BloodyElbow’s Steph Daniels recently did a wide-ranging interview with John Alessio, which included the topic of the decline of Xtreme Couture.

When asked “Are you doing anything special to beef up your wrestling? Have you made any camp changes or brought in specific people to help you out?” John Alessio responded with the following:

I’ve actually left Xtreme Couture. It just happened over the last few months. I’m pretty much full time at Syndicate and Drysdale’s. I do my boxing with Gil Martinez at a different gym called Epic, but it’s not really open to the public.

There was just nobody left at Xtreme. I was one of the first, with Pyle and Heiron and those guys, to come into Xtreme Couture. We built that gym, basically. When we first started, there was nothing but an octagon inside of a big, empty warehouse. That’s how we trained, to start. Then the gym got built up from there.

It was really hard for me to leave. I’m a very loyal person, and that’s a rare quality these days. I understand that in mixed martial arts, you kind of have to be selfish, because it is a one on one sport, it is all about you. At the same time, you can’t forget about the people that helped you along the way and what they did for you. I appreciate everything I’ve learned from everybody, whether it was just one small move or if they worked with me for years.

I will never forget my time at Xtreme Couture. Those were some of the greatest years of my career. It was a blast, but it’s unfortunately died down, and the fighters have moved on, and I needed to do the same thing. I needed a change, personally, anyways. I needed to reinvigorate my career.

I’ll be honest, those two losses inside the UFC, and then getting cut, hurt me inside, big time. I really thought that was gonna be my time to shine in the UFC, and I was gonna bring it and eventually get a title shot. It really hit me hard and I kind of got depressed. I just wasn’t into it and then I hurt my knee, which was even more depressing. I thought, ‘Where is my career going now? I’m kind of getting old, I lost in the UFC, I got cut and now my knees hurt.’

I just took some time and made some more changes. I changed the gym, I got healthy and started getting motivated again. I was looking for fights, but nothing was panning out over the last few months. Finally, the clouds broke, the sunshine came out, and Bellator offered me a contract. I’ve got a fight June 29th, I’m opening my business this week, and things have really turned around for me. I’m feeling supercharged and excited. I’m ready to start a new chapter.