Bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw has made the decision to leave the Team Alpha Male camp in California and is now set to start his own camp with the Elevation Fight Team at the Muscle Pharm Sports facility in Colorado.
Coached by Leister Bowling, Elevation Fight Team currently have the likes of Matt Brown, Clay Guida, Neil Magny, Brandon Thatch and Cat Zingano on their roster.
It’s a big decision for the 29 year-old as Team Alpha Male has long been considered the elite camp for the sport’s lighter weight classes with fighters like Urijah Faber who runs the team, Chad Mendes, Joseph Benavidez, Danny Castillo, Cody Garbrandt, Andre Fili and Paige VanZant.
However, a significant amount of Dillashaw’s success in recent years has been attributed to the team’s former head coach Duane ‘Bang’ Ludwig who left last year as rumors of a rift between himself and Urijah Faber emerged.
Since then Ludwig and Faber have engaged in a rather public war of words, leaving Dillashaw stuck in the middle. Given the fact that Ludwig now lives in Colorado and he’ll continue to work with the 135lb kingpin as he prepares for his next title defense against Dominick Cruz early next year, it’s clear where his loyalties now lie.
It doesn’t appear that he’s left on bad terms with TAM either though, noting in an interview with mmafighting.com that, “The last six years at Team Alpha Male have been irreplaceable and my brothers there will forever be family to me.”
The situation with Team Alpha Male was clearly becoming increasingly awkward though and given that there’s been increasing talk that Dillashaw and Faber may one day have to fight each other perhaps it is best that they are now operating out of separate camps.
