With that in mind, take a look at this video, in which Kos has a casual conversation with friend and former training partner Jon Fitch, and discusses the beef with former camp American Kickboxing Academy (specifically, coach Javier Mendez) that he apparently just can’t let go of. In the video, he admits that he hopes AKA “burns to the ground” with “maybe one person” in it. Hint: Mendez is the person he’s hoping for. To be fair, Koscheck also openly admits to being a D-I-C-K dick, so at least he’s willing to man up about that whole issue.
See Javier’s response, courtesy of MMAFighting, after the jump.
(When Mendez refused to kiss Koscheck’s boo-boo and make it all better, a rivalry had officially been started.)
There are few things that are simply a given in the MMA world, and they are:
With that in mind, take a look at this video, in which Kos has a casual conversation with friend and former training partner Jon Fitch, and discusses the beef with former camp American Kickboxing Academy (specifically, coach Javier Mendez) that he apparently just can’t let go of. In the video, he admits that he hopes AKA “burns to the ground” with “maybe one person” in it. Hint: Mendez is the person he’s hoping for. To be fair, Koscheck also openly admits to being a D-I-C-K dick, so at least he’s willing to man up about that whole issue.
Javier’s response, courtesy of MMAFighting, is below.
(the question comes up at the 1:25 mark.)
“It’s who he is,” Javier states bluntly, laughing through the fact that his former student of eight years more or less just wished for him to die. At least they can agree on one thing: Josh Koscheck is a dick.
Josh Koscheck and Javier Mendez didn’t exactly have an amicable parting earlier this year.Koscheck trained at Mendez’ American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose ever since leaving college. After he made a few (million) bucks in the UFC, he even opened a p…
Josh Koscheck and Javier Mendez didn’t exactly have an amicable parting earlier this year.
Koscheck trained at Mendez’ American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose ever since leaving college. After he made a few (million) bucks in the UFC, he even opened a pair of AKA-affiliated gyms in Fresno. Things were going so well, or at least they seemed to be. AKA and its legion of members always stress that they’re something like a family, and from my own personal experiences during visits to the gym over the years, I can confirm that to be true.
But not every family is a picture of serenity. Problems develop between siblings or children and their parents. Sometimes it’s repairable, but sometimes you just have to go your separate ways. That’s what happened between Mendez and Koscheck, and it was an ugly ending to a long-term relationship.
Koscheck told vague bits of his side of the story earlier this year. He gave his AKA gyms a new name and told folks that he never wanted to step foot back in San Jose. Then he blamed the entire thing on Mendez. Once he’d gotten that out of his system, I figured the whole thing was over.
Boy, was I wrong.
In a clip from the new AKA reality show Fight Factory, Koscheck is seen having the following discussion with former teammate Jon Fitch:
Koscheck: “I hope the gym burns … to the ground. Is that bad?”
Fitch: “As long as I’m not in it.”
Koscheck: “Hopefully nobody’s in it … well maybe one person. But if it burns down I’m cool, and we’ll be good.”
Now, in fairness to Koscheck, I’d like to add a little bit of context.
The first portions of Fight Factory were filmed in the early portions of this year, back when the split between Koscheck and Mendez was still fresh. So this isn’t some kind of lingering hatred from something that happened months ago. For Koscheck, the wound was still sore at the time this clip was being filmed.
That’s not to say that everything between Mendez and Koscheck is all roses and Candyland at this point, of course. It probably isn’t, given the severity of these feelings from Koscheck’s side.
According to Josh Koscheck, the bridge to American Kickboxing Academy is burnt. After a fallout with Javier Mendez, The Ultimate Fighter bad boy left the gym after eight years.FightPromo hosted a video of Koscheck chatting with longtime training p…
According to Josh Koscheck, the bridge to American Kickboxing Academy is burnt. After a fallout with Javier Mendez, The Ultimate Fighter bad boy left the gym after eight years.
