Blackzilians fire wrestling coach Kenny Monday, former Olympic gold medalist

By foxsports
Published

One of MMA's top teams has released a high-profile coach.

Former Olympic wrestling gold medalist Kenny Monday was fired by the Blackzilians, Monday told Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday. UFC Tonight's Ariel Helwani spoke with pseudo-team captain Rashad Evans and he said that Monday and "management" had a rift and it was brewing for some time.

Monday told Yahoo! that the decision was made by manager Glenn Robinson. Monday was recruited by Robinson and Evans to be the team's wrestling coach last year and left his program at Oklahoma State to do it, signing a three-year contract with the Blackzilians.

"I was blindsided by [the release]," Monday said. "I really don't know what his reason is. I don't know if they are struggling financially, or what it is. I'm not sure what's going on here. He wasn't man enough to come talk to me himself. Life goes on."

Evans told Helwani that he tried to repair the fracture, but to no avail. The Blackzilians, based in Boca Raton, Fla., will take their time in finding a replacement, Evans said. MMA fighters like Evans, Vitor Belfort, Anthony Johnson, Eddie Alvarez, Thiago Silva, Michael Johnson, Ryan LaFlare, Matt Mitrione and Tyrone Spong all train there at the Jaco Hybrid Training Center.

Monday, who was at practice Wednesday, left his family in Oklahoma to move to Florida to coach MMA full-time, calling it "one of the toughest decisions" he has ever made.

"I'm sure a lot of fighters don't know yet," Monday said. "I was at practice today. I got to talk to just a couple fighters but not most of them, yet. I don't know, I guess it's breaking news. I have nothing to hide. I gave my heart to this program."

Monday, 52, said he isn't sure what his next move would be, since the news was so fresh. He is also one of the promoters of Battlegrounds MMA, which is bringing the one-night tournament format back to the sport next month.

The Blackzilians struggled in their infacy before hiring Monday and striking coach Henri Hooft. Former UFC fighter Jorge Santiago is now the head coach.