The animosity between T.J. Dillashaw and some members of Team Alpha Male is showing no signs of slowing down.
Dillashaw, the former UFC bantamweight champion, spent his formative years at the Californian fight gym founded by fellow UFC star Urijah Faber but that relationship dissolved entirely when Dillashaw left the training centre to move to Colorado to train under the tutelage of Duane 'Bang' Ludwig - himself a person who has a chequered history with Team Alpha Male.
Several members of the Alpha Male team, Faber included, have spoken to the media about Dillashaw's supposed overly-aggressive sparring techniques, claiming that he was "a very brutal teammate".
Adam Corrigan, an up and coming welterweight who trains out of Team Alpha Male, added to the deluge of criticism aimed at Dillashaw.
Speaking to Bloody Elbow, Corrigan explained:
T.J. was probably one of the worst training partners of all time, no matter who you were. We have a lot of kids that are 18, 20 years old — they love MMA and just want to train with a teammate. They pay for it, and it’s the experience. You also get some serious fighters that come and train.
[Dillashaw] would spar with the kids that were there just to have fun and learn and be part of an experience. And he would beat the living shit out of them — like, till they’re crying on the mat.
And I’m like, ‘What the fuck are you doing man, just chill out. These aren’t the people to be beating up on right now.’ That’s just the person he was.
Corrigan was less concerned by the reasons for Dillashaw packing up and leaving the Alpha Male gym and saved his criticism for the manner he says Dillashaw acted when he was still a member.
T.J. wanted to train with Duane [Ludwig]. They have a really good relationship. Very tight, very good, they understand each other. The same kind of psychotic brain, ‘Who cares about the world? Let’s focus on each other,’ type of thing.
Having him gone, I didn’t really care. I got along with him as a mate but it didn’t really bother me or hurt me at all. He left and I was like, ‘Cool.’ It’s better for the younger guys at the gym because they’re not getting concussed every weekend.
These allegations won't do the T.J. Dillashaw brand very many favours. Viewers of the The Ultimate Fighter: McGregor v Faber will no doubt remember the 'snake in the grass' jibes that McGregor threw in the direction of Dillashaw and, according to Dillashaw himself, rarely a week goes by without someone hurling those words at him on the street.
If he had done it the right way, T.J. would probably still be in the good books with us. But he lied about it for a long time. He said, 'No, I'm not doing this, no, I'm not doing this.' It was pretty tough because the team was like, 'Hold on a second, you're kind of just stabbing us in the back.' He just lied about it.