FightPromo hosted a video of Koscheck chatting with longtime training partner and friend Jon Fitch. The two discussed Koscheck’s departure from AKA, his relationship with Mendez and Koscheck’s new gym in Fresno, Calif.
The video ends with a disturbing sentence: “I hope the gym burns to the ground.”
Koscheck has been controversial, often accused of being a dirty fighter or faking injuries in the cage, but this one may have crossed a line.
The bleach-blonde bad boy announced his departure from his longtime gym at the UFC 143 post-fight press conference. Shocking many members of the MMA community, the move saw Koscheck voluntarily step away from one of the most celebrated fight camps in the sport.
“There was a lot of poison going on around there and I’m really disappointed because we had a good thing going. It was a good thing and I think people’s egos got in the way. Well, not people just Javier, his ego got in the way, and too many cameras in the gym and him trying to build himself up and his brand”
Koscheck’s next fight is exactly one month from today, as he will meet Jake Ellenberger on the main card of UFC 151. After losing a close fight with Johny Hendricks, Kos knows that he is losing his place at the top of the division. Is this a weird attempt at getting some publicity for the bout?
Stay tuned to Bleacher Report MMA for late-breaking news.
Andrew Saunders is a syndicated writer and featured columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. Follow him on Twitter for late-breaking news and analysis for all things MMA.
With the recent announcement that Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin have been named as the coaches for the next installment of The Ultimate Fighter series, the MMA universe immediately launched into a full-blow orgasmic ticker-tape parade complete with tons of flying confetti and a marching band belting out death metal tunes. Once I heard the news, it was as if my life instantaneously turned into a beer commercial and the entire Potato Nation was invited. There was a rad pool-party, barbeque, a plethora of hotties, endless alcohol, and an overall quest for fun.
Well . . . . . actually, none of that happened. In fact, when word spread that Nelson and Carwin would helm the next season of TUF, it was officially filed under “WTF?” Judging from the comment section, most of the CP brethren didn’t care for the choices either. TUF is coming off a season that saw the ratings dip lower than they ever had, which could partially be blamed on the move to FX and the dreaded Friday night time slot. Regardless of the variables for the ratings drop, something drastic needs to be done, but is anybody really convinced that Carwin and Nelson are the answer to TUF’s slow and painful demise? Let’s start from the beginning and take a look back to see if this runaway train can be coaxed back onto the main rail.
The Season That Started it All
The inaugural season of TUF featured future Hall of Famers Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture as the competing coaches who would go mano y mano at the PPV after the season finale. For fans of the UFC, that was good enough for most to initially tune in for the Fertitta-funded experiment. It still remains the best crop of young talent and personalities to ever grace the show; future stars like Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Josh Koscheck, Chris Leben, Diego Sanchez, Mike Swick, Kenny Florian, and Nate Quarry were all complete unknowns vying for stardom in a fledgling sport. You mix in the whole “fatherless bastard” angle and the show was off and running even before the awe-inspiring climax between (pre TRT) FoGrif and The American Psycho. Even before that, we were treated to the greatest speech of all time that has since been condensed into a few words. “Do you wanna be a fighter?” Though there were other memorable moments from the seasons that followed, Zuffa should have quit while they were ahead because it would never be this good again. The unrefined personification of immature talent, undeniable aspirations and gonzo-sized balls oozed from the boob tube during every episode.
With the recent announcement that Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin have been named as the coaches for the next installment of The Ultimate Fighter series, the MMA universe immediately launched into a full-blow orgasmic ticker-tape parade complete with tons of flying confetti and a marching band belting out death metal tunes. Once I heard the news, it was as if my life instantaneously turned into a beer commercial and the entire Potato Nation was invited. There was a rad pool-party, barbeque, a plethora of hotties, endless alcohol, and an overall quest for fun.
