When it comes to the simmering tensions between Team Alpha Male and ex-coach Duane Ludwig, the dam finally burst on Monday. For over an hour, team founder and captain Urijah Faber revealed his side to the long-standing feud, accusing Ludwig of bullying individuals on the team, gouging fighters for money, and more during an interview on The MMA Hour.

Faber said his motivations for drawing back the curtain to his side of the story were twofold, prompted not only by recent accusations made in a piece on FOX Sports, but also by an explosive encounter that transpired while filming The Ultimate Fighter 22 which will likely air this season.

"The most important thing about a fighter's mentality and being successful is self-belief," Faber said Monday after walking through the timeline of events on The MMA Hour. "My brother was in a cult and it altered his life forever. I understand about abusive relationships. I understand about pimps and hoes, man. This is the way it is. When you have somebody who's trying to make people believe that you can't do things without them and create a dependency, that's unhealthy.

"And when he starts coming public saying ignorant things about my team, which has a bunch of future champions like Cody Garbrandt and Paige VanZant, Andrei Fili and Joseph Morales and Angelo Trevino, some guys who Duane probably doesn't even know their names because they didn't pay him any money, that becomes offensive to me. On top of that, it's going to come out of this reality show. You're going to see, because Conor (McGregor) picked up right away when Duane started making comments about ‘no one is a champion on our team except for T.J.'

"Conor picked up that Duane had been talking a bunch of crap about our team and was like, ‘dude, what's up with that?'" Faber continued. "And it ended up being a confrontation on the show, which you guys are going to see. Then Duane, while he's coaching T.J. and Danny (Castillo), makes a comment to just slander our team. Then on top of that he does this apology which is basically just talking crap about me, and because he says the word ‘apology' doesn't make it an apology, and he says a bunch of false things in his apology. So I'm like, dude, I tried to let this guy just go and be on his way, but dysfunction just finds this guy."

Caught in the middle of the dispute is UFC bantamweight T.J. Dillashaw, a protégé of Faber's who came up at Team Alpha Male but blossomed under the tutelage of Ludwig.

Dillashaw has been splitting his camps between Sacramento, Calif. and Broomfield, Colo., and Faber said the ongoing tension between the two sides has been rough on the 29-year-old.

"He was really actually very distraught when Duane refused to come back to the team to help coach him," Faber said. "And T.J. was forced to, because he felt comfortable, go spend a little time with Duane, spend time with our team, spend time with Duane, etc., and was basically in tears because Duane refused to be a giving coach and said, ‘no, I'm building my own thing over here.'

"T.J. is my guy, he's like my brother. T.J. is a very competitive person, and I never went to anyone and asked them not to do anything. I've never said ‘don't train with this person, don't train with that person.' All of this is going to be news to a lot of the guys, because guys like Joseph Benavidez don't like drama, don't want to hear it. No one knows about that stuff, so I have done that myself because it hasn't been something that I need to make public or anything else. It's just something that I'll let slide under. But Duane, the jealous ex-girlfriend, is just needling and needling.

"It's just become a position where this guy has been a tyrant," Faber continued. "He's only about himself and money, he's been a bully, and I'm not going to let him bully me. I'm not sitting here trying to get bullied by a guy that I've helped build up and done a lot of great things for."

Dillashaw is tentatively slated to defend his title against ex-champion Dominick Cruz on Jan. 17 at UFC Fight Night 81. The stylistic pairing is unquestionably the most anticipated fight of Dillashaw's career, and despite everything that has transpired, Faber said he'd be more than willing to accept Ludwig back through Team Alpha Male's doors for Dillashaw's sake, as long as Ludwig apologized and promised not to "pimp" other team members for money.

"I've had a talk with T.J.," Faber said. "I sat down with T.J. and I sat down with his father and his wife, and we shed some tears. He shared with me for the first time that he had asked Duane to come out and hold mitts and stuff for him for his title fight and Duane refused him, and T.J. started bawling and was pretty upset that he had given so much -- T.J. was babysitting his kids, he was paying him extra money, he was doing all his videos. T.J. was like that with Master Thong, too. T.J. lived with Master Thong, he'd give him rides to the casino, he'd give him extra cash. Like, T.J. knows how to bring the best out of his coaches, and their relationships.

"So to go back to what I said about the most important thing about being a champion is your mentality, I don't want to break anybody's mentality or hinder their mentality at all, and I don't give a crap about Duane (being around). I just wish he'd leave it alone."

When asked whether he regretted ever bringing Ludwig onboard as the head coach of Team Alpha Male, Faber admitted that he did. But he also reiterated that he simply wants to put the issue behind him for the good of the team.

"I just want to say, and just remind everybody out there who's listening who may be in a position where somebody is trying to convince you that you can't without them: they're wrong," Faber said. "You know how many champions there are in this world in every single thing? In MMA, in soccer, in ballet, whatever the world has. You how many champions there are? All of them have a self-belief, and that's the most important thing. So if anybody has ever tried to break down your self-belief and tried to make you feel like you can't without them, or you're not good enough because somebody else has a gift, that's a bunch of B.S., man.

"The only thing that's real is what you believe. That's what reality is. Your perception is reality. So I'd just like to encourage people to follow their hearts, and don't let anybody hold you down."