{"id":139413,"date":"2015-04-22T09:30:59","date_gmt":"2015-04-22T16:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=139413"},"modified":"2022-02-04T19:35:01","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T03:35:01","slug":"velasquez-aka-responds-dana-white-calling-gym-stone-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/velasquez-aka-responds-dana-white-calling-gym-stone-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Velasquez & AKA Respond Dana White Calling Their Gym ‘Stone Age’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CORMIER<\/a><\/p>\n

American Kickboxing Academy hosts some of the world’s most dominant fighters and it is partially because of their coach Javier Mendez. <\/p>\n

UFC President Dana White accused AKA of operating under a “stone age<\/a>” mentality where they work their fighters to the bone which causes fighters to pull out of their fights due to injuries. UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez has not fought in the octagon since his last defense in 2013.<\/p>\n

Mendez, among others, helped guide the likes of Cain Velasquez, Daniel Cormier and Luke Rockhold to superstardom in the UFC and they are proud of how their gym operates.<\/p>\n

Velasquez told MMAFighting’s Dave Meltzer<\/a>, “You know what, I’ve always considered this gym as an old school gym. He says stone age, I say old school.”<\/p>\n

While Velasquez is proud, Mendez took the criticism well and knows there is room for improvement.<\/p>\n

“I love the fact that he’s bringing attention to that and it does help me look to ways to improve. I’ve been looking to improve the injury rate, and it does concern me.” Mendez continued to point out that most of the injuries his fighters suffered were at the hands of their opponents in the octagon. He played devil’s advocate with Meltzer, “If you want to get rid of injuries, you’ll have to get rid of the UFC.”<\/p>\n

Do you think Dana White was right in pointing out AKA’s ways?<\/p>\n

WATCH! D.C. Talks Aldo vs. McGregor: ‘It’s hard to pick against Conor’<\/strong>
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