, and current Roufusport competitor Eric “Red” Schafer, joined the thread.

From: Eric Schafer

•Oh my 🙂

•Duke Roufus is a bully, a liar, and one of the worst people I have ever met. I have never been in a more toxic environment than when I was the head grappling coach and fighter at the gym. I saw teammate after teammate getting treated like shit. Guys being told to beat up lower level guys that were just trying to help out, UFC fighters being told to beat up other UFC level fighters so they would not come back, verbal abuse, violence, guys getting lied to about fights, etc. I have messages and conversations with almost everyone of his fighters from my days there; from his UFC stars to his coaching staff about how much they were mistreated. I will not out them, but they know the truth. They can tell their tales if they want.

When I started there I was new to the UFC, and it was purely a kickboxing gym. I was looking to round out my game. I soon joined as the head grappling coach and we started the MMA team. You could say that I was 2nd in command at the time. I was there when Pettis walked in the door, and when Pat Barry moved to Milwaukee to switch to MMA. I have met some of my best friends there and the family was very strong, despite the captain of the ship being horrible. After seeing countless members of my “family” get screwed over, I finally called it quits after he finally betrayed me directly after being there for over 3 years. Sometimes I wish I had the strength to stand up to him at the time, but it almost feels like I was one of the kids in a family of abuse. I would rather run away than stand up to my violent dad.

I left without telling anyone my plans, but I started my own gym a few months later. I never recruited anyone to follow me, but I just wanted out of the negativity. Many of the guys followed me when they found out or left eventually to other places after they got screwed. I don’t claim to be a great fighter or anything, and don’t care if I ever am as famous as him or his guys… but I am much more happy. Maybe I am just a pussy or something, like I am sure he will claim anyone who says anything about him, but I could care less. I was never a world champion and had my weaknesses in the cage, but I dare you to ever say I quit in the gym no matter who I was sparring. It was not the “hard” training that was bad, it was something much worse. Not every fighter was treated horribly, but I am sure that every fighter and coach from 2007 to 2010 has been screwed over at least once, whether they will admit it or not.

I am happy with my young and happy gym. I have blocked him from my life. I was offered a fight on his card and told my manager that “I personally would not ever fight for him”, so a when a few of my young fighters were scheduled to fight on his show (which I did not like, but he is the big local promoter), he decided to cancel their fights 2 weeks before the event. He wrote me a letter (which I kept) saying they were not welcome, because I did not respect him. I said that I actually understand that, but I wish he wouldn’t have scheduled them in the first place and screwed them over. A year later the matchmaker came out and asked for forgiveness and said that we can at least have a business relationship. I said I didn’t trust Duke, but the other coaches wanted our guys on the card, I reluctantly agreed. Once again, he cancelled our fights a few weeks before to spite me. Oh well…

The sad thing is that this poor kid had to die before we started hearing any of these stories. What happened to this poor kid is a separate issue in my opinion…

From: ThugRose

Thanks for speaking up red appreciate it hopefully things can change and it will save people’s lives. It doesn’t matter what backlash may come because it’s what’s right.

From: Eric Schafer

I have been getting messages all day… Like people can finally tell their tale. I’m sure you’ll hear more.

The truth is that the gym is full of killers, and it was a great team and still is despite it being a new generation that I don’t know as well. Duke IS a great coach from a technical point of view. He is also a great salesman/talker. I have no ill will toward anyone else there, and I still have a bunch of friends there. I am sure I will be threatened somehow and called a rat, but oh well…

From: Ryan Williams

I was there with Red and Rose. Coached BJJ for the place. I agree with and witnessed everything they said.

Take which ever side you like there are those of us who were there and those who were not.

I left before Red and for full disclosure Red is a close friend of mine. I never personally had anything happen to me that I couldn’t handle. Then again I was a Marine and know how to “embrace the suck”. I left for my own reasons, as did everyone who left.

I personally don’t give a fuck about that place and if folks want to train there more power to them. The instruction and exposure/connections they have are great. However, I won’t sit by while people are saying that Red, Rose, and Pat are liars or couldn’t cut it. Their accounts are accurate, make of them what you will

Go there train and make your own assessments. Just don’t be a star blinded fan boy and bash three people who are speaking from experience and from their hearts on what they believe to be a toxic environment.

I say a lot bad things about a lot of people, because I am an asshole.

However, Red is not and choses his words before he speaks. Like I said I witnessed all going down and saw everything he wrote about.

