Feb
03
2010
4

Training Partners Collide: Tyson Griffin vs. Evan Dunham at UFC 115

By Bryan Levick

With all the talk about training partners not wanting to fight each other unless it’s for a huge payday or for a title, we finally get two guys who train together willing to fight one another because it’s their job!

In a story reported on MMA Weekly Xtreme Couture members Tyson Griffin and Evan Dunham are scheduled to face off at UFC 115 in June.

It’s about damn time, last time I looked MMA was an individual sport, not a team affair.

While I respect the fact that these guys train together, bleed together and sweat together on a daily basis, if your boss tells you to fight, you do it.

Most of the controversy has centered on the three American Kickboxing Academy welterweights, Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, and Mike Swick, who are all highly ranked in the UFC and for the most part refuse to fight one another.

They are not alone as Rashad Evans and Keith Jardine have expressed absolutely no desire to face one another and UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida have shot down any talk of a proposed dream bout between the two of them.

Griffin has been with Xtreme Couture longer than Dunham and will train there as he prepares for their upcoming matchup. Dunham on the other hand will train elsewhere for the time being.

Dunham is coming off a very impressive performance at UFC Fight Night 20 as he nearly went home with Efrain Escudero’s arm. He instead was forced to settle for the victory and Submission of the Night honors.

Griffin was last seen at UFC 103 where he sent the purple haired, out of shape, Hermes Franca out of the UFC and towards retirement.

The knockout victory was the first time Griffin had finished an opponent in over three years.

Dunham has yet to be defeated in 10 bouts while Griffin is sporting a 14-2 record, with his only losses coming to former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk and current No. 1 contender Frankie Edgar.

Xtreme Couture boasts one of the larger rosters in all of MMA, so it’s only natural that the fighters training there would wind up facing each other at some point.

In a day where no one seems to want to put their personal relationships aside, it’s nice to see there are still some guys out there willing to do what they have to do.


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