Alliance adds coach to roster that could have the 'Bang' Ludwig effect
Coaches can make all the difference for an MMA team.
There's a reason why so many fighters flock to New Mexico for the chance to learn under a coach like Greg Jackson, or travel to Seattle to learn from Matt Hume. A coaching change is the reason pretty much every member of Team Alpha Male believes their team has been so successful over the past year since Duane 'Bang' Ludwig retired from fighting and took over their squad.
The Alliance Training Center is home to several top-flight UFC fighters including former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, top five ranked light heavyweight Phil Davis, Jeremy Stephens and Brandon Vera. For years, coach Eric Del Fierro headed up team with some great assistants by his side, but as the sport grew bigger and his team followed suit, it got harder and harder for him to manage training so many fighters and giving them his due diligence.
As great as Greg Jackson is as a coach, rarely will you hear him talk without mentioning names like Mike Winkeljohn, Brandon Gibson or Izzy Martinez because those are the assistant coaches that help him lead the team. It's no different than an NFL coach with an offensive and defensive coordinator by his side.
So to help the growing roster of fighters and the needs of the many, Del Fierro recently brought in a coach he believes will push his team to the next level and could be their secret weapon the same way Ludwig was for Team Alpha Male. It didn't take long for Del Fierro to place a call to grappling coach Neil Melanson, who has since relocated to San Diego and taken over the ground work for the entire team.
Melanson came to fame a few years ago when he was the head grappling coach at Xtreme Couture and worked alongside UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture as well as the rest of his Las Vegas based team. Now the submission and catch wrestling trainer has left the desert in Las Vegas for the sunny skies and perfect weather in San Diego, and he's been a welcome addition to his new team.
"We've been an established team for a while, but just having a fresh pair of eyes is great," Del Fierro told FOX Sports about Melanson. "He's super motivated. He's connecting with the guys right away. His style with guys like Phil Davis, for instance, transitions right away. You can see improvements in his game right off the bat. Everybody's game has improved. He's been doing great with the guys.
"We haven't been a big submission based camp. We've always been striking and wrestling, and anti-submission so Neil brings a lot to the table in that we're adding to our submission game and making guys more confident."
Melanson was excited to get the call to come train and teach full time at Alliance, especially with the chance to work with so many great fighters on the roster. Following a long stint at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, Melanson needed a change of scenery and Alliance provided him with the right motivation to help lead a new team to the top of the mountain.
Coach Neil Melanson
"I felt like in Las Vegas, I had done everything I could do and I couldn't do much more than I had already done. I wanted to take the challenge of joining their team. Finally in December, I said either pull the trigger or don't and I did," Melanson said.
"If you get into coaching in MMA for money, you're in for some major disappointments. If you get into MMA as a coach there has to be some other drive and that's the love to train fighters and a love to work with people that appreciate the training and commit to the training. Alliance presents that for me."
One of the major attractions for Melanson's move to San Diego was a chance to work with former NCAA champion and top ranked UFC light heavyweight Phil Davis. As a grappler and wrestler, Melanson was well aware of the tools Davis already brought to the table, but his excitement was through the roof to get the opportunity to add a few new weapons to his arsenal.
The end result Melanson hopes is for Davis to be standing tall as the UFC champion one day very soon.
"Phil's one of the big reasons I moved out here, too, because I've seen his style of wrestling and grappling and I have a lot of experience working with good wrestlers with Randy Couture and Frank Trigg and all these other guys. It's just something I know how to coach well," Melanson said. "I know Phil's game and I know how to guide him into finishing fights with submissions. I want to have Phil Davis lock up a chance to win the title, and I really think that he could be the champion of the world at 205."
As Melanson closes in on his 37th birthday soon, he's honest enough to realize that after a few years experiencing some serious health issues, his body has been through the ringer. He's not a coach that sits on the sidelines and teaches by showing â he teaches by doing and if the day comes where he can't get on the mats with his guys, then that's the day he's probably going to retire from this job.
So he's set a timeline for himself â four years from now Melanson wants Alliance to be one of the best teams in the world with UFC titles hanging from the rafters in every direction. At that point he'll reassess his future, but his dream is to give the fighters a legacy they can remember so he can be proud of the work he's put into them.
"They're getting every ounce of me," Melanson said. "They're getting all of my attention."
The head coaching job still sits with Del Fierro, but he's more than happy to hand over some of the responsibilities to Melanson, especially when it comes to the grappling and wrestling portions of their program. Long term, Del Fierre sees Melanson doing for Alliance what Ludwig did for Team Alpha Male.
"100-percent that's what he can do for us," Del Fierro said. "That's what I always tell the fighters, you should be looking to improve every aspect of your game whether you travel elsewhere just to get a different set of eyes on you. This is what we're hoping to get from Neil â just a fresh set of ideas, a fresh mindset and just super motivated. There is no excuse for anyone not improving or getting better."
