Why we created Bushido Fight Night : Melbourne MMA

Originally, we started out as a no headshots inter club competition at our gym. The no headshots format gave aspiring fighters an opportunity to test their skills. The inspiration came from the amateur Pancrase and KSBO competitions I competed in the UK over twenty years ago.

We ran eight of these tournaments, and the coaches and fighters involved gave great feedback about the professionalism and organization of the events. It was suggested that we do a full pro-am fight night and try to bring fighters on the card who had already been successful in our no-headshot events.

The event planning and organization for our first ever Bushido Fight Night took a lot of time and effort. The hardest part of putting together the card was contacting coaches and gyms since we were in the middle of a four-month lockdown. Several of the fighters on the card had participated in our amateur events and were familiar with the level of professionalism we would bring to the event.

Following months of preparation and one postponement, the show finally took place on Saturday 27th November, and it was a huge success in terms of organization, quality of fights, and attendance. All the teams and fighters involved provided us with great feedback.

The reason I decided to promote an MMA event was that I wanted to bring a fresh perspective to the sport. I’ve been involved in the sport of MMA for a very long time and have been on the other side of the cage as a fighter and coach. In September 2000, I had my first amateur fight and had been training in martial arts for seven years at the time. Throughout the years, I had many amateur and professional MMA fights and had my last professional fight 2009. In the years that followed, I became a full-time coach and have trained many successful fighters who have competed all around the world

I've seen many fighters, gyms, and MMA promotions come and go during that time. As a result, I learned a lot about what works and what doesn't, and I felt that my unique experience and perspective would be of great value when I run my promotion.

In addition, I wanted to portray a legitimate sport instead of glorifying violence for its own sake. Our changes included red or blue uniforms so amateur fighters could be distinguished from professionals. To prevent mismatches, we also make sure that the fighters who are matched on the show have the appropriate skill level and training. For all matched fighters, we provided discounted access to physiotherapy and diet and weight-cutting programs in order to ensure a level playing field. We wanted the fights to be evenly matched in order to give all fighters and teams a positive experience.

Last but not least, we wanted to emphasize the martial arts aspect of MMA. It should be about martial artists and combat sports athletes testing their skills and their training in the cage. There shouldn't just be wannabe tough guys trash talking and swinging for the fences and trying to impress their friends with how tough they are. The goal of Bushido Fight Night is to focus on skill, honor, and respect for the opponent while still putting on a great display of martial arts fighting.

Bushido Fight Night 2 is coming up on Sunday 13th

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GSP - The Blueprint for MMA Success

Georges St Pierre is arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time. It is difficult to compare MMA to more established sports like boxing or wrestling. However, GSP achieved milestones that can be regarded as characteristics of the greatest athletes. During his time, he became the champion of the dominant organization winning the UFC Welterweight & Middleweight Titles. He had Nine title defenses. His final record was 26 wins and 2 losses 

What makes GSP so impressive is his continual improvement from one fight to the next. Whereas most fighters eventually stagnate & decline in performance as their career goes on GSP actually kept improving. Additionally, he retired at the top. He won the middleweight title in his retirement fight against Michael Bisping, probably one of his most impressive performances.

GSP also had many disadvantages. Canada had a strong combat sports culture, but it was not known for MMA in the early days. The USA, Brazil, Russia, and Japan dominated MMA. As most of the champions of major organizations came from these countries, anyone else competing in UFC was not considered to have much of a chance. 

In addition, he did not train with one of the major fight teams, such as Brazilian Top Team, Team Quest or Chute Boxe. He was not deterred, however. He worked relentlessly to refine his skills in the individual styles, learning from the best wrestlers, strikers and jiujitsu teachers he could find, and then he worked even harder to combine them.

Additionally, GSP was not a full-time athlete during the early stages of his career, working several other jobs to pay the bills and only becoming a fulltime fighter after several fights with the UFC.

What was it that separates GSP from the rest and made him so great? There is a trend to imitate what successful fighters are doing right now in the hope of replicating their results. Watch the UFC countdown and see what they are doing to prepare for their upcoming title fight. The focus should be on what the top fighters were doing at the beginning of their careers. 

