Josh Koscheck left the AKA gym some time ago after a dispute with the owner Javier Mendez boiled over, and though he’s since established moved on and established his own gym in Fresno, California, it appears the outspoken fighter still hold a major grudge over the situation.
What makes it even more interesting is that AKA has been the focus of a new documentary called ‘Fight Factory’ on NuvoTV which premieres on August 15th, and it seems that it may fill in a lot of the blanks on what exactly caused the rift between the fighter and his long-time coach.
In a new trailer for the show Koscheck is shown talking to his former AKA team-mate and friend Jon Fitch about the situation, and in typical fashion he doesn’t hold back on his feelings.
“I hope the gym burns to the ground,” Koscheck says bluntly, before adding, “Hopefully nobody’s in it…well, maybe just one person.”
Yesterday, Mendez, the ‘person’ that Koscheck gave his opinion about those remarks in an interview with MMAfighting.com.
“Well, you know, when you spend eight years with an individual like Josh I think that nothing is going to surprise you. Actually, he really hates me, so it didn’t shock me,” Mendez said. “That’s him, that’s who he is. That’s the person he is.
“It’s who he is. I’m not gonna let it affect me. We’re not friends.”
Where exactly does the bad blood stem from though? Mendez was staying fairly tight-lipped about it, but it’s intriguing to note that he seems to be accepting that he was at least partially to blame and that the ‘Fight Factory’ show would shed light on the situation.
“I did something, but you’re not going to hear it here, you’re going to have to watch it on the show,” Mendez said coyly.
“I’m only at fault because, like a person in charge, he knows if you do certain things – you know your children type of thing, and you know what they’ll do – so I did something I knew can cause a bad reaction. If I had to do it all over again I probably wouldn’t, but I got to accept the fact of my responsibility for it too.”
So, by the sounds of things this new series about AKA will be worth looking out for, and while the Koscheck – Mendez drama will be a key talking point it’ll also star a number of the other notable fighters in the gym including Cain Velasquez, Daniel Cormier and Phil Baroni.
Watch both men talk about the AKA situation in the clips below.
