Former Team Alpha Male Coach Justin Buchholz Blames Urijah Faber For Gym Problems, Claiming He “Can’t See Past His Own Ego”
Former bantamweight champ Cody Garbrandt was KOd in the match that kicked off the main card of UFC 235 this Saturday night by Brazilian Pedro Munhoz.
After back-to-back losses to TJ Dillashaw, Team Alpha Male competitor Garbrandt suffered his third defeat in a row.
Cody Garbrandt broke silence on Monday when he wrote “kill or be killed” on his Instagram profile. It points out that brawling was a perfect strategy.
Justin Buchholz was previously a head coach in Team Alpha Male. Buchholz trained Cody for his match versus Dominick Cruz, which took place at UFC 207, on December 30, 2016. “No Love” won after five fantastic rounds and won the 135-pound title.
Justin Buchholz blames poor coaching and a bad strategy for Cody’s cold streak. (h/t MMAFighting)
“They make a situation that is kind of simple, way too simple,” Buchholz said. “They’re like, ‘Oh, he decided to throw caution to the wind.’ Well where was that guy, where was the guy who threw caution to the wind, kill or be killed, I’m just gonna go run across the cage holding my right hand out with my hands down, where was that guy when he fought Dominick Cruz?
“. . . It’s not kill or be killed. It’s win this fight. Get the W. It just pisses me off when people say, ‘Oh he just got emotional. He just decided to do this.’ That’s all from training! That’s all from the camp. That’s all from the cues you receive from your coach.”
Team Alpha Male owner Urijah Faber ousted Justin Buchholz from the head coach position a few days before Cody’s first fight against TJ Dillashaw in November 2017. Faber later said that he only “moved Buchholz to the role of the lead Muay Thai coach”.
Buchholz officially left Sacramento Gym on March 1, 2018, claiming the team has gone to a “different system” from the one he established.
Justin Buchholz says Urijah Faber f*cked everything up because of his “ego”.
“If you think of it like football, it’s like the owner of the team got jealous of the head coach and then showed up on the field and started coaching instead of sitting back and kicking his feet up saying, ‘I started the team, I own the team, everything you do makes my shine brighter’” Buchholz said. “But some people can’t understand that because they can’t see past their own ego.
“. . . You can say whatever you want but the results speak for themselves. Cody’s only fights against top-10 opponents are Pedro Munhoz, T.J. Dillashaw, and then Dominick Cruz, and Dominick Cruz was the best out of all of them and he master-classed him but he couldn’t get past those other guys. It has a lot to do with coaching, the program, it’s all that.”
What are your thoughts on Justin Buchholz’s statements?