A great fighter must lay the foundation for future success during the early stages of training and fighting. If they had done things wrong early on, they would never have achieved their full potential and we would never have heard of them.

Don't look at what the successful fighters are doing right now. Find out what he did early on in his career that helped him succeed.

Fortunately, I have a good resource for accurate information on GSP’s early days. My friend and former training partner Oliver Jones. Oliver and I trained, sparred and competed together for many years in the UK BJJ & MMA scene. Oliver is a life long martial artist who has trained and competed extensively in Karate, Amateur boxing, BJJ, Freestyle Wrestling and MMA. He has trained and competed all over the world including Brazil, Japan & the UK.

He also studied in Canada for one year and trained with GSP almost every day. This was just before GSP made his UFC debut.

I recently spoke to Oliver to get a better understanding of what made GSP so great and what he was doing back then that laid the foundation for his career as one of the greatest fighters of all time.

A life long martial artist, not just a Fighter

Just like Oliver, GSP was a life-long martial artist. He didnt just train for fights he was constantly training and improving all the way through his life. Unlike the majority of fighters who just train when they have a fight coming up and then lose motivation between fights.

Those who are introduced to martial arts early in life often display this characteristic. It becomes more than just learning the techniques or getting in shape, but gaining the confidence and mentality that will last for a lifetime. This is why people who started training in their youth tend to stay in the sport for a longer than those who start as adults.

As a child, GSP was introduced to Kyokushin Karate by his father, who believed that it would help him deal with bullying. He trained in Karate until he was a teenager, when he became fascinated by the fast-growing sport of MMA. He dreamed of one day stepping into the cage and testing himself, but realized he needed grappling skills to be successful. During his late teens, he began training in BJJ and wrestling.

This background in traditional martial arts as well as a commitment to continuous daily improvement no doubt set GSP on the right path for future success.

The Professionalization of Mixed Martial Arts

GSP was among the first generation of fighters to treat MMA as a serious professional sport. Unlike previous champions, he wasn't fighting simply to showcase his martial arts skills or promote his school or style. He seemed to understand how big MMA was going to be in the future, so he prepared accordingly.

MMA (then known as No Holds Barred or Cage Fighting) was considered a freak show sport in its early days. No one could have predicted how popular & mainstream it would eventually become. In particular, that one day GSP would be named Canada's sportperson of the year. 

My conversations with Oliver indicate that GSP had an intuitive understanding of the future of the sport. Knowing it would keep growing and evolving, he knew it was worth dedicating his life to. For this reason GSP had a big advantage over other fighters at the time who mostly viewed it as a niche sport, which had already reached its peak. They were more focused on short-term success and relatively small paydays than thinking long-term.

Focus on becoming a well-rounded fighter

Previous generations of MMA champions were experts in one area, like striking or groundwork, but lacking in others. Champions in individual sports such as wrestling or BJJ knew that if they could reach their preferred range, they would have a huge advantage, but if they couldn't, they would be defeated.

George was determined to become skilled in all areas, according to Oliver. Even after many years of martial arts training, he recognized he still had holes in his game and room for improvement. He knew that he would need to follow a disciplined schedule to acquire all the necessary skills in wrestling, BJJ, boxing, and combine them in MMA. 

GSPs greatest strength was this ability to build upon their weaknesses. While many fighters are happy to just stay in their comfort zone. GSP showed the true white belt mentality. He put in the effort to become one of the most well-rounded fighters in MMA history. He was dangerous at every range and had perhaps the largest arsenal of weapons of any fighter in UFC history. He was an effective puncher, kicker, in the clinch, he had explosive takedowns, dangerous ground and pound and also submissions. On top of this he also had great defence in every area, phenomenal fight IQ and mindset.

Even though he wasn't the first fighter to blend and use the techniques of all the different styles, GSP took this to a higher level and was able to execute this seamless blend of styles in battle better than anyone before him.

This set GSP apart from other fighters and also created the blue print for future MMA fighters to follow.  

Commitment to constant improvement 

At the time they started training together, GSP already had an impressive MMA record and had won the title belt in Canada's biggest MMA promotion. Many would be happy just to rest on their laurels and rely on their fight experience & natural talent instead of continuing to improve. GSP had a true white belt mentality. In the year spent training with Oliver, he was constantly training, learning and improving. 

