The times they are changing at Team Alpha Male once again.
The Sacramento based team that’s home to UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt as well as Chad Mendes, Lance Palmer, Cynthia Calvillo and a host of fighters competing around the world has undergone a coaching change at the top.
Former UFC fighter Justin Buchholz, who took over as the head coach for the team more than a year ago, recently revealed that he is no longer in that role but instead Team Alpha Male is looking at a power sharing situation at the top with several coaches leading the gym.
“I am no longer the head coach of Team Alpha Male,” Buchholz said on his podcast “Stud Show Radio”. “I went to Alaska and I came back and then a lot of things had changed. It’s been changing since we moved into the new gym.
“I had a system that I had put in place last year that I was in charge of and that I stuck to and made everything happen and we’ve just gone to different systems. Urijah [Faber] explained it to me, there’s five head coaches so everyone is a head coach but I’m no longer the head coach. I run the Muay Thai program. I’m the only Muay Thai coach. Yeah, you could say I’m the Muay Thai head coach.”
Buchholz has been a mainstay at Team Alpha Male for several years, transitioning into a coaching role while putting his own fight career on the back burner.
Now according to Buchholz, the team is being divided up with several coaches taking over a subject of their expertise like he’s doing with Muay Thai.
“Instead of doing all the practices and doing a ton of work, I’ll get paid by the hour and I will just get paid by class,” Buchholz said. “I have one class a week right now where I was doing four classes and work. So it’s just a changing of roles but I’m going to do work from the Muay Thai position and keep doing my thing and keep trying to win and build world champions.”
Team Alpha Male has undergone several notable coaching changes in the past including a very public split with Duane “Bang” Ludwig after he led the team to an incredible record under his tutelage before leaving to opening his own facility in Colorado.
Former UFC welterweight Martin Kampmann then took over as head coach for a short period of time before he left the gym as well.
Since then, Team Alpha Male has run the ship by committee with Buchholz taking over the reins as head coach alongside former UFC fighter Danny Castillo as well as Chris Holdsworth and team founder Urijah Faber.
Buchholz added that those three fighters are now running the MMA practices at the gym while he remains in charge of the Muay Thai program. Buchholz will be in Garbrandt’s corner this weekend as he faces former teammate T.J. Dillashaw in the co-main event at UFC 217 in New York.
