Leonardo Gosling, ex-coach of UFC fighter Johnny Walker, has denied claims made by the light heavyweight that he stole $30,000.
Walker recently revealed that he’d left Gosling and was looking for new management after his coach took $30,000 from him under false pretenses.
But his coach says that’s not what happened, and has offered an alternative narrative.
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Accusations
Speaking to Ag Fight recently, Walker had initially claimed he’d sent $30,000 to his coach to start a gym partnership in Thailand, but later learned that Gosling hadn’t gone ahead with the project.
“I was in Los Angeles and my coach wanted to do a partnership with a gym in Thailand,” Walker said.
“I sent him $30,000, I trusted him, right?”
“I had nothing of mine and I lost $30,000.”
“I had many problems with him, but now I’m free.”
Gosling however has given his side of the story, which differs somewhat from the narrative given by Walker.
The coach insists that the start-up amount was never $30,000, and that the idea was a mutual one.
“We went to Thailand, I got us a free camp at AKA, I was the one who did that part,” Gosling explained.
“We liked it there and I suggested we could stay, find a place to teach classes.”
“Him and his brother liked the idea and I got us a place.”
“I suggested, ‘Let’s start a dojo in the guy’s gym, because he only does Muay Thai.”
“You pay the first half and pay the other one when we start making money.’”
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‘It Wasn’t a Rip Off’
The coach went on to claim the amount was in fact $10,000, and says he has proof that there was no wrongdoing involved on his part.
“He sent me $10,000 and we started from scratch, I have all the pictures,” he continued.
“We didn’t get along and decide it was better to get out and take the loss.”
“It was never $30,000, I don’t know where that came from.”
“It set us back, it wasn’t a rip off.”
“It was bad, we had no students, the gym was hard to find, we would have had to invest in marketing.”
“I agreed to take it out of my percentage and would pay the rest of five thousand little by little.”
Gosling went on to say that the hardest part of the whole ordeal is that he found everything out via the news.
He admitted he might not have been the best coach, but he never ripped anyone off and deserves some credit for getting Walker to where he currently is.
“I learned everything from the news, that he was switching trainers,” Gosling explained.
“He didn’t have the courage to talk to me.”
“He started dealing with famous coaches, famous managers who were offering him money.”
“He knows my dream was to become a UFC coach and manager, he knows my backstory, how much I dreamed of that.”
“It was cold to hear him say I couldn’t hold pads.”
“I think I could have ripped him off, I could have stolen anything, but he should stand up for me, because I was his trainer. “
“I wasn’t the best, but I was enough to get him there. He should preserve our story.”
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Homecoming
Walker’s last fight saw him get knocked out by Corey Anderson at UFC 244.
The 27-year-old had previously been on a three fight win streak.
The Brazilian will now look to get back to winning ways on home turf when he takes on Nikita Krylov on March 14 in Brasilia.
Having turned his back on his old coach, there will be pressure for Walker to deliver under the guidance of his new tutor.
(Featured image source: Instagram/ Leo Gosling and Johnny Walker)