They first met Gelinas Martial Arts Academy, a traditional martial arts club which had several BJJ classes per week.  The BJJ instructor was Ahmad Zahabi, who was a purple belt at that time. and the brother of Firas Zahabi, who eventually became GSP's head coach. GSP worked hard to develop his Jiujitsu skills in both Gi & Nogi which would go on to serve him well in future years.

Oliver and George also trained three days a week at the Montreal Wrestling Club. The club's head coaches were Victor Silberman and his son David Silberman. In each three hour training session, the format was the same. Drilling the same basic high percentage takedowns followed by lots of rounds of sparring.

GSP also began training & competing in amateur boxing around the same time that Oliver was leaving Canada. In addition, they often traveled to other gyms on weekends to train, compete, or coach.  

Fighers often lack this dedication to learning new skills and fixing holes in their games. Fighters need a certain amount of ego. Often, however, this ego works against the fighter. GSP did not let his ego prevent him from doing the hard work he needed to do to become one of the greatest fighters ever.

Attitude & Work Ethic

In between fights GSP & Oliver would develop everything in isolation, then put it all together during training camp for an upcoming fight.. 

GSP didnt have particular special attributes or talent At least not compared to any other high level figheter but his coaches and training partners could see his potential and how far he would go due to his consistent hard work. He had an aura of achievement, positivity, and friendliness. He always seemed positive about everything and never complained. GSP was never late for training and was always the hardest working athlete on the mats staying right to the end of class and doing extra reps of techniques.

Georges was getting beaten in the training room by specialists in each style, but he was making incremental progress. He was gradually improving as a fighter, and eventually combining everything into MMA training. Many strong wrestlers were better than him in pure wrestling training, many BJJ specialists would tap him out on the mats but gradually there were less and less training partners & opponents who could combine the skills as well as he could. The vast majority of fighters won't go through the process of losing a lot in practice to eventually win.

Oliver was very impressed with GSPs work ethic,he described the typical Sunday of training with GSP. They would go to wrestling practice for three hours, eat a large lunch at a buffet, then GSP would head off to go swimming for two hours. The next morning, GSP would be up early to go to work as a garbage collector. In addition to his busy training schedule he also managed to find time to study at college, and also work as a nightclub bouncer several nights a week.

The correct mentality 

Oliver & GSP often discussed being nervous before fights. GSP was very honest about it. He would not sleep the night before, but he managed to turn all that nervous energy into hyperfocus. What impressed Oliver most was Georges ability to hold together his game plan.

GSP was very methodical with his career plans. He turned down some fights early in his career because he felt he wasn't yet ready for them. He never allowed himself to be pressured into accepting fights which he felt wouldnt ultimately benefit his long term career aspirations. He didnt feel the need to prove a point to anyone or to build his own ego. He made very conscious decisions about his career path. He gradually fought tougher and tougher opponents while working hard to build his skillset. His breakthrough fight was against Pete Spratt. This was GSPs 5th MMA fight compared to Spratt who had 18 fights including 3 fights in the UFC and was coming off a UFC win against Robbie Lawler. This was the fight which earned him a shot in the UFC.

He made his UFC debut by beating Karo Parisyan, followed by one of the most successful fight careers in the history of MMA. But as we can see, all of that is a result of the years of preparation leading up to this moment.

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What I love about MMA

Realism.     

Like most MMA fans in the early days, I wanted to see which techniques would work in a real fight against someone who wasn’t playing by the same rules as me.

Which karate techniques or judo techniques will I be able to use if I’m in a fight against someone who doesn’t understand or respect the rules of karate or judo? 

There is a tendency in Martial Arts to believe exaggerated incredible tales. People who are otherwise critical thinkers are willing to suspend their disbelief when it comes to martial arts and believe the stories of mystical grand masters who could defeat hundreds of opponents at once using their mystical pressure point techniques. 

MMA has shown what will generally work and what won’t in a real fight. Of course, there have to be rules so it will never be 100% accurate but it's as close as we can legally & ethically get 

The growth of MMA has encouraged Martial Artists to become more realistic and honest in their training. Rather than believing that certain styles, techniques or strategies will work in a real fight when there is overwhelming evidence that they probably won’t work. 

