To say that Chad Mendes has fallen out with Duane Ludwig would be a huge understatement.
It appears as if Mendes wants nothing to do with his former striking coach following a radio appearance in which he suggested that TJ Dillashaw is the only Team Alpha Male member who actually wants to be a champion.
Mendes revealed on the MMA Hour that he was confused by Ludwig’s comments, and underplayed his impact on Team Alpha Male.
“I don’t know what the hell Duane is talking about. I’m tired of hearing about Duane and him ruling our team, you know?”
“Duane came here to Team Alpha Male for a short amount of time, and Duane did what he did, but I’d say 95-percent of our wins, when he was here, we would’ve won anyways.”
Mendes suggested that Team Alpha Male did more to boost Ludwig’s reputation as a coach than Ludwig did to improve the fighters. Money claimed that coaching the camp was a relatively easy task, considering how high the standard of the fighters is.
“Duane was the type of guy that brought a new style to our team, but we have such unique team, that everybody is such high-level athlete, that anybody can come to this team with a new style and we are going to pick it up, learn it, and use it.”
“We made Duane, we put Duane on the map.”
“Before that, Duane was a fighter that fought in UFC that most people didn’t know about. He came here as a coach, this was his first coaching experience, and he said it himself when he got the job. He said, ‘It’s like coming to a garage full of Lamborghinis and Ferraris.’ He’s going to fine tune some things and we are going to run like hell.”
The UFC featherweight alluded to a clash between Ludwig and Urijah Faber, which he hinted may have been the beginning of the end of his relationship with Team Alpha Male.
“That’s basically how it was, he had a new system we hadn’t seen and that’s why things were so fun and everybody got along. Then, some crazy, weird shit happened between him and Faber and then Duane started attacking all of us in the media.”
Mendes closed off the rant by confirming he had burned his bridges with the coach.
“To us, it’s something that really bummed us out because I liked Duane a lot and I felt like him as a person and as a coach was good, then this happened. He took digs at all of us. It’s just something I am sick of and I want out of my life.”
“Duane is not a part of Team Alpha Male.”
“This is a team I’ll be a part of until I’m done fighting and probably after. This is where I started and I will end. This is who made me as a fighter and I owe everything to Alpha Male. Duane was small, tiny little part of that.”
