“First and foremost, my teammates over there at AKA in San Jose are my brothers. I love those guys. 8 years, we’ve basically trained ourselves and got us to the level that we are and we’ve all relied on each other and those guys are forever going to be my teammates, I’m forever going to train with them, but I’m just not going to train in San Jose with them,” Koscheck told MMAWeekly.com in an exclusive interview on Sunday.

“I’ll invite them and I’ll pay them to come to train in Fresno with me when I have fight camps and that type of thing. Those guys are my family. Bob Cook, Dave Camarillo, I’m still going to be managed by Zinkin Entertainment, Bob Cook will still be in my corner and coaching me, he’ll come here a couple days a week and train with me, Dave Camarillo will come here a couple days, and I think I’m going to be better off.”

So what was the driving force behind Koscheck’s exit from American Kickboxing Academy if it wasn’t his teammates or two of his lead coaches?

“There’s one reason I’m leaving San Jose AKA and that’s because of Javier Mendez,” Koscheck stated. “He’s the only reason I’m leaving that gym. It almost hurts me because I love training with those guys, I love training with (Jon) Fitch, and (Mike) Swick and Cain (Velasquez) and (Daniel) Cormier, and (Justin) Wilcox and all those guys, they are my brothers, and it hurts me to have to make this decision for me because the fact that it’s like splitting up the family.”

Javier Mendez is the founder of American Kickboxing Academy and one of the lead trainers, but according to Koscheck his influence became more about his own fame than actually helping the fighters at the gym reach the next level.