It’s hard to see it if you aren’t on the inside of it. As far as staying I did 3 or so years there, my friends were there, my teammates were there, and as selfish as it is the shit wasn’t happening to me. I was getting what I wanted and played the selfish prick and participated in the shit.

I walked away after I couldn’t take it anymore and after I knew Red was getting ready to break out on his own.

So yeah it all seems self serving to put the info out there now, but it doesn’t make it any less truthful.

When I was there I was obviously not put off by it. When I left (which had nothing to do with the training) I looked back and now don’t agree with the methods.

However, we are talking about grown ass men who have to make decisions on their own about how they are willing to be treated.

My purpose for backing Rose and Red was simply to verify their accounts of the environment. I have no ultraistic purpose or intentions I don’t care enough about that place for that. I do however find the death of this young man to have been preventable and that bothers me more than anything.

From: Eric Schafer

One thing that I want to say is that any issue that I have with Duke is in the past and what happened to this kid are separate IMO.

I tried to leave my issues in the past, so except for my gym getting screwed on his show, I have had no contact with the guy. I was actually treated well most of the time, but I saw the weekly bullying as the second in command, and it wore away at me. I never understood why you needed to “beat” someone out of the gym, instead of just asking them to leave. Maybe it has changed, but I can only talk about what I saw…

I still hear stories from the people there, from the UFC vets to their champions in different organizations coming to me to vent (as if I am the mother who moved away in the divorce, but still hears stories of how dad is an asshole). The truth is that the gym IS the best in the area. If you want to be a champ, then they have the sparring partners and coaches to get you there. It was hard to leave, even for me, because of the family and friends I had there. I just heard a story last week about how he exploded at a guy during sparring.

Part of me wishes I would have not said anything, but I felt Rose and Pat were going out on a limb, so I had their back.

—

Next to voice an opinion was 5-1 Iowa lightweight Keoni Koch, who rose to Roufus’s defense.

From: Keoni

I haven’t read all of the comments and I will not as I have read enough. I have been in and out of different camps and sports my entire life. Camps including Militech, Roufusport and the unpadded cement walls of a basement that would eventually become Hard Drive MMA.

There have been stories written about the brutality of the Militech standup days of old. Where you basically were slugging it out full force. I know friends that walked away from the sport because of damage taken from sessions like this. Had someone died who trained at Militech there would be a million disgruntled teammates and commoners coming out of the woodwork talking about how brutal and unforgiving it was. And the same people who spend their lives believing everything they read on the internet would grasp in horror while at the same time enjoying zero perspective.

I visited Roufusport not all that long ago to cross train. Find it interesting that Rose was there training happily with all their women and getting along with those who invited her in (pre ultimate fighter).

A lot of the other people blasting Roufusport left a long time ago not because they were bullied but because they were asked to evolve past being a simple striker or grappler which both essentially refused to do. Yes MMA training is not for everyone. So when someone with big delusions comes in to a high level gym with big talk, then gets a reality check it makes perfect sense after a tragedy like Drew Munson that morons will be flying out of the woodwork crying foul. The truth is the people who would use this tragedy to take something away from someone else or take something for themselves are the most foul. Never heard a negative word from any of these people before and now they have volumes to say. Well a lot could be said about them as well. I have known people at Roufusport for years. Every single critic is that has “spoken out” is incredibly suspect and living in big glass houses. They should think about what skeletons are in their closets before trying to cut down people who legitimately tried to build them up.

jmfp

Thanks for chiming in Keoni. We need more current fighters to join the discussion. I wish Rose would have mentioned she was actively training there. It seemed to me like she just popped in to say hello.

I have sat in on a practice and saw nothing as described. I saw the coaches slowing people down as the sparring escalated and demonstrating techniques as anyone would expect.

I have spent some time with several top fighters and two coaches from the gym(Scott Cushman & Daniel Wanderley). I never saw or sensed any animosity or problems. The coaches and fighters hung out and had fun together.

I spent a lot of time during a fight weekend with Scott Cushman and Daniel Wanderley. They never acted like barbarians or assholes. There was constructive criticism before and after the fight.

None of the criticism was abusive or violent. Part of it was the weight cut. Cushman was concerned about the fighter having a tough weight cut and was demanding that the fighter would do it in a more safe and healthy way.

If some of these other stories are true its disgusting, but I wanted to share my personal experience with their fighters and coaches.

