Rick Story training partner abuse allegations re-emerge

UFC welterweight Rick Story has been accused of abusing training partners before, and a new story has brought those allegations back into the spotlight.

Rick Story has competed in the UFC octagon 17 times over the last five-plus years, but he still can't seem to shake some troubling allegations about his training methods. Back in 2011, former training partner Mike Pierce told a story about Story and Brave Legion owner Pat White conspiring to beat down a gym rookie who was suffering from head trauma. Now a new allegation regarding something similar has come to light via a local Washington fighter named Austin Springer. He spoke to MMA Mania about his issues with Story and White:

"I don't know if you ever heard the stories about ... Mike Pierce was talking about the owner having Ricky knock out guys that already had head trauma. He had Ricky knock me out, I was a 135, 145-er and I was an amateur at the time, and he was having Rick Story knock me out in practice. It was just not a good fit for me."

In the original story Pierce told, the kid that got beat up was a wrestler from Iowa that was learning how to fight. Many speculated that the person in question was a man that eventually made it to the UFC himself, Abel Trujillo, but that has never been confirmed to my knowledge.

Springer was an amateur a few years ago, and mentioned that he started at the Vancouver, WA gym after the Xtreme Couture-brand was no more and was now operated under "new ownership", which presumably meant Pat White. The XC-branded gym closed around 2008, so this wasn't a recent thing, and likely took place before the time period that Pierce was referencing. Again though, that hasn't been confirmed.

It should also be noted that Springer gives props to his current training partners in Portland, and one of the names he noted was the guy that brought this all out into the public in the first place:

"Guys like Pat Healy, Dave Jansen, Mike Pierce, a bunch of Bellator and UFC guys that kinda ... birds of a feather flock together. I can't try and get myself to a world championship. I need the help of other coaches and training partners."

Pierce has had a major beef with White and Story for years now, and the original story was why Pierce said he left Brave Legion in the first place. So I guess this whole thing should be taken with a grain of salt considering the influences at work. Still though, no matter when or where it took place and what other political factors were at play, it's not a good look for a gym owner and a welterweight fighter to allegedly be colluding to knock out much smaller fighters in practice.

Springer (7-0) fights on a local Washington card this weekend. Story (18-8) does not currently have a fight scheduled.