The Evolution of martial arts, 

Sinec the early days of the modern era of MMA we have witnessed a constant evolution and improvement of Techniques, Tactics & training methods. In the early days if you knew how do a takedown and apply a rear naked choke you had a serious advantage over 99% of the other fighters you were likely to come up against. 

Since then the game has evolved in cycles every few years. Starting with BJJ strategy of clinch to takedown to mount to back control to submission. This was followed by wrestling era of takedown to ground & pound popularised by Dan Severn, Mark Coleman, & Mark Kerr. Then came the sprawl and and brawl era of fighters like Chuck Lidell.

The game has been continually evolving and building on the what came before. The tactics and strategies that worked ten years ago won’t work now. 

There are also so many techniques that are commonplace nowadays that were previously written off. For example the use of high kicks. 

Prior to the modern MMA era,Jean Claude van Damme was the biggest star of martial arts. Everyone was training to do the splits and land spinning heel kicks. 

When the ufc arrived many martial arts fans came to the conclusion that high kicks looked good in movies but were too risky for real fights and will leave you vulnerable to takedowns. 

One of the first things that changed people’s minds about this was Maurice Smith knocking out Brazilian Jiujitsu expert Conan Silvera. Followed soon after by Pete Williams knocking out UFC champion and elite wrestler Mark Coleman with a head kick. 

After that head kicks came back into fashion again as a legitimate weapon in real fighting. 

The purity of the sport. 

Fighting is the purest expression of a competition between two athletes. Unlike many other professional Sports, Fighting has been around for as long as human beings have existed. Physical Combat was always necessary in order to protect yourself , your family or your tribe from enemies. 

Over the centuries as societies became more civilized the need fro physical fighting became less and less necessary. however its clear that human beings still recognised the value of the ability to fight and defend yourself. This led to the development of martial arts & combat sports in every country and culture around the world. 

Mixed Martila Arts is the ultimate expression of this human need to fight & defend yourself and the ultimate test of the martial artists ability to apply his skills and techniques against an equally skilled and equally trained opponnet. after all what is the point in training for years if you cant apply the techniques under the pressure of a real fight?

MMA sums up the idea of one person against another equal matched opponent. Sometimes people will try to gain an unfair advantage through steroids or other methods but most fighters are doing for the right reason. To test themselves and their training and push themselves beyond their limits.

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Podcast Interview with Sonny Brown

Here is a new interview I did on my friend Sonny Browns Podcast.

Sonny is a great martial artist and experienced MMA fighter but also a very successful and talented  Podcast host. He has had some huge names in the BJJ & MMA community as guests on his show over the last few years so I was very honoured to be invited.

https://sonnybrownbreakdown.com/life-lessons-from-the-worlds-longest-lockdown-with-denis-kelly

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What I hate about MMA

Weight Cutting 

Too many fighters try to win by being heavier than their opponents rather than putting in the time to master the fundamental skills of fighting. They focus on how much weight they can cut but dont spend learning how to throw a straight punch without dropping their hands. 

Weight divisions are necessary so fighters can be matched with opponents of  similar size however weight cutting is one of the prime examples of how far MMA has gotten away from its roots. 

The first UFC was won by the lightest fighter in the tournament, Royce Gracie. Shortly after that at UFC 5, he also went on to beat Dan Severn who outweighed him by 32 kg. The sport has evolved a lot since then but the clear lesson is that if you spend your time focusing on proper training then the extra few kgs of weight probably won’t make a big difference to the outcome of a fight especially in the early stages of the fighters career. 

It is also fundamentally opposed to what martial arts training is all about. The idea of trying to gain an advantage by being bigger and heavier is very impractical in the real world. You can't choose to be attacked in the street by someone only of your weight. 

Steroids

There’s an attitude that if you’re not cheating you’re not trying. All the top professionals take steroids and figure out clever ways to avoid getting caught so if you aren’t willing to do the same you’re naive and should find another sport. 

I don't really have a problem with taking them for bodybuilding or even for grappling only where you are unlikely to do long term damage to an opponent but in MMA, fighters risk brain damage or even death, therefore, I think I it’s unacceptable to turn a blind eye to this type of cheating. 