From: ThugRose

Thanks for your input and it’s important to see both sides however you are missing some key information. I came back (visited) to give it a second chance like many others. And yes was my second experience not quite as brutal as from the past? Yes and I notice he treats the higher level fighters with names differently and when I came back I had a name now and I was about to be on the show he was coaching. There’s many sides to him from my experience. He does nice things when it counts. It’s very sneaky imo and it’s interesting you mention that precautions were taken in sparring and it was safe at that time after the death. I would hope that a death would change things and they would be more cautious but i don’t trust that it was because they genuinely learned something from that experience as they haven’t brought any awareness on the issue instead brushing it under the rug. I was there for just a week and my initial opinions of him were validated in that week. People were coming up to me while I was there speaking out on their own only to mention that they are thinking of a way out of the situation without any backlash and fear of speaking out. It’s more complicated than you would think. At the end of the day a proper investigation is needed as this kids life depended it if u ask me

From: HYPEorDIE

The Main Focus is Dennis

This is all we’re saying!!!

Of course emotions get in the way sometimes and other upsetting things, thoughts, and memories start to come to the surface. But, the main point is the fight!

Dennis Munson Jr.

How can anyone watch that video and not be emotionally touched in some way? How can that happen, in the way that it did, with the trusted members there, doing “their jobs”??? How could that be allowed to happen, with 0 repercussions. Nobody stepped up and said “I fuckin dropped the ball YALL”

NOOOBODY???

If the roles were reversed and the other kid was getting hit like that beat up like that moving around like that and was a 0-0 amateur that fight would’ve been stopped instantly to protect him. The reason why Dennis’s fight was not stopped was because Dennis is a Roufusport Spartan and they go out on the shield. Dennis wouldn’t have quit just like the reff wouldn’t have stopped it.

Is that it? A kid dies, doctors and other professionals review the tape and give overwhelming commentary, and that’s it?

Should something else be done?

Are we crazy?? Phone Post 3.0

jmfp

There are also fighters from Roufusport chiming in on a mma mania Facebook post stating that Rose was banned from the gym for attacking teammates and coaches while she was there before tuf.

Has nothing to do with the death of Munson, but if she is going to sling shit it’d be important to note she was recently banned for assulting teammates and coaches at the gym

From: MikeDombrowski

Hi all, I want to preface that I was a part of the gym for five years or so. I trained in BJJ and striking(Beginner-Intermediate/Adanced) and had limited experience on the fight team. I took a few classes to determine if I was cut out for it.

I even taught beginner striking for a few months to help out the other coaches who were busy helping out the guys who were preparing the gentlemen fighting in the UFC. Scott Cushman also had surgery on his ankle. It was a great honor that Duke thought enough of me to teach striking to his beginner students and limited instruction to intermediate students. At the time, I haven’t seen Duke allow many people to give out striking instructions to beginners. He had great coaches there such as Kyle, Joe, Ketla, Scott Cushman, and Duke.

Ultimately, I left the gym due to marriage and ultimately having a child. Not because I was upset at the gym or the way they ran the gym. I would like to share my experience about Duke, Scott Joffe, and Scott Cushman as a hobbyist/not a fighter. I started around the time when the gym was across the street from the current location on 76th street in one room.

I joined the gym because I saw Red Schafer on a UFC Card and noticed he was from Milwaukee. I forget what card it was, but I joined the following Monday with my then girlfriend at the time. I took alot of striking classes during the day and at night. The day classes were always tough to me because I would always be matched up with Pettis, Kyle, Serg, Dan Downes, Sasha, Red, Paul, Razak and sometimes Pat(I would try and avoid Pat lol) and countless others who were alot better than me or equal in skill level. I had no issues going against them in practice because it forced me to get better. Keep in mind this was in intermediate/advanced striking courses. All of these classes were controlled. The pro’s would go as hard as you wanted to go. If you went too hard, they would crack you one and tell you to chill out. Ultimately all the beginners trained with the beginners only unless the class size was uneven. They were never allowed to spar.

Duke and Scott Cushman are very wary to allow students to move up despite students pleas to start sparring. I waited what seemed like years to spar and go to the next level as a noob. I have seen many others chomp at the bit to get moved up into intermediate class. Bottom line is that they will move you up if they believe in you.

