For Dillashaw and Ludwig, 'surreal' win leads to questions about uncertain future

As he walked to his corner after the first round, T.J. Dillashaw tried to make sense of what had happened.

He’d just spent five minutes in the cage with Renan Barao, the man who was supposed to be the top 135-pound fighter in the world, and maybe – at least according to his boss – the pound-for-pound best in the sport. He’d also put that man flat on his back with a single punch, and he wasn’t sure what to make of it just yet.

“I was kind of in awe,” Dillashaw told MMAjunkie. “I mean, I dropped him. I expected a five-round war, and I went out there and put him on his butt. It was kind of like, wow, it’s happening. This is exactly what I envisioned, and it’s going down right now.”

But to Dillashaw’s coach, Duane Ludwig, it was nothing so surprising. This was the plan, after all. He knew his fighter had the ability to pull it off. All that remained to be seen was whether he could execute in the moment, and what Barao would do about it when he did.

“That’s how I saw the fight going,” Ludwig said. “There were one or two things that we knew [Barao] does when he gets pressured. They’re things that I don’t think he or his camp knew or had realized, so we just had to make sure we made him do those things inside the cage. When we did, it was expected for me.”

For Dillashaw, it felt a little different. It’s not that he didn’t like his chances heading into the fight – he did. He knew he’d be an underdog as soon as the fight was announced, he said, and he couldn’t blame oddsmakers for siding with the reigning champ.

“I’ve only been fighting for four years, and the guy’s been undefeated for nine,” Dillashaw said. “I expected to go into a fight against the champion of the world as an underdog. But I never had fear, because I had nothing lose. I had to go in there and show that I belonged there, rather than going in there with the pressure of being the favorite where everybody thinks you have to win.”

Still, even Dillashaw didn’t expect to dominate the champ the way he did. After dropping him in the first round, he said, he felt his confidence gradually increasing as the fight wore on. The more he attacked with near impunity, the more he realized that Barao had no answer for his speed and movement, which was the premise his entire game plan was built around.

“I made a conscious effort to do that,” Dillashaw said. “I knew I was faster than Barao, and if I used my footwork well, I could be in and out. I felt like that was style to beat him, but it’s not the style to beat everyone. Some guys you need to move left. Some you need to come straight in. With him, I needed to get out of the way of his big strikes, and I knew they were coming. I just couldn’t stand in front of him and play the game he wants to play. He wants to slow everyone down, get them to stand in front of him and not push the pace. That’s when he goes for the big punches and finishes it. I knew my footwork had to be on point.”

That’s also where Ludwig came in. The stand-up expertise he brought to Team Alpha Male had helped turn Dillashaw from a fighter who relied on his wrestling to one who could genuinely threaten great strikers on the feet. Watching him put those skills to use against Barao, Ludwig said, was at times “almost surreal.”

“It’s kind of weird, because it is the number one thing, is to grab that belt,” Ludwig said. “That’s what everyone wants to do, so to do it is this great high. But at the same time, winning the belt wasn’t a surprise. We felt like we already knew what was going to happen.”

Dillashaw didn’t, however. Throughout his high school and college wrestling careers, championships had always eluded him. That’s why, even as he chipped away at Barao for the next four rounds, that little voice inside his head kept reminding him to keep his hands up and his feet moving, lest one big punch slip in and undo all his good work.

When it turned out to be Dillashaw who landed that punch in the fifth and final round, the matter was decided. Even then, it didn’t sink in right away. At least not for Dillashaw.

“It was a sigh of relief, as well as excitement,” Dillashaw said. “It was almost hard to believe that it went down like that. I couldn’t have written a story better than that.”

Neither could Ludwig, when you think about it.

He’d come to Team Alpha Male as a fighter at the end of the line, looking to make a career change and transition to a full-time coaching gig. The team had improved under his guidance and put several fighters in title bouts, but they had yet to one the big one, and now the relationship was nearing an end. With Ludwig looking to move back to Colorado to start his own gym, and Team Alpha Male founder Urijah Faber airing details of the split in the press, this looked to be the last chance Ludwig would get to see his work there pay off.

Once Dillashaw landed the knockout blow that brought home a UFC belt, it was vindication for Ludwig. It was also the beginning of the search for answers to some difficult questions about their future association.

According to Dillashaw, it doesn’t matter if Ludwig is no longer officially with Team Alpha Male.

“He’s a huge part of my training camps, and I’m going to continue to get that from him,” he said. “I’ll need to have him come up for my fight camps and I’ll travel to his gym too. I will continue to work with Duane, because he’s a huge part of my success.”

As for how they’ll pull it off in future fight camps, Ludwig said, he’s “not sure how that’s going to work yet.”

Dillashaw just hopes it will, since winning the title is one thing, while defending it is another.

“I have a target on my back, and I need to feed off it,” he said. “I’m the man. I’m the man to beat, and that’s a great feeling. Everyone’s coming after me now. I’m going to enjoy that.”

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