Nik Lentz has been in the UFC for quite a while now, having found success in both the lightweight and featherweight division.
The fighter recently left American Top Team to join the Combat Club and now he explains just why he chose to make the move.
“[American Top Team was] becoming such a large team that I felt like they were losing the persona that I fell in love with when I came to ATT,” Lentz told The MMA Circus. “And the reason I came to ATT is because although it was still a large team, I felt like it was more like a family and that we took care of each other. Because of how large and successful ATT has become, they’re attracting so much more people, that the coaches and stuff just can’t handle the one-on-one nature and the family-like atmosphere that I like. It kind of bugged me. That’s the side effect of having such a large team. When I see people when I’m training and I see that same person in the locker room of my opponent, I’m just not cool with that.”
Lentz will fight as a member of the Combat Club at UFC 216, when he faces former Bellator MMA Lightweight Champion Will Brooks.
Despite the fact that he is no longer part of ATT, the fighter does admit that the experience he had their changed his life.
“ATT changed my life,” he said. “They gave me a lot of things. They allowed me to come down to their team, they moved me to Florida. A lot of things have happened in my life because of ATT, and they deserve an enormous amount of respect for my highlights in my career so far and how I’ve trained and everything else.”
UFC 216 takes place on Saturday, October 7 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