I can share an experience in which a crazy guy whom was known to go 100% all the time. The guy was a long time member that would show up to train, but would only come to hurt people.(At least that is what it seemed to me) I hated to spar with the guy because he was not controlled. You would have to stoop to his level just to get him to ease off. Anyways, I saw him elbow a girl in the nose and bust her up real bad. Duke and Scott Cushman stopped the class immediately and had the guy get into a real fight with Dan Downes in the boxing ring. Dan destroyed this idiot, but the guy never gave up, and clearly learned his lesson. Duke warned him that the next time this guy hurts a student/training partner, that he will be in that ring with Duke to learn another lesson.(You dont want that) Dan Downes was an aspiring ammy/pro at the time. But Danny was really good. The poor girl had a broken nose and we ultimately never saw her again. The guy was a bad training partner and needed to be taught a lesson. I remember seeing Scott Cushman tending to this lady in a caring fashion. We were really shook up about this.

Duke asked me a few times if I wanted a fight. He thought I was ready enough to try a fight if I wanted one. He never once pressured me to be on a card despite being there for five years. Duke has bragged many times in the past at how deep and talented his noncompeting fighters were. These were great compliments he paid to us part-timers. All in all, I took a few fighter classes to determine if I wanted a fight.

Ultimately, I wasnt cut out for it. I dislocated my elbow in BJJ and it never healed right. Duke has always treated me with respect, his students with respect. I have seen Duke play kick ball with all the children before class. He is fantastic with kids. I have heard him tell the children that they wont be aloud to come train unless they get good grades. My impression is that Duke wants all of his students to be a winner in the gym, be as good as you can be, and ultimately be a winner in life. I have limited experience with him on the fight team. He might demand more out of the aspiring professionals looking to make it to the next level.

Scott Cushman: Scott stands out as one of my favorite coaches of all time at RS. I have seen Scott play with the children after class. The children love messing with him. Scott’s coaching style: His coaching style might not be for everyone, but he is a former golden gloves boxer and his instruction has strong credibility IMO. I have seen him stop class and scold those whom are experienced and should know better. I wont contest that he has made an example out of me a few times because he has. BUT I NEVER felt one second it was to bully me or humiliate me. Scott genuinely cares about the novice guys getting better. You can tell without a doubt he loves his job. I have seen Scott tell people to settle down in sparring sessions hundreds of times over my five or so years at RS. Fight team might be a bit different, but for sparring classes, things were always controlled to the best of my knowledge and I took a ton of instruction from Scott. He is an excellent coach in my opinion.

Red Schafer: I dont know Red on a personal level really well. However, he is an Excellent BJJ coach. His instruction is spot on. He explains techniques very well. Red was an extremely nice person. I imagine his school is doing quite well just because of the person he is.

Scott Joffe: Scott Joffe handles all day to day business activity that comes with running a business. This allows Duke to train his students and run the operations side of the business. He is a very good business person and will always do what is right for RoufusSport. Much like any CEO/COO would do for the company they work for.

I would like to end my thoughts by saying I was around the time when Rose was at RS as a very young highschooler who had a ton of talent. Rose may have been 14 or so at the time when I met her. Rose was extremely talented. There were times in practice that you would want to blast her a good one because she would hit you with crazy kicks. But even at 14 years old, she was tough to get a good shot on. I have a lot of respect for Rose. She would match Anthony Pettis with crazy kicks in practice. He may have even been impressed by her as well. I remember Rose stating a few months prior to her leaving for good that she didnt feel she was getting the attention/instruction/opportunity she needed to become who she is today. I cant speak on her scheduled fights that never happened or materialized, but I can only imagine that Duke may of had a tough time finding fights for her at his shows. Womens MMA was not as popular as it is today. Gina Carano was world champ at that time.

On a side note, I was extremely disappointed when Red and Pat left the gym. My only complaint about RS is the transparency when those two coaches/fighters left. They were definitely fan favorites in the gym. All in all, my experience with RS was a very pleasant one. The Dennis Munson story is tragic. I dont recall if I had a chance to train with him. I am certain that the promoter has learned their lesson. Just listening to LDogg on that podcast say that a towel was thrown in at a show indicates a change did occur.

I wanted to share my positive experience with these people. I have heard stories of former members and I respect their opinion and stories. I thought I would share. Because of them, I became a better person, more mature, self confident, and humble.

I haven’t posted much due to workload and life. I havent been to RS in almost two years. So that would explain two out of the five years. I posted in another website forum quite regularly. I respect Ryan, Red, Rose, and Pat’s accounts. Ryan, Red, and Pat would have a different perspective than me because they were pro’s and dealt with Duke in a different manner than me.(PRO Fight Team)

I am unsure how credible I am to people reading this, but I was a longtime member at RS.

