Guest Coaches Seminars

We have two exciting seminars coming up at our gym over the next couple of weeks.

Hiroyuki Abe

We will be hosting Japanese MMA and Grappling Legend Hiroyuki Abe on Saturday 17th February at 11am. Hiroyuki Abe is a one of the top MMA and Grappling Coaches in Japan and has fought extensively in the Shooto organisation (the longest running MMA promotion in the world). He is also a Black belt in BJJ, Judo and Karate and has an extensive background in Wrestling. We previously hosted Abe for a seminar back in 2012 which was very successful and looking forward to picking up some more great techniques and knowledge from him this time.

Carlson Gracie Junior

On Friday 2nd March from 6pm until 8pm we have another seminar with Professor Carlson Gracie Jr. I trained at Carlson Gracie BJJ London from 2001 until moving to Australia in 2007 and was awarded with my Black Belt by Carlson Jr back in 2012 while I was back visiting my old club. I have hosted Carlson Jr for seminars at my gym several times over the past years during his visits to Australia and they also come highly recommended by my students and all attendees.

Hiroyuki Abe seminar is $50 for Members and $60 for Non Members and can be paid on the day. Carlson Gracie Jr Seminar is $70 per person and can be paid via this link:

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/carlson-gracie-jr-seminar-tickets-42375393944

Learn MMA in Melbourne

Being a Pro Fighter

There are several definitions. I have fought under professional MMA rules with punches & elbows on the floor, 5 minute rounds, getting paid in some way to compete. I wouldn't say though that I've ever been a professional MMA fighter. Throughout my fight career I've always had another job to support myself, fighting was just an ambition, a hobby & something I had to pursue on my own time.

Professionalism is rare in the world of fighting sports. Pretty much anyone can be a professional fighter, as long as they agree to fight a certain person on a certain date under specified rules. After that they will forever be considered as a professional fighter, this is in spite of the fact that we can clearly see from their performances & attitude that they’re preparation hasn't been professional.

Unfortunately for us, fighting sports are something that literally anyone can do & can become a professional at. People will turn up (& pay) to watch literally anyone having a punch up. The same cannot be said for other sports, for example no one will turn up to watch two untrained people having a tennis match or playing golf.

The lack of professionalism in fighting sports both from competitors and coaching staff is something that would not be tolerated in other professional sports.

This is from a typical daily schedule from a professional Rugby team

Monday

9:00 am

Skill work for the Backs followed by a strength training session

10:00 am

Skill work for the Forwards followed by a strength training session

11:00 am

Team video study, includes notational and statistical analysis

12:00 pm

Coaches meeting

Player Massage appointments

2:30 pm

Team Defence and aerobic conditioning.

As you can see the schedule is organised and everyone knows where they have to be and what they have to do at a certain time. In professional sports teams players are fined if they miss training sessions. If they are injured they still attend training to do rehab exercises & still work on other skills which will not interfere with their recovery from the injury

To me this kind of organisation is the real meaning of professionalism & it’s something I haven’t seen in the world of fighting sports anywhere in the world, bearing in mind that I’ve trained in Brazil, Japan, USA, Australia & all over Europe. Fight sports in general are the opposite of professional.

I understand that not everyone can commit the time required of a professional athlete but I think this is the standard that we need to aim for in terms of professionalism & organisation. Don’t be happy to just do what everyone else is doing & kidding ourselves that we are professionals when in reality we are treating the sport like a hobby.

If you truly want to be a professional the first step is to act like a professional.

Check out my Article on How many Hours a week you should be training to be successful as a fighter here:

http://deniskellymmacoaching.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/how-many-hours-week-should-you-be.html

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Busy BJJ Classes to Kick off 2018

BJJ Beginners and Intermediate Classes at Team Nemesis MMA. Focusing on Takedowns to Mount Control and ArmLock from modified Mount for Beginners and some Oma Plata options and variations with the Advanced students.

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Becoming a Coach

My Fight Career

During my fight career I had 16 Professional and 25 Amateur MMA Matches. I had mixed results but I learned a lot from the experience.

Throughout this time I never had an MMA coach. I trained mostly at a BJJ club and did additional training at wrestling classes and Muay Thai and boxing gyms. I paid gym membership or casual class rates at each place I trained because I realised that the coaches were passing knowledge onto me that they'd spent many years acquiring.

I booked all of my own fights which generally meant phoning or emailing promoters and offering to fight on their next show. I only received payment for probably 5 of my 16 pro fights.

Promoters would offer to pay for a train ticket for me and one of my training partners to come along to corner me. We'd set off on a long train journey from London to some remote location, weigh in, warm up, I'd fight then head back on the train so I could be at work on Monday morning.

Check out my Fight Highlight Reel here: 

My Fight Highlight Reel

Having a Coach

Over the years I've come to realise how important having proper coaching is. I've seen lots of fighters who's results and fight records would be much different if they had different coaches.

Coaches can decide for the fighter which fights to accept and which to decline at each point in his career, the coach can organise the training of the fighter, telling him what to do and when to do it (but he can't do the training for him). Coaches can make tactical and strategic decisions about how to fight and what techniques should be used against an upcoming opponent.

Real Coaching

I believe there's more to coaching than just showing techniques. Teaching techniques is important and unless an instructor can break down and explain the techniques properly the student won't be able to learn and perform them. The instructor must also be able to explain the 'whys' of each technique so the student has a clear understanding of when to apply it.

These days however there is so much access to techniques via instructional videos and online subscription sites that anyone can learn anything. So what is the point of having an instructor or teacher?

Guiding the Students

For me the most important element of coaching isn't the actual techniques. It comes down to guiding and managing the progress of the individual student. The Coach must understand what is best to teach (or not teach) the student at any given point in time. The Coach must know what advice to give the Student and what changes they need to make to maximise their learning and improvement.

This is not something which can be picked up from an online video. Showing someone how to do a new tricky way of setting up an armlock and then having them successfully do it in live sparring is relatively easy.  Guiding a complete beginner from having no knowledge to winning fights and tournaments is much more difficult. Unfortunately I find that many people coming to the martial arts have this quick fix short term mentality and they will also find a coach out there to offer them the quick fix they think they need.

Over the years I've gained a lot of knowledge and experience about how to be successful in combat sports but I'm still learning more and more every week. I've been training for almost 25 years, have competed in many combat sports, gone on training trips all over the world, attended many seminars, private lessons and lots of research, planning and note taking.

I believe that one of the best skills that I have developed is knowing how to best guide and develop the training career of my students. I've trained all over the world and learned from many different instructors. I think I've learned just as much about how not to teach as I have learned about teaching.

Learn MMA in Melbourne