Its been some time since Justin Buchholz departed from Team Alpha Male following his removal from his position as head coach. Since then, however, the camp has faced some struggles. The most notable being Cody Garbrandt’s UFC bantamweight title defeat and back-to-back knockout losses to TJ Dillashaw.
Speaking to TSN MMA recently, Buchholz offered his thoughts on the situation. The former Alpha Male head coach believes gym owner and founder Urijah Faber is to blame for the struggles (via MMA Fighting):
“If you think of it like football, it’s like the owner of the team got jealous of the head coach and then showed up on the field and started coaching instead of sitting back and kicking his feet up saying, ‘I started the team, I own the team, everything you do makes my shine brighter’” Buchholz said. “But some people can’t understand that because they can’t see past their own ego.
“. . . You can say whatever you want but the results speak for themselves. Cody’s only fights against top-10 opponents are Pedro Munhoz, T.J. Dillashaw, and then Dominick Cruz, and Dominick Cruz was the best out of all of them and he master-classed him but he couldn’t get past those other guys. It has a lot to do with coaching, the program, it’s all that.”
When asked if he would ever consider mending the relationship and returning to Team Alpha Male, Buchholz seems confident that won’t happen:
“Absolutely not. I would never go back to that gym,” Buchholz said. “What I did there, I was there for 10 years. I was the first UFC fighter to fight out of Alpha Male. The social media, I did all of that. I started it from scratch.
“I made the Team Alpha Male Instagram, I ran that and it was the biggest team Instagram in the sport. . . The logo on all their shirts, I designed that logo. I was a huge part of that and I didn’t think that I ever, ever leave that. I thought that I was gonna die as head coach of Alpha Male but c’est la vie.
“Things don’t always work out the way you think they are and sometimes they turn out better for you. For me to ever coach Alpha Male again, that door is closed. Urijah would have to lick my boot if he wanted me to go back in that gym and even then I don’t think I’d do it.”
What do you think about Bucholz’s comments regarding Faber and Team Alpha Male?