There is often the argument that you still have to train just as hard even if you are on steroids or that everyone else is taking them so there’s no point being at a disadvantage. Cheating is cheating no matter how you try to justify it and it goes against the spirit of what martial arts should be about. 

Trash Talking. 

Trash talking to promote fights usually just looks embarrassing and juvenile. Very few fighters such as Muhammad Ali & Conor McGregor genuinely have the skill to do this type of promotion well. Everyone else tries to imitate them and does a really bad job. 

Trained athletes getting into the cage to fight under very limited rules should be enough to generate interest from fans without the need to turn it onto the Jerry Springer show with storylines about why this fighter hates that fighter. 

I think it shows a lack of faith in their product that fight promoters feel the need to sell the sport with these manufactured storyline’s. The general public is perfectly willing to watch football, cricket, cycling, athletics and every other sport but for some reason, we won’t watch mixed martial arts unless we believe the fighters hate each other. 

Of course, there is evidence that the fights with the most hype and trash-talking lead to the biggest pay per view numbers but this is usually a short-sighted strategy whereby these new ‘fans’ get all excited about one fight but are then left disappointed when a high level mixed martial arts championship fight turns out to be not what they expected and so they go back to watching professional wrestling. 

Once again it also goes against what martial arts should be about. Honour, humility and respect. 

Dangerous Training Methods

MMA is generally a safe sport in terms of what goes on in the cage. This is due to regulation, monitoring, strict rules and guidelines for professional promotions. However, what goes on in the gyms in the lead up to fights is the real risk area. 

Anyone can claim to be an MMA coach without any actual experience or credentials. These coaches have no idea about how to train fighters safely and effectively and so instead just encourage young aspiring fighters to bash each other in the gym every day. While this can sometimes bring good results in the short term it will invariably lead to most of the fighters accumulating injuries which will derail their career or even worse to develop less visible but much more serious concussion-related problems which they will not begin to see the effects of until later in life. 

Sparring never needs to be full contact. My team practice many different forms of specific sparring drills which simulate what will actually happen in the fight. There is no reason to practice getting hit with full-power strikes to the head. As someone who has fought extensively, I can tell you that being hit in a real fight is not the same as being hit by your training partners in sparring. The fighters and teams that spar too hard and boast online about how tough their training sessions are invariably all end up dropping off the scene within a few years rather than having any long-term success. 

Bandwagon Jumpers

Mixed martial arts has become hugely popular in recent years. As the sport increased in popularity I've seen more and more people try to get involved and jump on the bandwagon. Sometimes this can be a great thing because it brings new blood and new ideas to the sport but more often than not it leads to flashy con men trying to exploit the impressionable next generation of up-and-coming fighters with big promises that seldom live up to the hype.

This is especially a problem for young fighters who don't yet fully understand how the sport works. They get to experience some success early in their career and then suddenly the new coaches or managers appear out of the woodwork and promise the world.

Obviously its not practical to force every coach, manager, promoter or gym owner to fight in MMA a few times in order to get some genuine experience. But, It makes a huge difference to have people with legitimate experience and background in the sport making the decisions that will affect those fighting in the cage.

www.dkmma.com.au

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How to make the most of your BJJ Training

What is the best way to learn and improve in martial arts training?

The usual advice is to just keep turning up, train hard and eventually you'll get better. There's a big difference between ‘training’ and ‘good training’. What qualifies as good training?

What an up and coming fighter may consider ‘good training’ may actually be doing them more harm than good in the long term.

Are you actually learning anything & improving? Are you fixing the holes in your game and correcting mistakes or just going through the motions hoping everything will fall into place? Do you actually have a clear plan of what you are trying to achieve with each training session or are you just spending all your training time mindlessly rolling, sparring and hitting pads without any specific objectives?

A famous study of chess players found the keys to what separated the best players from the rest and the same principles can be applied to martial arts training. Most people assume that the sparring and competing are the keys to success in combat sports and that the fighters who spar and compete the most are the ones who will improve faster.

The chess study compared between players who played lots of tournaments and those who spent more time doing ‘Deliberate Practice’ rather than just playing. They spent their time studying the game, building key skills and fixing their weaknesses. Obviously, this training was less fun and can also be frustrating as you will often feel like you aren't making progress but over time it adds up to a huge & insurmountable difference over your competitors.

