Duk Roufus Interview On Coaching And Career
Coach Duke Roufus is a former professional kickboxer and owner/head coach at Roufusport MMA based in Milwaukee, USA. He has coached legends in the sport such as current UFC Welterweight champion Tyron “The Chosen One” Woodley, and former UFC Lightweight champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis.
He offered great insight into his coaching philosophy, gave us his perspective on Tyron Woodley’s upcoming title defence against Stephen Thompson, and discussed Anthony Pettis’ next move.
Here are some of the highlights of the interview:
After asking Duke about Tyron Woodley’s upcoming matchup against Stephen Thompson, he discussed finding training partners that would somewhat emulate his style.
“Thankfully at my academy, we have a lot of different styles of strikers that Tyron can use to defend and to deal with that style of fighting; Anthony Pettis who has some of his people coming in, Erik Koch… and just my relationship with martial artists will allow us to bring in a lot of different people. I might even be bringing in Michael Page for the fight.”
Tyron Woodley and the Welterweight title
After gaining the Welterweight title, it seemed as though Tyron Woodley would soon rather fight Georges St-Pierre than Stephen Thompson. Many believed that Woodley was ducking Thompson and perhaps looking for what some would consider a slightly more favourable matchup against a GSP with three years of ring rust. However, Duke straightened things out.
“Unfortunately champions are compensated for how many pay-per-views people buy. So you can’t fault guys like Tyron – of course, he’s gonna ask for GSP! He’s one of the all-time leading pay-per-view sellers in the UFC. Everyone’s just trying to feed their family, and a fight with GSP would help Tyron’s family for a long time and could send his kids to college!”
Long time head coach of Anthony “Showtime” Pettis, Duke Roufus has been with him for both his highs and lows. Recently, Pettis broke a three-fight losing streak with a submission victory over Charles Oliveira. There have been a few rumours of who he’ll be fighting next as both Michael Johnson and Jose Aldo have called him out. Duke weighed in on the debate.
“I think the Aldo fight is gonna happen. They were supposed to do it, if you remember Anthony threw Aldo’s name in the hat. He (Jose Aldo) didn’t even have a contender fight at Featherweight and he gave him a shot. You could say he kind of owes it to him.”
On a lighter note, we also discussed the recent refurbishment of his gym in Milwaukee. Sharing the wealth and creating a better environment for the fighters…