Well . . . . . actually, none of that happened. In fact, when word spread that Nelson and Carwin would helm the next season of TUF, it was officially filed under “WTF?” Judging from the comment section, most of the CP brethren didn’t care for the choices either. TUF is coming off a season that saw the ratings dip lower than they ever had, which could partially be blamed on the move to FX and the dreaded Friday night time slot. Regardless of the variables for the ratings drop, something drastic needs to be done, but is anybody really convinced that Carwin and Nelson are the answer to TUF’s slow and painful demise? Let’s start from the beginning and take a look back to see if this runaway train can be coaxed back onto the main rail.
The Season That Started it All
The inaugural season of TUF featured future Hall of Famers Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture as the competing coaches who would go mano y mano at the PPV after the season finale. For fans of the UFC, that was good enough for most to initially tune in for the Fertitta-funded experiment. It still remains the best crop of young talent and personalities to ever grace the show; future stars like Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Josh Koscheck, Chris Leben, Diego Sanchez, Mike Swick, Kenny Florian, and Nate Quarry were all complete unknowns vying for stardom in a fledgling sport. You mix in the whole “fatherless bastard” angle and the show was off and running even before the awe-inspiring climax between (pre TRT) FoGrif and The American Psycho. Even before that, we were treated to the greatest speech of all time that has since been condensed into a few words. “Do you wanna be a fighter?” Though there were other memorable moments from the seasons that followed, Zuffa should have quit while they were ahead because it would never be this good again. The unrefined personification of immature talent, undeniable aspirations and gonzo-sized balls oozed from the boob tube during every episode.
Season 2
Season 2 saw Rich Franklin coach opposite Matt Hughes, and since both men competed at different weight classes, they were obviously not going to fight at the conclusion of the season. This was a prime example of the UFC throwing shit against the wall to see if it would stick by parading two somewhat charismatic champions in front of the camera with hopes of gathering ratings/fans for the upcoming UFC 56 PPV. Although it was undoubtedly a less thrilling season than that of its predecessor, it did introduce to another future light heavyweight champion in Rashad Evans, who won the contract competing as a heavyweight, as well as such names as Joe Stevenson, Melvin Guillard, and future pound-for-pound punching bag GOAT Keith Jardine. And if not for Jardine, the worldmay have never learned that “The Dean of Mean” would make no sense if his last name was Johnson, a valuable take home indeed.
Season 3
Season 3 is one of my personal favorites because of the preconceived notions about coaches: Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock. Tito was working the crap out of “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” gimmick and wore the black hat pretty damn well even though he desperately wanted to be accepted by everyone. On the other hand, Shamrock was the MMA legend who competed in the very first UFC tournament and was the founder of his own training facility – The Lion’s Den. Shamrock was supposed to be the more seasoned coach, but chose to bring in weight lifting specialists and opted to rewatch videos of his UFC fights instead of training during an infamous episode, among other baffling decisions. Tito, conversely, came across as a guy that was genuinely committed to making his team better fighters through technique (believe it or not) and some crazy conditioning drills involving piggyback rides and vacant floors of Las Vegas hotels. In the end, Tito TKO’d Ken in just over a minute and Michael Bisping began his quest to piss off everybody around the world en route to winning the LHW contract.
Season 4 – The Comeback
Season 4 came upon us with the familiar sound of a giant turd smacking against a cinder block divider. Luckily for the UFC, a Ram-Manesque New Yorker with a perfectly timed overhand right came along and the dookie kind of stuck. I am not exactly sure who came up with the idea of bringing back washed up fighters mixed with a few coulda-shoulda guys coupled with a blend of has-beens and never-weres, but I am certain it must have sounded phenomenal during the pitch meeting. This was the only other season that featured an abundance of talent (albeit fleeting talent) like the first season. Shonie Carter, Patrick Côté, Matt Serra, Travis Lutter, Jorge Rivera, Pete Sell, *cough convicted rapist *cough* Jeremy Jackson, Scott Smith, Din Thomas, Mikey Burnett, and (everybody’s favorite) Chris Lytle. All of these guys were waaaaaay professional for any of the usual drama to become too much of an issue, aside from Shonie’s batshit craziness, that is. There were no head coaches but instead guest coaches, and all the fighters shared instructors Mark DellaGrotte as their striking guru and Marc Laimon as the perceived submission specialist. Season highlights include a goggled Burnett self-concussing himself while running through some sheet rock (forgetting that code requires studs every 16 inches), Serra calling Laimon a pussy for never stepping into the real world of fighting and of course . . . . . this. After the season there would be a fundamental plummet to mediocrity.