Why can you not get the same results from just sparring all the time and then competing or fighting?

For the same reason that the chess players did not improve as much. Many of your rounds of sparring would be against more experienced training partners. During these rounds, you would spend most of your time defending and probably unable to successfully execute your own techniques.

Other training partners would be of a lower skill level. During those rounds, you probably aren't being tested and would therefore get away with incorrect technique or tactics.

It is possible that you may gain some benefit from sparring against higher or lower skill level training partners but the real question is do the benefits outweigh the costs in terms of time. Could those same rounds of sparring be spent on a different activity which would lead to greatly improved results over the course of your training career?

These small differences don't seem like much at the time especially since due to selective memory a student is likely to only remember the good parts of each training session. However, everyone only has a limited number of hours in their day so it's vital that you squeeze as much benefit out of every training hour as possible if you want to reach the highest levels in your sport.

Here is a summary of Deliberate Practice also known as Progressive Mastery. Which I adapted from the book High-Performance Habits.

• Determine the skills you need to master - For example, Choose a combination technique, one specific type of guard pass or a takedown. Your coach should be able to assist you with choosing which skills you need to master to achieve your goals.
• Set specific goals related to mastering that skill - For example, your goal is to consistently use this technique in sparring against experienced training partners. The type of goal you choose is very important. It must not be too easy but also not impossible. It should be what is known as a “Stretch” Goal - something that is achievable but will stretch your ability in order to achieve it.
• Understand the meaning of achieving this goal and mastering this skill in your journey - Understand what it will mean to your overall development if you are able to successfully master this key skill. Being world class at this technique will allow you to reach your competition goals.
• Understand the key success factors that will make or break this technique and develop your strengths in those areas. For example, grip strength, balance, mobility. Work to develop these specific attributes in order to achieve your goal. Do this while simultaneously correcting the weaknesses in your technique.
• Get a clear visualized idea of what the technique or skill should look like if applied successfully by carefully observing your coach, training partners or videos of experts then compare to video of yourself practicing the skill or using it in sparring or competition.
• Schedule challenging practices developed by your coaches - for example, your goal could be to use the chosen technique in each round of sparring against a line up of fresh opponents.
• Measure your progress and get feedback - Keep track of your training, write it down, what worked and what didn't work, video your sparring sessions to get accurate feedback of exactly what you did right and wrong. Ask your coach for specific feedback about exactly which part of which technique you need to improve or work on.
• Socialise your learning by practicing or competing with others - This is usually the easy part in terms of martial arts training because you will mostly be in classes alongside others.
• Continue setting higher-level goals so you keep improving - Once you have mastered the skill or are able to consistently apply it against resistance then set higher-level goals so you can keep improving and avoid stagnating.

Teach your training partners what you are learning - When you attempt to teach the skill to other training partners it will force you to think about and understand it more deeply which will ultimately help in your own skill development.

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The Fight is All Podcast Interview

Check out this new interview I did with my friend and fellow MMA coach Sevastiyan Kostov.  Coach Sev is a highly experienced and very knowledgeable fighter and coach with a background in Combat Sambo. We had a great chat on his podcast and discussed a variety of topics including our martial arts training backgrounds, fake martial arts, trash-talking and bad behaviour in the UFC and the best training and coaching methods for MMA.

The Fight is All Podcast Interview 

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Plan your MMA Fight Career

How to make the most of your MMA Training

One of the most important things for an aspiring fighter is to have a goal and a plan for what you want to accomplish. This is something which is often neglected by Fighters.

Many have no idea of what they are trying to do or what their goals are and therefore have no way of telling if they are being successful or just going through the motions.

This is the opposite of most other high-performance sports. Olympic athletes have a clear goal of winning gold in the Olympic games in a certain year and their entire life and career is based around that goal.

They compete in smaller events in the preceding years in order to peak on a specific time date. They also know that they will almost never get a second chance once that window of opportunity has passed by.

In contrast, most MMA fighters have no clear goals. They have vague dreams of getting to the UFC or other big events but no clear plan or timeline of how it's going to happen.

