TJ was right to leave TAM, he's not a snake

[Air Lats]

MMA isn't a team sport so I don't really care about that drama. TJ's real and biggest mistake, In my opinion, was not jumping on that "snake" bandwagon when it went viral.

TJ "The Snake" Dillashaw

Firstly, it would have shown a sense of humor, secondly, it's pretty fucking badass, and thirdly, it's great marketing. The number one trick in the McGregor playbook is: let your haters hype you.

So simple. Massive missed opportunity.

That reminds me so much of PVZ NOT just shaving her head for cancer kids. Take the feels out of the equation and it was just the best possible PR opportunity missed. Her hair would've grown back out fine and she'd both HAVE a huge amount of goodwill and love and NOT HAVE a stink following her around for a loooong time.

She could've easily hit the talk show circuit. Before and after pics, how awesome it was for this young MMA fighter with lovely hair shaved it off for the cause. Money in the bank and long term recognition.

Classic short term fear of loss/long term sabatoge that could've easily been win/win.

 

[kammfreudenstei]

Good coaches are pretty easy to find, excellent coaches are hard to find and elite coaches are extremely rare. It's pretty hard to tell the difference right away, too.

TAM seems to have between good and excellent coaches. They'll get you in shape and get you to the bright lights but they don't seem to have that creativity and constant reassessment that is required to be truly elite and remain elite for a long time (not a knock on Faber, he was elite, if not champ any time recently).

I tend to agree with your overall assessment of TAM's coaching quality just based off their fighters and with absolutely not enough information to say for sure.

I think TJ made the right choices but he may not have executed the switch very well. I couldn't care less, though. Sometimes it's hard to tell a mentor and bro the hurtful truth. You still SHOULD but when it comes down to it, every one of us is some kind of liar.

Good post man.

 

[HHJ]

That reminds me so much of PVZ NOT just shaving her head for cancer kids. Take the feels out of the equation and it was just the best possible PR opportunity missed. Her hair would've grown back out fine and she'd both HAVE a huge amount of goodwill and love and NOT HAVE a stink following her around for a loooong time.

Classic short term gain/long term sabatoge that could've easily been win/win.

she def screwed that up,and namajunas stole all the thunder...but yknow,life moves on.

 

[Air Lats]

she def screwed that up,and namajunas stole all the thunder...but yknow,life moves on.

Lol

 

[Cooliox]

she def screwed that up,and namajunas stole all the thunder...but yknow,life moves on.

who? no one seems to know outside internet fans

meanwhile Paige seems to have just drawn record ratings on Fox...

 

[Shaddows]

I respectfully disagree
Why do Chad and Joe B go out of their way to get Bang's training after everything Faber accused Bang of? Something doesn't add up, it's because he made them better fighters. Dillashaw and the others could only be so good with their current coaching. TAM wasn't good with nuanced mma, Bang made the difference for TJ. Castillo, Garbrandt(Garbrandt Ko'd a journeyman about to be released by the ufc, he's just marketable), and PVZ are very limited fighters. TAM overreacted and acted like a psycho exgirlfriend getting dumped. They stayed the same and there is truth to Bang's comments that only TJ wanted to be a champion. Simply put there is only so much growth you can do at TAM and TJ had the insight to seek better training

I agree Ludwick is a great coach, but look at TAM's current list of coaches:
MMA - Justin Buchholz
Wrestling - Danny Castillo
BJJ - Chris Holdsworth
Boxing - Joey Rodriguez
Muay Thai - Thonglor Armatsena
So one trainer does not make or break a camp.

Besides, you keep talking about PVZ. If she wouldn't be @ TAM, most likely she would not have been as popular as she is.

And I disagree with you about the breakup with Ludwick. It was him who acted out when he left. he started throwing poop at the fan, and Faber only opened his mouth after a long while.
I mean look at TJ now.
TAM made him a champion.
Since he left, he lost a lot of fans (who came from Faber to TJ and then abandoned him when things blew up).
And let us not forget that popularity is a real thing in MMA> I bet if TJ would not have had the fallout with Faber, he would have gotten his rematch with Cruz.

 

[Fight Professor]

He was not straight with Faber about it which is what makes him the snake.

 

[Goatenstein]

I never understood why TAM was considered to be one of the best camps for the lighter weight classes. The majority of their fighters never seem to be making progress and seem lost when fighting someone who has subtleties of MMA down.
I'm a big fan of PVZ but she was outclassed by someone who is far more skilled(although I will recognize the age and experience difference) Waterson trains at a real camp and it shows in how she mixes in her karate with her ground game. Point is PVZ has not made much progess, beating a journeywoman and losing to top level fighters
In MMA especially in the lighter weight classes, your time at the top is limited as most fighters rely on their quickness. There was a reason why TJ was the first and only champion from TAM(Garbrandt Ko'd a fighter about to be released by the promotion,he's not that good) If I had a wife and a home in California(which must be expensive) I would do everything it took to stay one step ahead of everyone else. TJ is one of the few former champs still in immediate title contention in a sport where it's very difficult to regain a belt(look at Pettis, Weidman, RDA, Hendricks, the list goes on and on)
I think if TJ wasn't fighting so emotionally and distracted by all the TAM fallout he would have beaten Cruz, it is what it is

You're a big fan of someone who lied to thousands of cancer-stricken children?

 

[Guernica]

When you have to tell people you're not a snake, chances are you're a snake.

#GUERNICAbless

 

[goodone2]

Dirty reptilian.

