Urijah Faber with Mark Haney (Photo : Photo: Twitter)
The dam of hatred that divides Team Alpha Male leader Urijah Faber and former head trainer Duane "Bang" Ludwig has had a crack for quite some time.
Today, this structural fracture completely fell apart and spewed a huge wave of emotion.
In a recent interview with Submission Radio, The California Kid revealed, "You know, I've tried to keep it real private because I don't want to air dirty laundry necessarily, but it's just kind of sad."
Faber continues, "Duane is a guy that was really, really down and out when I gave him a call, and I've just learned that dysfunction kind of follows that guy," he said. "So we've brought him into a great situation and really tried to hoist him up, and to see him bad-mouthing the team is kind of sad, you know?"
Before the huge Dillashaw-Barao rematch last July, MMA fans were shocked when Ludwig said that the UFC bantamweight champion was the only fighter on Team Alpha Male who has the utmost hunger to be a world champ. Ludwig soon issued an apology.
As expected, TAM fighters were fuming and flabbergasted with the remark, as was their leader and former world champion, Urijah Faber.
"We've done a lot for him and he's been out of our gym for maybe a year and a half," Faber said. "To see a guy like talk about guys he hasn't even been around for a year and a half like he knows what the heck they're even up to is kind of strange."
The new Ultimate Fighter coach quickly shifts down and says that he didn't feel like he, or any of his teammates, were stabbed in the back. On the other hand, he claims that Ludwig, himself, is the one responsible for all these animosity; even going as far as calling, Bang, a tyrant.
"He's a bully. He's done things that have really rubbed me the wrong way as far as building a positive environment," says Faber. "I feel bad for the people that are stuck with him, because he takes and he takes and he takes and it's not the way that I built my team and I don't appreciate his negativity."
Faber ends by saying, "I'm done with the guy."
In the end, only one significant person stands between this divide in the person of TJ Dillashaw.
Urijah Faber owns the Sacramento, California-based Team Alpha Male, where Dillashaw splits training time with Duane's Ludwig Martial Arts in Westminster, Colorado.