Having a timeline is very important because it focuses your energy and attention. An Olympian knows that if they are not ready and at the peak of their competitive career at a certain date and time (the Olympic year) they don't make the Olympic team and then they won't get a second chance.

MMA is different because fight shows are happening all the time rather than every four years. However, this may give the fighter a false sense of security that they have more time than they actually do.

The structure of MMA is obviously different from Olympic sports but there are still similarities in the competitive career of both types of athlete.

In the same way that you will only get one chance to be an Olympian, you will also usually only get one chance to be a fighter.

The competitive career of nearly every successful fighter usually follows this trajectory:

• compete and win in amateur MMA
• compete and win as a professional in MMA
• amass a winning record against legitimate opponents
• win regional and national titles in smaller promotions
• get signed by the UFC or one of the other major international promotions
• amass a winning record until you get into the top ten rankings and then eventually fight for a title.

It is important to realise that you don't get to go back and redo any of the steps if you have skipped them or things didn't work out.

If your skill level isn't good enough by the time you make it to the UFC you will lose your fights and you won't get back.

It is very unusual for fighters to get dropped or cut by the major organizations and then brought back for a second chance and usually if they do it is understood that they are there to build up the names of up and coming fighters.

MMA fighters are on just as much of a strict unforgiving timeline as their Olympic counterparts. You have a date with destiny approximately ten years after you first step into the ring or cage for your first amateur fight and if you aren't fully prepared by then you won't get a second chance.

How do we make sure that you are prepared?

By tracking your progress and keeping track of the key performance indicators - How many fights have you won since your first amateur fight? Have you beaten many highly ranked opponents or won regional or national titles?

If you are already six or seven years into your fight career and haven't done any of this then it is unlikely you will be on track to achieve the goal of fighting for a title in a major promotion.

The problem is that especially in the social media age many fighters are too focused on the wrong metrics. For example, how many ‘likes’ their social media posts are getting or how many free t-shirts they are being sent by sponsors.

These things make the aspiring fighter feel good and may serve some small purpose in terms of motivation but are ultimately not going to bring them closer to achieving their goals and in my experience can often be detrimental to their progress.

Focusing on the wrong numbers such as Instagram Likes distracts you from what's really important - winning Fights & winning titles.

It also distracts the fighter from the smaller micro-goals that they need to be focused on in order to achieve the bigger goals.

The smaller targets of how many hours of training did I do this week, how many times did I use the technique or combination that I’ve been working on during this round of sparring, how many times did I successfully execute the escape technique that I’ve been working on.

Know your goals, understand what you need to do to reach your goals, focus on doing what you know you need to do and everything else will fall into place.

www.dkmma.com.au

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Fedor Emelianenko Technique Breakdown

The keys to success for Fedor are his high-level Judo background combined with excellent Boxing & striking skills. His style could be described as ‘Judo-Boxing’ when on his feet combined with devastating Ground and Pound once the fight goes to the floor.

Judo combines very well with boxing in terms of mixing fighting styles for MMA. 

• Judo & Boxing stance is very similar - Upright stance with hands up to grip fight in Judo to protect from punches in boxing.

• Judo has a heavy emphasis on Grip fighting / Hand fighting which can be adapted for striking as a means of removing the opponent's guard.

• The Kuzushi/off-balancing of Judo can be used to set up strikes in the clinch position

The strengths of one style cover the potential weakness of the other:

One of the problems with Judo can be in closing the distance in order to use the techniques - Boxing your way into clinch range which Fedor does very successfully is an example of how the two styles can work together.

Another problem is that the techniques which result in a win via Ippon in Judo such as a high amplitude may not be worth the risk in an MMA fight. For example, the Hip Throw or Shoulder Throw may result in throwing the opponent but not actually injuring them or landing in an advantageous position. However, the Kuzushi or off-balancing that goes into setting up these techniques could also be used to push and pull the opponent onto strikes. This is something that Fedor has used extensively in many of his fights.  

I have broken this session down into combinations based on techniques which Fedor has used in his fights. Although some of these combinations are not taught exactly the way that he used them, I feel that practising them in this format is an efficient way to learn while also getting an understanding of the concepts and principles which make the techniques work. 

