AKA Losses Koscheck, Gains Maynard and Duffee

Maynard seems like a great fit. Interested to see Duffee back in action soon, he should of never been released and still has great potential.

http://www.fiveknuckles.com/mma-news/Gray-Maynard-and-Todd-Duffee-joins-AKA.html

The American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) welcomes two new members, Gray Maynard and Todd Duffee, according to fightersonlymagazine.co.uk.

"Our team is only going to get stronger. We've just signed up Todd Duffee and Gray Maynard to be part of the team. We've got Leandro Vieira coming in as our new jiujitsu coach and he's one of the best teachers in the world," Javier Mendes, head coach said.

Vieira's CheckMat academy in Sao Paolo, Brazil is one of the most successful teams competing in Brazil's region circuit. The addition of Vieira is to fill the void left by AKA's previous jiu jitsu coach, Dave Camarillo, who departed AKA recently. UFC welterweight, Josh Koscheck, has also separated his ties with AKA citing tensions with Mendes.

For Maynard who was a long time member of Xtreme Couture, he says his change in gyms to better develop his skills. Maynard also points out that he has not signed exclusively with AKA which could mean his stay at the San Jose based gym is only temporary, possibly returning to Xtreme Couture in the future.

Duffee, who once considered a bright heavyweight prospect in the UFC, has lost his last two fights and has not fought since his last bout in late December 2010. A free agent for some time, perhaps his move to AKA can revitalize his career.

Definite good move for the Duff man. Maynard will be good no matter where he ends up

Wonder where Kos ends up. Perhaps Imperial Athletics? I mean, he's part black right?

Better question: What stops Dana from forcing Koscheck to fight Fitch now?

Ludo wrote:

Better question: What stops Dana from forcing Koscheck to fight Fitch now?

He can't force anyone to fight anyone else. Kos already said he still wont fight Fitch.

So they lost one douchebag and gained two.

Maynard isn't a dbag

Farmer1906 wrote:

Maynard isn't a dbag

Have you seen his painful, excruciating interviews ?

KingsOwn19 wrote:

Wonder where Kos ends up. Perhaps Imperial Athletics? I mean, he's part black right?

He is going to train at the AKA gym in Fresno.

He owns AKA Fresno, so we'll see if he changes the name or whateve.

Quote :

Josh Koscheck will be going solo from now on it seems.

On Saturday night he announced an intention to “do my own thing” for his future fights, formally stating that he would no longer be training in San Jose.

“I'll be training out of Fresno for now. I'm no longer affiliated with some of the people at the gym that I've been training at,” he said. “It was a tough camp knowing that this was my last camp there… so, I'm going to do my own thing [from now on].”

‘Fresno’ is the gym that Koscheck owns and operates in Fresno, California and it is an American Kickboxing Academy affiliate. Previously Koscheck did all his camps at the AKA headquarters in San Jose alongside Jon Fitch, Cain Velasquez and the rest of the team.

But he has long had a fractious relationship with Javier Mendez, the head coach at AKA, and that has now come to a head. Koscheck slammed Mendez in an interview with MMA Weekly that was published today.

Koscheck essentially accuses Mendez of being more concerned with building his own profile than training fighters. He also says Mendez repeatedly “throws guys under the bus” when they lose, saying that they didn’t follow the gameplan he had set them.

“I’ve lost a lost of respect for Javier Mendez as a coach, as a person, because if you go back and listen to the history of the interviews of him after AKA guys have lost, the interviews he does…” he said.

“Go back and look at the Cain Velasquez [fight], go back and look at the Josh Koscheck [fight], the other guys on that team, and see if you can find interviews where he refers to ‘Oh I did my job’ to make himself look good and they didn’t do theirs. That’s not a coach.”

With Koscheck’s main gym in Fresno (he owns two) being an AKA affiliate, it creates an interesting situation going forward. He is looking to part ways with AKA completely and says the affiliate question will be for “attorneys” to figure out.

Koscheck will still be training with his former training partners, Fitch among them, and will be paying to put his own training camps on in future by flying in sparring partners and coaches. He will continue to work with Bob Cook and Dave Camarillo, the latter of whom also recently left AKA to set up his own jiu jitsu academy.

Ninja wrote:

KingsOwn19 wrote:

Wonder where Kos ends up. Perhaps Imperial Athletics? I mean, he's part black right?

He is going to train at the AKA gym in Fresno.

Dry and simple seem like better terms to me.

Farmer1906 wrote:

Ninja wrote:

KingsOwn19 wrote:

Wonder where Kos ends up. Perhaps Imperial Athletics? I mean, he's part black right?

He is going to train at the AKA gym in Fresno.

Dry and simple seem like better terms to me.

It's actually his gym that is/was an affiliate.

Okay,

this website

http://www.akafresno.com/AKA_Fresno/Home_2.html

this gym

Josh Koscheck seems like he'd be a great fit for Blackzillians except for the whole part about actually having a work ethic and lacking a significant criminal or steroid past.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Josh Koscheck seems like he'd be a great fit for Blackzillians except for the whole part about actually having a work ethic and lacking a significant criminal or steroid past.

That made me lol but then I thought of Rashad and Torres not fitting that bill, sorry dude fail

Well Torres has been posting on FB that he's been training with the blackzillians I don't know if he's actually joining the team.

Rashad and a guy from twitter who may not even be in the gym the only guys you can think of validates me lil nog

I hope we see a Kos-Rockhold matchup in the future. Sounds like some bad blood there