Ryan, Red, Rose, and Pat have more credibility than me when it comes to dealing with Duke on the business side.

I dealt with Duke as a student/beginner coach and he was extremely pleasant to me. My experience differs quite differently than theirs. I will take my son to RS or the Rey Pettis Ran gym closer to my house in Oak Creek when he is old enough. I like the values they install into the younger kids and adults whom might come to the gym with a troubled past. I am much more humble than I was going into that gym as a 25 year old. I was humbled very quick by a 125 lb person, realized size didnt matter, muscles dont matter….(Coach Omar) I never looked back for my five years there. Loved every minute of it.

–

Then UFC vet Mike Cies offered insight into what training was like at Miletich Martial Arts during its peak.

From: MIKE CIESNOLEVICZ

I havent been on the forum in like a year but I’ve been reading this and I will make some comments to shed some light since MFS in Iowa was brought up. Pat Miletich was a great coach. Never once in my 7 yrs there did I hear or see Miletich tell one of our pro fighters to knock someone out, especially someone who was hurt or new to the gym. More so the opposite, I would hear Miletich say don’t hit him in the head. While we did have the breakdown to build up mentality it was controlled in a way. I went through the gauntlet for months. I got beat up alot but never ko’d and im training with some of the hardest hitters in the mma world, Tim Sylvia, Ben Rothwell, Justin Eilers, Drew McFedries, and so on. They could have all ko’d me if they wanted to.

We had a basic/intermediate kickboxing class at 9am and 530pm. If someone came to the gym and wanted to spar the UFC and IFL guys, Miletich would talk them out of it. He would tell them to do the basic class for 6 months to see how they felt first and get them doing cardio/weights hard to get ready. The pace at pro practice alone wore out even ufc vets and other guys that visited not used to sprint work intensity while sparring. Everyone knew 630pm wasnt for new people. It was only high level mma pros preparing for fights. It was usually full speed. If they insisted and showed proof they were already pros visiting from somewhere he let them know ahead of time what they were getting into and people had to sign waivers. Classes are seperated for a reason. Every class isnt for every person and unfortunately some found out the hard way.

It’s true, new pro guys were fresh meat in a way, you tested them to see if they could survive and join the team but mostly with body shots and leg kicks. I can only recall a guy getting ko’d one time with a head shot who was new, but he really wasnt new because he was already established mma pro and Miletich lost his mind on the guy that ko’d him. Told him if the guy has a concussion or has to go to the hosptial or something that said fighter was going to stay up with him all night and take care of him, etc. Miletih always walked around during practice watching everyone spar. He was in the mix.

The MFS Monday/Wednesday night war sparring sessions are true but every single person knew what they were getting into at 630 practice. Everyone wanted to be there that was there. Numerous times i would see a guy get hurt or rocked and Miletich would make them take their stuff off for the day even when they didnt want to. Of course knockouts happened because when you have over 20 high level pros and world champs in the room sparring at once it happens. Like I said before though, mostly body shot and low kicks to test peoples will to see if they really want to do this for a living.

Even though I sparred with Duke before and trained at his gym in Wisconsin and with him at MFS in Iowa I can’t comment on his way of doing things because I wasnt there on a daily basis. I’m just shedding some light on my perspective from my experiences.

It’s a shame this kid died. It’s a horrible situation. When I watched the video I couldnt believe someone wasnt stopping the fight. The kid was literally out on his feet like a zombie from what I saw. That death was very preventable.

—

Then long time UFC vet and Roufusport team member Erik Koch weighed in.

From:Erikkoch

The thing about this is rose came to our gym this year to train. She got kicked off the mat for hitting someone after the bell rung…. Hmmmm

She also says when she left she felt as if she didn’t need to say goodbye because she didn’t care for anybody, but then thinks it’s disrespectful that duke and Anthony didn’t pick her first on the show? Am I the only one that sees these inconsistency’s?

If you guys don’t already know I have trained at roufusport for about 5 years now. All this stuff coming out about bad coaching and so forth is ridiculous. Personally from someone trained under duke and Cush both these guys are great men and great teachers. Me having a rough time in my career right now I can still tell you these guys care and don’t just feed people to the wolves, they are very passionate about what they do and truly care. From roses standpoint she talks about leaving because she didn’t care for anybody, but then thinks it’s disrespectful they didn’t pick her up on the show. I can tell you she was in our gym this year and got kicked off the mat for punching someone in the face after the bell rung. To say he only cares about elite fighters is ridiculous. He teaches kid classes to intermediate kickboxing classes he could hire other people, but he does it and is working 24/7. Just want to get my opinion out.

