More details have come out surrounding Roufusport kickboxer Dennis Munson Jr., who collapsed on the canvas and died hours after making his debut appearance at Duke Roufus' American Fighting Championship promotion back in March. The Milwaukee Sentinel-Journal published an in-depth investigation on Munson's death and uncovered a string of critical errors made by fight officials as well as Munson's corner at this unsanctioned event.
This story sparked a slew of ex-Roufusport members to speak out against Roufus and members of his coaching staff, including TUF 20's Rose Namajunas and former UFC fighter Eric Schafer. Below are a select few who posted their training stories, which Namajunas shared via Twitter and Sqor:
More stories about the messed up controlling power trip mentality of these coaches
http://t.co/pex7d51PfE pic.twitter.com/FUAk0dsQaU
— Rose Namajunas (@rosenamajunas) November 17, 2014
Good to know I'm not the only one
http://t.co/vuIpLRjVGZ pic.twitter.com/IhIwEsOQcu
— Rose Namajunas (@rosenamajunas) November 17, 2014
I keep getting messages from former roufus sport students about their own experiences. The...
http://t.co/PMkLIeXxYG pic.twitter.com/sanlot8Qmy
— Rose Namajunas (@rosenamajunas) November 17, 2014
Crazy that I finally speak out against the people that are responsible for this tragedy an...
http://t.co/TYdfzZi5lj pic.twitter.com/079S4cAckN
— Rose Namajunas (@rosenamajunas) November 17, 2014
Lastly, Schafer went as far as to call Roufus "a bully, a liar, and one of the worst people I've ever met" in a long rant on The Underground forum. Here's a snippet of what he had to say:
Duke Roufus is a bully, a liar, and one of the worst people I have ever met. I have never been in a more toxic environment than when I was the head grappling coach and fighter at the gym. I saw teammate after teammate getting treated like shit. Guys being told to beat up lower level guys that were just trying to help out, UFC fighters being told to beat up other UFC level fighters so they would not come back, verbal abuse, violence, guys getting lied to about fights, etc. I have messages and conversations with almost everyone of his fighters from my days there; from his UFC stars to his coaching staff about how much they were mistreated. I will not out them, but they know the truth. They can tell their tales if they want.
Roufusport is home to former Bellator champion and current ONE FC champion Ben Askren, as well as reigning UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis. As of this article's publish date neither one of them has made any comments regarding Roufus, his coaches, or the camp's general culture.
Bloody Elbow will provide more updates on this developing story as more information becomes available.