TUF 12's Andy Main Defects To Team GSP Following Show’s Conclusion

Andy Main with Georges St-Pierre and his team

Andy Main may have been drafted to Team Koscheck during the 12th season of “The “Ultimate Fighter,” but he’s happy to defect to Team GSP, as the two coaches get ready to square off in the main event of UFC 124 in Montreal.

Main, who trains with the AMA Fight Club and Team Renzo Gracie in New York City, has longstanding ties with some of those closest to St-Pierre, and when the chance came to travel to Montreal and help the champion prepare for his former coach, he was happy to oblige.

“Basically, as I’ve said before, John Danaher is my jiu-jitsu instructor and sort of through him I got kind of hooked back up with GSP because he came down to the city. I had also gone out and trained with Kyle Watson and we were talking to GSP a little bit while we were out there and he invited myself and Kyle Watson to come up and train with him during his camp for Koscheck. I was ecstatic. I was excited to go up and train with those guys,” Main told MMAWeekly Radio on Monday.

During the season, Main had actually lost in the elimination round to Watson, who is now poised as a semifinalist with one episode remaining in the latest season of “The Ultimate Fighter.” The New Jersey fighter had expressed several times since the show finished taping that he never really felt at home on Team Koscheck, and was happy to be accepted with Team GSP, even if the show had already ended.

UFC champion Georges St-Pierre and Andy Main

“We were kind of like taking a picture and they were like ‘the whole time you were part of Team GSP and you’re Team GSP now’ and I was like, I’ve got to throw on a red jersey so I can show everybody else, and renounce my yellow,” Main said with a laugh.

The declaration by Main was the culmination of several instances where he didn’t agree with Koscheck’s behavior on the show, which included a rousing celebration in which the coach and his team banged on the wall of Team GSP after one of their team members lost. Only Main and fellow teammate Aaron Wilkinson refused to participate in the boastful celebration, and overall he just didn’t like the way Koscheck handled things.

“I made it clear how I felt, but I also didn’t want to complain like ‘oh Koscheck this, and Koscheck that,’ but I’m going to be honest. My whole thing with the show, I mean I don’t get that much air time, and I expected that, it’s not surprising to me because I’m not really that outspoken,” said Main. “I didn’t want to be associated with a lot of the things Koscheck was about. Not saying anything about his team or his coaches, I’ve said it before, I respect them fully. Obviously they have a slew of sick guys out at their camp, it’s more than just the training.”

Even if he didn’t get to train with GSP’s team or coaches during the show, Main got the chance to do so after the show ended and hopes to continue that in the future.

One thing that is for sure is that Main won’t be calling up his former “Ultimate Fighter” coach for advice as he makes his way forward in his own career. Admitting that he’s only had brief contact with coaches like Dave Camarillo since the show ended, Main hasn’t talked to Koscheck at all, and doesn’t plan to do so either.

“I haven’t talked to Koscheck one time since the show,” Main said. “What it says to me is Georges is a legitimate guy as he’s portrayed on the show. He’s a legit guy, that’s just how he is, and the whole thing with Koscheck is, and I honestly don’t know him, this is just the number one question I get: Is Koscheck as big a (expletive) in real life as he is on the show?

“Honestly, I’m not sure. Because if it’s an act, it’s a real good one, because he’s got me fooled for sure. I just don’t want to be associated with that. If that’s his show, that’s his act, I don’t want to be an actor in that show.”

Although Main wasn’t a primary sparring partner for GSP in Canada, he was happy to help out where needed and when his former coach and his newly adopted coach meet at UFC 124, his allegiance will be very clear.

“I will be wearing a red shirt on Dec. 11,” Main commented eluding to the team colors for St-Pierre on TUF 12. “That’s for sure.”