Shawn Tompkins on split with Xtreme Couture
by Zak Woods on Jan 6, 2010 12:45 PM EST
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If you listen to Shawn Tompkins speak his departure from Xtreme Couture has been smooth.
Tompkins recently spoke to MMA Fighting and channeled his inner Michael Corleone, essentially saying, 'this isn't personal, strictly business':
"For Randy, it's about the fight, not the drama," Tompkins continued. "He's real cool about it. We talked about it. I let his camp know first. I started working with Mark for the Stephan Bonnar fight [at UFC 100]. I have my own team now, and this is how I make my living and how my family survives, so if Mark Coleman comes to me and asks me to coach him in a matchup against another UFC Hall of Famer, I'm going to say yes. It's nothing personal. It should happen for the sport and the fans, and when it's all said and done, Randy and I will still be friends, and I'll still respect him for everything he's done for me."
Yet break-ups are never as smooth as each party would like you to think.
After all, Tompkins moved just two miles away to the Tapout Training Center plus several Xtreme Couture fighters such as: Vitor Belfort, Junie Browning (that's good, right?), George Roop, Chris Horodecki and Evan Dunham came with him. Don't forget the perceived fracturing that occurred at Xtreme Couture when Coleman fought Bonnar.
Now Tompkins is once again training Mark Coleman but this time to fight Randy Couture.
Whether there is real friction or not the split between Tompkins and Couture will be a big story-line going into UFC 109.
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Call me naive, but this will be a story line that the media continue to dig up and run with. It sounds like both Couture and Tompkins will stick to their script.
Interestingly enough, Brazilian trainers and fighters don’t get down like that. I recall either Filho or Arona turned down training Chuck Liddell against Wanderlei Silva. Wanderlei’s former trainer made it a point to state he would never train Rampage. However there is the interesting case of Anderson Silva who really had no problems training with RIch Franklin, knowing his next match up was against Wanderlei Silva. It wasn’t really a big deal because they only trained for a day or two but perception is truly everything.
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