Lance Palmer considered leaving Team Alpha Male: Our team was at a ‘breaking point’

Team Alpha Male is infamous and has received criticism for its often inaccurate “fighters training fighters” style. In the past, the team has had head coaches including Duane Ludwig and Martin Kampmann. But after the latter exited last year, that style of training was finally accurate — Team Alpha Male lacked a head coach to guide its fighters.

This was a very tough moment in time for Team Alpha Male fighters, proved by T.J. Dillashaw’s departure. The former UFC bantamweight champion moving to Denver, CO to train at Elevation Fight Team caused unnecessary negative attention towards the Sacramento, California gym. On top of that, it sparked a rivalry between Dillashaw and gym owner and fellow bantamweight Urijah Faber, who were longtime training partners of each other.

Lance Palmer, a staple of Team Alpha Male, wasn’t too hurt by Dillashaw’s exit, however.

“I’ve been friends with T.J. since I first moved to Sacramento five years ago,” Palmer told BloodyElbow.com’s The MMA Circus. “We’ve done a lot of training trips together, fight trips together. Through wrestling, I’ve known who T.J. was — not as well as I do now — but I’ve always known who he was. He wrestled Division 1, and same thing with (Chad) Mendes. So I’ve kind of always known who he was, but once I got to know him, he’s a great guy. I consider him a friend, no matter where he trains or what gym he chooses.”

“He went and did what he thought was right for his career. Nobody goes in the media and bashes somebody if they leave their job for a higher paying job or a job in a different city. That’s the name of the game. I don’t really care about that stuff. Our team is like a family, and a lot of guys had their feelings hurt because by it. But it didn’t really sway me either direction. I was friends with him then, and I’m still friends with him now.”

With a severe lack of coaches, Team Alpha Male nearly fell apart, according to the former WSOF featherweight champion.

“(Dillashaw) left when our team was honestly at a breaking point,” he said. “We didn’t have any structure. I had coach Joey, my boxing coach, who’s a great boxing coach. But we didn’t have an MMA coach. We were basically back to square one, training each other, and we’re too high level of a team for that.

“It was probably actually the beginning of January. It was after my fight,” he said. “We had Paige VanZant, Mendes, Urijah fight the week before me, December 12th, and I fought on the 18th. Those fights were an indication of how bad that fall was in the gym — not in the media. Not really having a structure of who’s …

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