Technique A - Used versus Kazuyuki Fujita

Combination: Right Hook - Left Body Kick - Right Cross - Left Hook

Key Ideas:  Fedor employs fast accurate striking. Focuses on using punches most notably the ‘Russian Hook’ but also mixes it up with kicks which he has refined through extensive Dutch Kickboxing training with Ernesto Hoost.

The Russian Hook involves finishing the punch with the thumb down and shoulder high and is perfect for entering into clinch via collar tie or under-hook grip. 

Technique B - Used versus Cro-Cop

Combination: Right Cross to Body - Left Uppercut - Left Hook

Key Ideas:  Cro Cop is obviously aware and cautious of Fedors heavy right hook and is ready to defend punches to the head. Fedor is very good at mixing up the targets of his strikes rather than just ‘head-hunting’. Fedor lands the straight right to the open target of the body then follows up with the left uppercut to raise up his opponent's chin then follows up with the left hook.

Technique C - Used versus Zuluzinho

Combination: Right Hand Trap to Opponents Lead Hand then Lunging Left Hook 

Key Ideas:  Clear obstructions i.e. your opponents' guard so that you can land your punches. Grip fighting (Kumi Kata) techniques are a huge part of successful judo. If you can't grip your opponent then you cannot set up a throw. Elements of the same grip fighting strategies can also be used in clearing your opponent's guard. 

Technique D - Used versus Tim Sylvia

Combination: Right Hand Trap to Opponents Lead Hand then Lunging Left Hook - Then Right hook which leads into Right Collar Tie - Left Uppercut (from Clinch) - Left Hook - Then Right hook - Left hook - Right hook.

Key Ideas:  Kuzushi / Off balancing from the collar tie grip as if to set up the headlock throw (Koshi Guruma) but instead use it to off-balance the opponent so he is open for punches.

Technique E - Used versus Gary Goodridge

Combination: Following on from the previous Combination - Opponent covers up - Post on his head with your right hand - Left Uppercut to the body - Left Uppercut to head - then Right under-hook - Left Knee to Body then Knee Tap Takedown.

Key Ideas: Keeping the opponent guessing by mixing up striking with takedown setups.

Technique F - Used versus Cro Cop

Combination: Right Hook into Right under-hook - To Inside Trip (Ouchi Gari) Takedown.

Key Ideas: Using strikes to close the distance to clinch. Focus on leg takedowns such as Trips as opposed to Double Leg or Single Leg takedowns which may tire out and weaken the arms taking away your punching power and ability to defend strikes.

Technique G - Used versus Nogueira

Combination: Bicep Control then Posture up to Punch - Wrist Trap with Knee - Using the Guard Pass to Land Punches

Key Ideas: Rather than trying to immobilise, hold down and slowly wear down the opponent Fedor gives his opponents opportunities to move. By allowing them space to move he also creates space to land his power shots.

MMA Training doesn't get Easier - You get Tougher

If it was easy everyone would be doing it.

Fighting is supposed to be difficult. Fighting is necessary for the survival of all species. The animals that aren’t prepared to hunt or fight don’t survive.

One of the big mistakes I see with martial arts training is when beginners believe that it should be easy, that they should be able to learn all the techniques within a short amount of time or that there are certain tricks or hacks that will allow them to get there faster.

In my experience, this is not the case. Even the people who do seem to have found some secret way of getting better faster are usually gone or overtaken within a few years.

Their talent allows them to improve quickly but they haven’t developed the habit of consistently training hard to keep making improvements.

The important lesson is that fighting and martial arts are supposed to be hard and that’s ok. We live in a world where everything is easy - Uber eats, Netflix, everyone gets a participation medal.

Martial Arts is supposed to be difficult - by getting used to facing and overcoming these difficult situations - such as, how do I escape from Mount when someone is bigger and heavier? Then it should in theory transfer to other situations we face in the real world.

The problem is that if you’re always looking for an easy solution, some secret that will allow you to fight without putting in the work, you will always find someone offering to sell it to you. This has always been the case in martial arts, from Magical pressure point knockouts to getting your black belt in 2 years if you memorise the katas.

There is no ‘easy’ way to become a good fighter. It takes time, effort and consistent hard work. But by developing the attributes of patience and hard work you will see the benefits in other areas of your life which you wouldn’t get if it was just a matter of learning a few tricks.

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