Din Thomas: With Or Without Robbie Lawler, ATT Is Best In The World
Din Thomas: With Or Without Robbie Lawler, ATT Is Best In The World
Din Thomas discussed Robbie Lawler's departure from American Top Team, praising the camp in the process.
Din Thomas has enjoyed the spotlight quite a bit recently thanks to Dana White's "Looking for a Fight" series, but when Thomas is not journeying the country looking for upcoming prospects with the UFC president, he's usually found at American Top Team (ATT) in Florida, where serves as the assistant MMA coach.
This past weekend, Thomas was a guest on "The Main Event Zone," hosted by Patrick Whitney, and he spoke about many of the big issues going on at ATT right now.
One the of topics Thomas addressed was the recent news that former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler had decided to leave ATT and train elsewhere. Thomas didn't reveal the reason for Lawler's departure, but he did stress there was no ill feeling between the two parties.
"I didn't talk to Robbie, I didn't talk to him all that much," Thomas said. "We'd see each other and be like, 'How you doing?' But, you know, the thing is, there is a time in every fighter's career you have to grow, and sometimes you stick in one place and you just can't grow [anymore] so for whatever reason you have to leave the situation because it's probably better off for you.
"If it's a coaching issue where you're not getting the proper coaching that you need, then you need to find better coaches. If you don't have the proper sparring partners that you need, then you need to go find the right sparring partners. For whatever reason, Robbie felt that he had to leave. I'm sure he thought about it, and I'm sure it was probably the best decision for him.
[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BEhEFeIwi7c/" hide_caption="0"]
"Like I said, I don't know what his reasoning was, but I wish him all the best and I got nothing but love for him. He's a true champion, he's a great fighter and he's a pioneer. I'm sure he will land on his feet wherever he lands, and I'm sure he will continue to crack skulls open."
Asked whether Lawler's absence had dented morale at the camp, Thomas insisted it wouldn't, and it was business as usual as far he was concerned.
"The mood is good--it doesn't matter who's in," Thomas said. "That's the one thing about the dynamic of American Top Team, because we are such a big team, with or without Robbie we are still going to be the best team in the world.
[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BO0xcWwgj66/" hide_caption="0"]
"We've had a great year and we are going to prove it. [UFC welterweight champion] Tyron Woodley is a product of ATT, [UFC bantamweight champion] Amanda Nunes is a product of ATT, the fact that [UFC strawweight champion] Joanna Jedrzejczyk came here to defend her title says a lot about our team and our process. The team is the team, and it's bigger than one person. It doesn't matter who's in or who's not in, the mood is great, and we are still going to be producing champions."
Thomas pointed toward Woodley's victory over Lawler at UFC 201 as a real turning point for the mentality at ATT and implied it inspired many of the fighters--such as Nunes--to strive for UFC gold.
"Robbie did a lot for this team in regards to winning the belt, but after Tyron won it and Tyron had the belt, it was kinda like, you know what? Why don't we have more champions?" Thomas said. "I think the sky is the limit, and I think we can just keep going and winning more belts.
"Now we don't just look at it like we can get top-10 contenders--we now focus on producing legitimate champions like Amanda Nunes and that is our goal now, not just having fighters in the UFC."
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This past weekend, Thomas was a guest on "The Main Event Zone," hosted by Patrick Whitney, and he spoke about many of the big issues going on at ATT right now.
One the of topics Thomas addressed was the recent news that former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler had decided to leave ATT and train elsewhere. Thomas didn't reveal the reason for Lawler's departure, but he did stress there was no ill feeling between the two parties.
"I didn't talk to Robbie, I didn't talk to him all that much," Thomas said. "We'd see each other and be like, 'How you doing?' But, you know, the thing is, there is a time in every fighter's career you have to grow, and sometimes you stick in one place and you just can't grow [anymore] so for whatever reason you have to leave the situation because it's probably better off for you.
"If it's a coaching issue where you're not getting the proper coaching that you need, then you need to find better coaches. If you don't have the proper sparring partners that you need, then you need to go find the right sparring partners. For whatever reason, Robbie felt that he had to leave. I'm sure he thought about it, and I'm sure it was probably the best decision for him.
[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BEhEFeIwi7c/" hide_caption="0"]
"Like I said, I don't know what his reasoning was, but I wish him all the best and I got nothing but love for him. He's a true champion, he's a great fighter and he's a pioneer. I'm sure he will land on his feet wherever he lands, and I'm sure he will continue to crack skulls open."
Asked whether Lawler's absence had dented morale at the camp, Thomas insisted it wouldn't, and it was business as usual as far he was concerned.
"The mood is good--it doesn't matter who's in," Thomas said. "That's the one thing about the dynamic of American Top Team, because we are such a big team, with or without Robbie we are still going to be the best team in the world.
[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BO0xcWwgj66/" hide_caption="0"]
"We've had a great year and we are going to prove it. [UFC welterweight champion] Tyron Woodley is a product of ATT, [UFC bantamweight champion] Amanda Nunes is a product of ATT, the fact that [UFC strawweight champion] Joanna Jedrzejczyk came here to defend her title says a lot about our team and our process. The team is the team, and it's bigger than one person. It doesn't matter who's in or who's not in, the mood is great, and we are still going to be producing champions."
Thomas pointed toward Woodley's victory over Lawler at UFC 201 as a real turning point for the mentality at ATT and implied it inspired many of the fighters--such as Nunes--to strive for UFC gold.
"Robbie did a lot for this team in regards to winning the belt, but after Tyron won it and Tyron had the belt, it was kinda like, you know what? Why don't we have more champions?" Thomas said. "I think the sky is the limit, and I think we can just keep going and winning more belts.
"Now we don't just look at it like we can get top-10 contenders--we now focus on producing legitimate champions like Amanda Nunes and that is our goal now, not just having fighters in the UFC."
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