Duke Roufus responds to team members' allegations, as other fighters chime in

Duke Roufus

A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story about the death of Roufusport amateur kickboxer Dennis Munson Jr. set off a firestorm of criticism aimed at head coach Duke Roufus this weekend, as former fighters such as UFC women’s strawweight Rose Namajunas and former UFC fighter Eric Schafer described a toxic atmosphere of abuse, both verbal and physical, at the Milwaukee gym that serves as the home to top fighters such as UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, among others.

Now Roufus is speaking out, telling MMAjunkie that he was surprised at the allegations that Namajunas, Schafer and others posted on social media and on The Underground Sunday night, in part because such accusations are rarely leveled at him in person.

“You know, when I see Rose and (former UFC fighter) Pat Barry, they don’t seem disgruntled,” Roufus said. “They’re very nice to me. Pat asked me advice at the last Glory (kickboxing) event. Rose came and trained at our gym in spring. Eric Schafer, I know we’ve had some issues. I’ve tried to reach out ever since he left Roufusport, and he didn’t want to ever sit down and chat with me. It’s tough.”

Schafer, who did not respond to requests to comment for this story, called Roufus a “bully, a liar and one of the worst people I have ever met” in a UG post supporting Namajunas’ allegations, likening Roufus to an abusive father whom his students couldn’t bring themselves to stand up to.

“I have never been in a more toxic environment than when I was the head grappling coach and fighter at the gym,” Schafer wrote. “I saw teammate after teammate getting treated like sh-t. Guys being told to beat up lower level guys that were just trying to help out, UFC fighters being told to beat up other UFC level fighters so they would not come back, verbal abuse, violence, guys getting lied to about fights, etc. I have messages and conversations with almost everyone of his fighters from my days there; from his UFC stars to his coaching staff about how much they were mistreated. I will not out them, but they know the truth.”

For his part, Roufus allowed that many of the fighters now speaking out were members of the team during a “chaotic time” for Roufusport. But things have changed considerably in the gym since then, he said. Hard sparring sessions may have been the norm then, Roufus claimed, but as the sport has evolved, so have his training methods.

“I think they left in 2010,” Roufus said. “It’s 2014. If you look at the results of what the kids are doing right now, and just the evolution of MMA, things have changed. Back then, I don’t think we embraced strength and conditioning as much. We were trying to spar ourselves into shape. My philosophy now, four short years later, is completely opposite of that.”

Pat Barry

He also countered that some of those fighters claiming to have witnessed bullying in the gym were perpetrators of it, saying, “I’ve personally seen Pat Barry low kick and liver shot Sergio Pettis as hard as he can, and I don’t believe in that style of training.”

Barry also did not return repeated requests for comment, but according to other former team members, the physical toll of the training was only part of the problem. Several fighters who spoke to MMAjunkie on the condition of anonymity said that the main issue was verbal and psychological abuse in the gym. Fighters described seeing others berated for small mistakes during practice sessions, or verbally dressed down after losing fights.

According to MMAjunkie contributor and former Roufusport fighter Danny Downes, some of those claims are exaggerated, and some might be the result of fighters having a poor reaction to the gruff communication style employed by Roufus and other coaches, such as Scott Cushman.

Downes recalled his first fight in the WEC, which he lost via submission at the hand of Chris Horodecki after taking the bout on short notice. Afterward, he said, Roufus had some unkind words about his wrestling ability, and that stung.

“But he was right; I did need to work on my wrestling,” Downes said. “Duke’s the kind of guy where, if you did a sh-tty job, he’ll tell you that you did a sh-tty job.”

According to Downes, that criticism may have seemed out of line to some fighters, but a certain amount of unpleasant feedback may be necessary in a rough sport like MMA, even if it might have gone too far at Roufusport.

“We hear a lot about positive reinforcement, but not usually the converse,” Downes said. “Fighting is about negative reinforcement. Not good at blocking a cross? Well, you just got punched in the face. Not doing so well at sparring? Then you hear about it. The trick is to find the balance, and oftentimes that balance was not met.”

Other fighters said it went beyond just harsh criticism, with certain members being singled out again and again, which they said led to an atmosphere of fear and overwhelming negativity.

Roufus didn’t deny that he could be hard on fighters on times, but he challenged the assertion that he did it out of meanness or the desire to abuse anyone.

“It’s because, the nature of this business, if you go out there and you don’t perform well, you get cut,” Roufus said. “And who likes seeing their friends get fired? It’s hard to see that, to see them not do well at their job.”

Rose Mamajunas

But the allegations from Schafer, Namajunas and others describe something that goes beyond harsh criticism. In messages passed along on social media by Namajunas, people who claimed to have been members at Roufusport describe incidents that seem more like assault than training, from the targeting of certain team members to the daily humiliation of others.

Roufus denied those claims and said he hadn’t held anyone back from leaving the team and pursuing their goals elsewhere if they didn’t like the coaches or the gym culture at Roufusport. And while he said that the death of Munson had “left a hole in my heart,” and shaken the entire team, he also questioned whether that was the true motivation behind the allegations.

“It’s hard,” Roufus said. “I don’t hate them. I’m disappointed. I mean Rose, you’re doing great stuff on ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ You have the ability to influence a lot of people, but if that’s how you felt, why did you come to my gym to train in the spring, after Dennis had passed? This happened March 29. She came through after that to train with us.”

Namajunas declined to go on record for this story, but when contacted by MMAjunkie, she said that she stood by her earlier claims and her earlier explanations for them. According to at least one other fighter who didn’t wish to be named, this sudden conflagration may be due at least in part to lingering bad blood over financial dealings gone wrong.

“The biggest evil in this whole equation is money,” said one fighter who asked not to be named.

As for the story that spurred this discussion, Roufus said he takes some issue with the timeline of events presented in the story, and claimed that when he helped press the Wisconsin state legislature to regulate MMA, he also asked for it to regulate kickboxing events such as that one, which he helped promote.

“But no one was interested in regulating kickboxing,” Roufus said. “We had the opportunity to regulate it, and they chose not to. A lot of people don’t realize that.”

As for Munson’s death, he said, it was “very tragic,” but he defended the selection of the referee and the ringside doctor, saying both officials have worked numerous other events and are licensed in other states.

“I have a hard time putting it into words, because it hurts,” Roufus said of Munson’s death. “I have a huge hole in my heart with the loss of Dennis. The harsh reality of combat sports hits home sometimes, and it’s hurtful. … It’s awful, and we all hurt over here.”

Ben Fowlkes is MMAjunkie and USA TODAY’s MMA columnist. Follow him on Twitter at @BenFowlkesMMA.