Fading Legend Jens Pulver Talks Trainer Pat Miletich

Jonathan Snowden interviews Jens Pulver and manages to do a total body slam on the reputation of the vaunted trainer Pat Miletich:

Once, legends roamed the fabled halls of Pat Miletich's gym in Bettendorf, Iowa.  Turn around quickly and you'd bump into a world champion:  Miletich, Tim Sylvia, Matt Hughes and Jens Pulver all trained out of Pat's gym, a step up from the rented racquetball court where they got their start years earlier.  

When the mainstream media discovered MMA, they were quick to discover Pat.  He was articulate, smart and helped paint a picture they wanted to sell:  whitebread, down home, middle America.  This was the "new NASCAR" and no one better epitomized that than the clean cut Miletich fighters.  

Of course, like most things, by the time the mainstream discovered them, the camp was well past its sell-by date.  There were fawning pieces in ESPN: The Magazine and Sports Illustrated's Jon Wertheim even wrote a book singing Miletich's praises. 

That's just the set up, here's the KO:

Snowden: "Was there something special Pat was teaching there that made the team so succesful?"

Pulver: "People always ask for Pat's secret ingredient.  There wasn't no secret ingredient.  That's why I made that comment about our "supposed leader."  There was no one leader man.  We all did it together.  Jeremy Horn was the leader when it comes down to it.  We all ran after that guy.  We all said 'teach us coach.'" 

Snowden:  "What is your relationship like with Pat today?  Have you fallen out with all the guys on the old team?" 

Pulver: "How could I have a falling out?  Fallen out with who?  There is nobody.  They're all gone.  There was Pat, but Pat is too busy trying to make cash, making a living.  He ain't coaching people.  Everyone always thought Pat had a magical touch and was teaching us all these magical things.  No he wasn't.  No. Never.  Never ever.  It was a great combination of things that left.  Jeremy left, Matt left, Robbie left.  Matt Pena left.  Everybody grew up more or less.  We weren't there anymore.  And that's why the great experiment is over." 

Snowden: "So, there was no magical Miletich secret?"

Pulver:  "If there is a key ingredient, and Pat Miletich was teaching it, then that key ingredient would still be there.  Correct?  The young bucks would still be coming.  Correct?  I wasn't trying to talk mess about Pat himself.  I'm just ready to go.  I'm 34 years old.  How long was I supposed to stay there?  I hadn't been home in 10 years.  I'm tired.  I want to build my own gym.  I want to build my own fighters.  It's my time." 

This is the second time Snowden has de-mythologized a vaunted MMA camp. In his book Total MMA, he interviews numerous original members of Ken Shamrock's Lion's Den and it quickly becomes apparent why Shamrock has not been a top MMA trainer in almost a decade. 

It would appear that Miletich's time at the top is long since past. His original stable of stars -- Matt Hughes, Jeremy Horn, Pulver, Tim Sylvia -- have all faded from their peaks and moved on to other gyms. 

That's not to sell Miletich short, he did a great deal to build the sport and for the better part of a decade, Miletich Fighting Systems was one of the best camps in the sport. It appears that the secret sauce was Jeremy Horn, a self-taught jiu jitsu expert, who shared his knowledge with the many excellent wrestlers at camp Miletich. 

Miletich himself was one of the fighters who pioneered being a well-rounded stylist combining a mastery of wrestling, decent striking and a comprehension of submissions. But it would appear that his time as a top level MMA trainer is past.

As for Pulver, we'll find out tonight if he's still got what it takes to fight at the highest levels of the sport.