 

[screaminleeman]

I never understood why TAM was considered to be one of the best camps for the lighter weight classes. The majority of their fighters never seem to be making progress and seem lost when fighting someone who has subtleties of MMA down.
I'm a big fan of PVZ but she was outclassed by someone who is far more skilled(although I will recognize the age and experience difference) Waterson trains at a real camp and it shows in how she mixes in her karate with her ground game. Point is PVZ has not made much progess, beating a journeywoman and losing to top level fighters
In MMA especially in the lighter weight classes, your time at the top is limited as most fighters rely on their quickness. There was a reason why TJ was the first and only champion from TAM(Garbrandt Ko'd a fighter about to be released by the promotion,he's not that good) If I had a wife and a home in California(which must be expensive) I would do everything it took to stay one step ahead of everyone else. TJ is one of the few former champs still in immediate title contention in a sport where it's very difficult to regain a belt(look at Pettis, Weidman, RDA, Hendricks, the list goes on and on)
I think if TJ wasn't fighting so emotionally and distracted by all the TAM fallout he would have beaten Cruz, it is what it is

There are pluses and minuses to training camps, and I feel they should ALL be banned to professional fighters that compete in the UFC.

TAM and it's success rate, I will not dispute. I will however point out some of the drawbacks from camps that have produced top level championship level MMA fighters in the UFC.

?Una Nova? and AKA are certainly pumping out absolute top level MMA practitioners, however they are injuring these fighters and MURDERING UFC events at a rate that none of these "less successful" MMA camps can dream of touching.

It is a trade off. I would STRONGLY prefer that EVERY FIGHTER signed to a UFC contract was contractually bound to NOT take the risk of training at a facility that has zero liability to the UFC for derailing an event.

 

[Xenon_]

Good coaches are pretty easy to find, excellent coaches are hard to find and elite coaches are extremely rare. It's pretty hard to tell the difference right away, too.

TAM seems to have between good and excellent coaches. They'll get you in shape and get you to the bright lights but they don't seem to have that creativity and constant reassessment that is required to be truly elite and remain elite for a long time (not a knock on Faber, he was elite, if not champ any time recently).

I tend to agree with your overall assessment of TAM's coaching quality just based off their fighters and with absolutely not enough information to say for sure.

I think TJ made the right choices but he may not have executed the switch very well. I couldn't care less, though. Sometimes it's hard to tell a mentor and bro the hurtful truth. You still SHOULD but when it comes down to it, every one of us is some kind of liar.

Sound words.

From the outside looking in, it did seem like TJ didn't handle the split maturely or honestly. But we're all human.

Seems like a smart move though. I don't see anyone in Alpha Male with the striking quality of TJ. But then... loyalty and friendship versus ambition and self improvement....

At the end of day, I don't know enough or care enough to have a worthwhile opinion.

 

[NotoriousMillions]

Lol cmon Jared, who are you trying to fool. You've got child molestor written all over you.

Poor kids. They don't deserve to have a neighbor like you. Then again, nobody does.

 

[lowlife]

I wonder what Conor is really like, he seems insecure there.

 

[Bob Gray]

Faber found this kid living/wrestling in the streets as a high schooler and brought him in, showed him the ropes, and groomed him for greatness. there's such thing as loyalty

TJ was an opportunist, the exact definition of snake in the grass

But TJ still wanted to be in good terms with Faber, but felt he had more to learn at this point in his career from Ludwig. Faber is the one that burned the bridge and started sounding like a jilted girlfriend.

There is such a thing as loyalty, but should TJ make the choices he feels are worse for his career?

 

[Ah Man]

I never understood why TAM was considered to be one of the best camps for the lighter weight classes. The majority of their fighters never seem to be making progress and seem lost when fighting someone who has subtleties of MMA down.

What, and Elevation Fight Team is just producing world champions left and right? If TJ Dillashaw wanted a steady paycheck for training or whatever, by all means, but let's not pretend this was about training quality.

At the end of the day, it's inconsequential to anyone whose name isn't Urijah Faber or TJ Dillashaw. This type of gym drama happens all the time in MMA. The only reason we pretend to care about this is because Conor told us to. It's unfortunate to see TJ's name dragged through the mud over this when other fighters - one of which is beloved on Sherdog - have left their gyms on much worse terms.

I'm more or less with you on what Dillashaw did not being a big deal, but if someone disagrees and thinks it's a scummy thing to do, the unfortunate thing isn't TJ's name getting dragged through the mud—it's the other fighters' names not getting dragged through the mud.

 

[Dbreiden83080]

Faber found this kid living/wrestling in the streets as a high schooler and brought him in, showed him the ropes, and groomed him for greatness. there's such thing as loyalty

TJ was an opportunist, the exact definition of snake in the grass

He also lied to Faber over and over. Conor called him out on this right there on the show. Uriah stood up for him on the show and in the end TJ made Uriah look like an idiot for doing so.

 

[ALAN PARTRIDGE]

definitely the right move for him.

 

[Mr. Mackey]

TJ is def a snake in the grass....if we can all admit he is dishonest, then it's an easy conclusion to come to. It was a good move for him IMO but he should have just been up front about it.

Also tend to agree with TAM being overrated as a whole. Good gym, but not on par with top gyms in the world.
That could be for several different reasons, a main one being they may not recruit the best athletes overall.
They also don't get many UFC fighters or high caliber fighters to switch gyms to them as we see from time to time throughout careers.
They always bring in some decent young talent that gets stuck in a certain part of their growth, or falls just short, or falls off.
Another interesting thing is they seem to bring in mainly smaller fighters as a whole, which may elude to their limitations in terms of coaching.

 

[PutUpYourDux]

I wonder what Conor is really like, he seems insecure there.