—

In an extended interview with Ben Fowlkes for MMAJunkie, Roufus himself responded.

You know, when I see Rose and (former UFC fighter) Pat Barry, they don’t seem disgruntled, said Roufus. They’re very nice to me. Pat asked me advice at the last Glory (kickboxing) event. Rose came and trained at our gym in spring. Eric Schafer, I know we’ve had some issues. I’ve tried to reach out ever since he left Roufusport, and he didn’t want to ever sit down and chat with me. It’s tough.

For his part, Roufus allowed that many of the fighters now speaking out were members of the team during a chaotic time for Roufusport. But things have changed considerably in the gym since then, he said. Hard sparring sessions may have been the norm then, Roufus claimed, but as the sport has evolved, so have his training methods.

I think they left in 2010, Roufus said. It’s 2014. If you look at the results of what the kids are doing right now, and just the evolution of MMA, things have changed. Back then, I don’t think we embraced strength and conditioning as much. We were trying to spar ourselves into shape. My philosophy now, four short years later, is completely opposite of that.

He also countered that some of those fighters claiming to have witnessed bullying in the gym were perpetrators of it, saying, I’ve personally seen Pat Barry low kick and liver shot Sergio Pettis as hard as he can, and I don’t believe in that style of training.

Roufus didn’t deny that he could be hard on fighters on times, but he challenged the assertion that he did it out of meanness or the desire to abuse anyone.

It’s because, the nature of this business, if you go out there and you don’t perform well, you get cut, Roufus said. And who likes seeing their friends get fired? It’s hard to see that, to see them not do well at their job.

But the allegations from Schafer, Namajunas and others describe something that goes beyond harsh criticism. In messages passed along on social media by Namajunas, people who claimed to have been members at Roufusport describe incidents that seem more like assault than training, from the targeting of certain team members to the daily humiliation of others.

Roufus denied those claims and said he hadn’t held anyone back from leaving the team and pursuing their goals elsewhere if they didn’t like the coaches or the gym culture at Roufusport. And while he said that the death of Munson had left a hole in my heart, and shaken the entire team, he also questioned whether that was the true motivation behind the allegations.

It’s hard, Roufus said. I don’t hate them. I’m disappointed. I mean Rose, you’re doing great stuff on ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ You have the ability to influence a lot of people, but if that’s how you felt, why did you come to my gym to train in the spring, after Dennis had passed? This happened March 29. She came through after that to train with us.

According to at least one other fighter who didn’t wish to be named, this sudden conflagration may be due at least in part to lingering bad blood (between Namajunas and Roufus) over financial dealings gone wrong.

The biggest evil in this whole equation is money, said one fighter who asked not to be named.

As for the story that spurred this discussion, Roufus said he takes some issue with the timeline of events presented in the story, and claimed that when he helped press the Wisconsin state legislature to regulate MMA, he also asked for it to regulate kickboxing events such as that one, which he helped promote.

But no one was interested in regulating kickboxing, Roufus said. We had the opportunity to regulate it, and they chose not to. A lot of people don’t realize that.

As for Munson’s death, he said, it was very tragic, but he defended the selection of the referee and the ringside doctor, saying both officials have worked numerous other events and are licensed in other states.

I have a hard time putting it into words, because it hurts, Roufus said of Munson’s death. I have a huge hole in my heart with the loss of Dennis. The harsh reality of combat sports hits home sometimes, and it’s hurtful. … It’s awful, and we all hurt over here.

At the end of this extended she said he said, Dennis Munson Jr remains dead. Kickboxing is dangerous, and needs to be regulated. In some states it is regulated, in some a sanctioning body is required, and in some, like Wisconsin, you can do whatever you want. Further, mixed martial arts is responding to the developing understanding around chronic traumatic encephalopathy in combat sports, and developing safer and in all likelihood more effective training methods.

However, combat sports remain dangerous, and while deaths in this or any contact sport can be minimized, they cannot be eliminated. If any good is to come out of this, Wisconsin needs to regulate kickboxing, and mixed martial arts trainers needs to continue to temper some of the roughest practices in the gym.