Urijah Faber Closes the Alpha Male Door on TJ Dillashaw

UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw surprised a lot of people earlier this week, announcing that he would be stepping away from Team Alpha Male in California to join Elevation Fight Team in Denver.

Dillashaw is a product of the Urijah Faber’s Sacramento-based fight team, the former WEC champ having recruited and groomed the current UFC champ from his earliest days in mixed martial arts.

There have been some rough waters surrounding their relationship for a while now, however, as Dillashaw grew close to former Alpha Male head coach Duane “Bang” Ludwig, during the latter’s time in California. Ludwig has since started his own family-oriented martial arts gym in his home base of Colorado, and had a very public falling out with Faber.

RELATED > UFC Champ TJ Dillashaw Bolts to Denver-Based Team, Full-Time 

Dillashaw has been splitting time between training with Alpha Male and Ludwig for his most recent fights, but got a significant offer from the newly re-organized Elevation Fight Team to come train with them at the state-of-the-art MusclePharm facility in Denver. Dillashaw often cross-trained with Elevation while he was in Colorado to train with Ludwig.

While Dillashaw splitting time between camps was workable for Faber, now that Dillashaw has officially joined the Elevation Fight Team full-time and taken up residence in Colorado, things aren’t so copacetic.

“We all know T.J.,” Faber said on Thursday’s Stud Show Radio podcast. “He gives back to the team, but he’s also about number one.

“When you have a family environment, you have people that have different little issues. T.J.’s thing has been that he has a bad temper and he hurts people in practice and does stuff. He’s got a temper and doesn’t hold back sometimes.”

But what Faber really pointed to was Dillashaw turning his back on the family. No, Dillashaw doesn’t need to worry about finding a horse head in his bed, but as long as he’s stepping off to another team, he’s not welcome to train at Alpha Male, something the champ indicated he might want to do from time to time.

“I’m like, ‘It doesn’t make sense for you to come in and spar with our guys,’“ Faber recounted from a conversation with Dillashaw.

“He said he wants to come back and be a part of our team, but he made a big-boy decision. He walked away from the family that brought him up, the guys who were a big part of his success.”

“He wants to walk away from the team. That doesn’t mean you get to come in here and help coach the guys when he’s really going to be watching to see a little opening here or there,” Faber continued.

Neither Faber nor Dillashaw has indicated that either has changed his mind about fighting the other, and Faber said on the radio show that he was still open to being friends, but the door to Alpha Male is closed unless Dillashaw does a full reversal.

“If (he’d) like to actually say, ‘Hey, I’m going to stay here (at Alpha Male).’ Dude, open arms; you’re welcome to do it.”