The issue of teammates fighting is a contentious one, but in a recent interview with Guilherme Cruz for MMAFighting, ATT founder Ricardo Liborio says it just means the team is doing a good job.
Even a glance at the top UFC contenders at welterweight shows that teammates fighting is inevitable:
1. Robbie Lawler • ATT
2. Rory MacDonald
3. Tyron Woodley • ATT
4. Carlos Condit
5. Matt Brown
6. Hector Lombard • ATT
“What better example can I give than competing against a former teammate? I’m facing Ze Mario Sperry at ADCC 2015,” said Liborio. “I don’t have a better example than that.
“We have Robbie Lawler, Tyron Woodley, Hector Lombard, Thiago Alves, Ben Saunders, Colby Covington. We have a lot of great talents at 170. What can we tell them? There’s only one belt and they understand it.”
“If they have to fight, they have to fight. We can do different camps for both. We wouldn’t like to see it happening, but they eventually will have to fight. At the end of the day, it’s an individual sport.”
However, although teammates fighting each other is inevitable, Liborio will step back from coaching either.
“We’ve talk about this for a long time,” he said. “They understand it, but I won’t be in anyone’s corner. Tyron and Hector, I train them both. Don’t ask me for advice, anything. I’m out. Whoever wins, ATT wins.
“Tyron fighting Hector would be easier because Tyron sometimes trains in his own gym, so we could find a way to support them both. But I would never get involved in this. I would be watching it at home.”
“Two American Top Team fighters fighting for a title? It means we’re doing something right here. It’s an individual sport and everybody wants the same thing.”
