Dropping three straight fights inside the Octagon, Duane Ludwig knows his time fighting with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) might be getting closer to an end, though "Bang" is still under contract with the promotion, having not yet received his pink slip, as he stated on his appearance this week on "The MMA Hour."
In his most previous loss to Che Mills at UFC on Fuel TV: "Struve vs. Miocic," Duane suffered an unfortunate knee injury in the first round, ultimately leading to the defeat.
Facing a year-long layoff and with the uncertainty of when or where he will fight again, Ludwig isn't one to sit and sulk, revealing on the show he is now the head coach of Team Alpha Male, taking the reins of the Sacramento-based camp which houses UFC fighters, Urijah Faber, Joseph Benavidez and Chad Mendes, just to name a few.
"Bang" details how his new gig came about:
"I had an offer to teach at the Throwdown gym in Vegas and I thought about it pretty hard. I'm going to be out for a year with my knee injury, a year from the time I injured from the time I will be a hundred percent. And I was thinking, 'What am I going to do?' I have to make something happen. I got the gym offer from Vegas and I thought about it pretty hard, but I didn't like Vegas, it's not good for a family and I decided to tell Vegas no. So, I'm thinking, what am I going to do and about two or three days later, Urijah texts me at ten o'clock at night and we talked that night and he asked me if I have a gym and checked out my situation, kind of beat around the bush about it, and I'm like, 'What's the end result?' And he says, 'We need a head trainer out here.' And I'm like, 'I'm in a transition, I need something to do, I was already kind of thinking about leaving the state, let me run it by my wife and do some research.' For him to text me out of the blue is kind of a random thing and perfect timing."
Duane revealed he will officially begin his new role at the beginning of 2013 as he is set to undergo a second knee surgery in a matter of days and says he still wants to fight and go out with a win.
At the beginning of his new post, Ludwig will be a very busy man as he will be preparing the aforementioned Benavidez for his upcoming bout against Ian McCall at UFC 156 on Feb. 2, 2013, followed up by Urijah Faber's bout against Ivan Menjivar few weeks later at UFC 157.
How about it Maniacs, good move by Faber to bring in "Bang" as head trainer? What kind of dimensions can he add to Team Alpha Male's stable of fighters?