Season 5, or, the Aforementioned Plummet to Mediocrity
Season 5 was back to a basic grudge match between BJ Penn and Jens Pulver. The session would have been pretty tense if Pulver actually won his “welcome back to the UFC” fight months prior. Instead, Jens got KTFO by a wild-eyed nobody (at the time) named Joe Lauzon. How do you remedy this issue? Make Lauzon a participant during the season and have BJ make the guys raise their hands if they did NOT want to be on Pulver’s team. We were also introduced to the unrefined, yet potent, skills of Nate Diaz (along with his brotherly inspired “Fuck You” demeanor towards Karo Parisyan) and some Ping-Pong skills that would make Forrest Gump puke. So, basically the entire thing resembled a trash can fire without the Doo Wop.
On the next page: Disgusting pranks, trans-Atlantic rivalry, and a pugilist named Slice.
(Koscheck doesn’t like curly blonde wigs for the same reason that Jon Jones doesn’t like fake UFC belts. It’s like, bro, you didn’t put in the work, okay? / Photo via Sherdog)
You can’t keep a good man down — or a bad one, either. Coming off his split-decision loss to Johny Hendricks in May, welterweight contender Josh Koscheckwill try to bounce back against Jake Ellenberger in the co-main event of UFC 151: Jones vs. Henderson, September 1st in Las Vegas. Ellenberger is also coming off a defeat — his leave-from-ahead* knockout loss to Martin Kampmann at the TUF 15 Finale — which followed a six-fight win streak, including victories over Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez. So which top 170-pounder is going to wake up the next morning with two straight losses?
Koscheck hasn’t started talking trash to Ellenberger on twitter yet, but he did recently call you a sissy and pat his hair on the back. In other notable UFC 151 booking news…
(Koscheck doesn’t like curly blonde wigs for the same reason that Jon Jones doesn’t like fake UFC belts. It’s like, bro, you didn’t put in the work, okay? / Photo via Sherdog)
You can’t keep a good man down — or a bad one, either. Coming off his split-decision loss to Johny Hendricks in May, welterweight contender Josh Koscheckwill try to bounce back against Jake Ellenberger in the co-main event of UFC 151: Jones vs. Henderson, September 1st in Las Vegas. Ellenberger is also coming off a defeat — his leave-from-ahead* knockout loss to Martin Kampmann at the TUF 15 Finale — which followed a six-fight win streak, including victories over Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez. So which top 170-pounder is going to wake up the next morning with two straight losses?
Koscheck hasn’t started talking trash to Ellenberger on twitter yet, but he did recently call you a sissy and pat his hair on the back. In other notable UFC 151 booking news…
A showdown between two of the top welterweights in MMA is set to go down at UFC 151. Former title challenger Josh Koscheck will look to get back into the mix at 170 when he takes on a fellow top contender in Jake Ellenberger at the September 1st event,…
A showdown between two of the top welterweights in MMA is set to go down at UFC 151.
Former title challenger Josh Koscheck will look to get back into the mix at 170 when he takes on a fellow top contender in Jake Ellenberger at the September 1st event, and the winner will find themselves right back in the title picture with guys like Georges St-Pierre and Carlos Condit.
Both Koscheck and Ellenberger are coming off of tough defeats in the their last appearances inside the Octagon, but the fighters are still ranked near the top of the weight class and the winner should be considered a serious threat to whomever holds the UFC welterweight belt by the end of the year.
