UFC veteran Ross Pearson recently shed light on the recent injuries occurring to fighters who train at American Kickboxing Academy (AKA).
“They’re a gym full of killers,” Pearson said during the UFC Melbourne Fan Q&A. “I definitely think that they spar too hard, I definitely think that they fight too much.”
In the past month, AKA fighters UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier and former UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold dropped out of their scheduled main event fights due to injuries while training.
“I definitely think that they need a coach there to help with the scheduling, the timeline of how, and the way of training — it’s kind of professional, and isn’t professional,” Pearson said. “You’ve got to fight to get ready to fight, but there’s levels of where you take it in the gym, and I think they definitely need to look at that level.”
AKA is also the home to former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez and UFC lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov, both fighters have a history of long layoffs due to injuries.