As anyone who has been training at Mecha in the last few weeks is probably aware Norifum ‘Kid’ Yamamoto has joined our MMA team. He will be preparing in Toronto for his next fight at UFC 144 in Tokyo. We would like to welcome him to the team.

If you dont know Anything about Kid you should check out his Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norifumi_Yamamoto.

 

Last night we were lucky enough to have Antonio Rogerio Nogueira come to train at Mecha! He was preparing for his fight with Tito Ortiz as UFC 140.

Diego Brandao and the rise of MMA.

After watching The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season 14, it was hard not to be drawn to the story of Diego Brandao. When Diego was just 16 his father passed away and the Brazilian was left with the task of providing for his poor family. His desire to give his family a better life led him to the sport of MMA and his professional debut at age 18. What followed was a 3 year stint in the United States and an up and down MMA career that resulted in a 13-7 record. At the age of 24 however, Diego finally found his break when he was cast as a member of TUF Season 14 reality show. In a knockout style tournament, Diego beat four separate opponents on his way to the top, eventually wining the season finale with one of his now trademark first round stoppages.

It was harder to find a happier face at the post-fight press conference when Diego was told he would be receiving an additional $80, 000 in bonuses for his Knock Out of the Night and Fight of the Night performance. This bonus was added to the 6 figure contract he had already earned with the UFC by winning the TUF 14 season and the inevitable sponsorship deals which soon follow such an achievement. Diego announced that he would return to his family in Brazil and finally fulfil his promise to support his Mother and buy her the house that they had always dreamed of.

 Story’s such as Diego’s are becoming increasingly common in MMA as the sport continues to grow and gain mainstream exposure. It is surely a welcome change for the athletes who have dedicated much of their time and money into the sport to finally be able to earn a much deserved pay check. As fighters are now signing endorsement deals with major sponsors such as Under Armour, Nike, Harley Davison and Burger King, yearly salaries for top fighters have grown into the millions of dollars. There is no telling in fact how big the sport of MMA may become, and if the recent expansion of the sport is anything to go by, only the sky will be the limit.

 

Geoff Girvitz is the owner and director of Bang Fitness and is also a strength and conditioning coach to a number of professional fighters.  We had a chance to catch up with Geoff and talk to him about his tactics and ideas on strength and conditioning for fighters.

MM: You have worked with a number of different athletes from various sports.  What is your primary focus when it comes to training fighters versus other athletes? Do you do anything differently?

GG: I’m not sure I do anything differently.  Our goal at the end of the day is to teach movement quality and teach it to the extent that it holds up under extreme duress.  That might mean a heavy external weight, or it might mean a highly stressful emotional scenario like a fight.

MM: What do you see as the fundamental issue with fighters when they come to work with you?

GG: Number one is they have to get stronger.  Guys often have great conditioning, or great strength endurance but in terms of absolute power or absolute strength, there is often a disconnect.  So we have to juggle two fundamental things: to get someone as strong as is practically possible without jeopardizing their ability for high output during an entire fight.

MM: Could you clarify to our readers what you mean by absolute power?

GG: One of the primary attributes we are looking for in an athlete is relative strength.  Relative strength is what we can express relative to our own body weight, or what we can put out relative to our own body weight.  For example, 315lbs is not exactly a world record deadlift, but when you weigh 135lbs it is pretty substantial.  Absolute strength would be without regard to bodyweight how much you can put out.

MM: Now you have done various martial arts yourself in the past.  How necessary do you think it is for someone in your position to understand the movements that an athlete does, through first-hand experience?

GG: I think that good mechanics are good mechanics and are universal.  You do not need to practice a sport in order to achieve those movements.  But in terms of strategy development I think because of my background it has helped.  I would argue for MMA it is more important because there is no standard operating procedure unlike better established sports such as baseball or hockey.

MM: What do you feel is irreplaceable in terms of actual exercises and do you feel that there is a core set of lifts that are essential to success?

GG: I don’t think there is anyone exercise that will make or break a strength and conditioning program for an MMA fighter.  There are important tools such as the Olympic lifts, but your program has to be adaptable, because we are working with fighters at many different levels of athletic development.

MM: Now if readers don’t know you advocate Olympic lifts such as the clean and snatch.  How do you feel these lifts which are considered sports in their own help other athletes?

GG: They are good tools.  We’re not training guys to compete as Olympic lifters or power lifters, so it’s important to get as much benefit as we can without getting muddled down by other types of rule sets or less relevant approaches.

MM: Injuries occur quite frequently throughout the sports world.  What are your thoughts on rehabilitation and taking time off from training?

GG: Our job as strength and conditioning coaches is to minimize the statistical likelihood of injury.  Keeping athletes training as consistently and effectively as possible is the best thing we can do for their long term careers.

If you would like more information and would like to get in touch with Geoff you can find all the information right here.

Following both BJ Penn and Mirko “CroCop” Filipovic’s losses over the past weekend at UFC 137, we saw the end to two of the most storied careers in MMA history.  Penn found himself battling a game Nick Diaz to a gruelling decision loss and in what at first looked to be an even match but tuned into a very one-sided affair. As Diaz pulled ahead of Penn using his classic volume boxing tactics and furious pace, the Hilo native was left with a badly swollen eye, a purple face but worst of all for Penn, his damaged pride. The result of the fight prompted Penn’s post fight comments in which he said to Joe Rogan “this is probably the last time you’ll see me in here…I’ve got a daughter. I’ve got another daughter on the way. I don’t want to go home looking like this.”  And with that, we are possibly saying goodbye to one of the greatest talents the sport has ever seen, in which Penn, at different times in his career, held both the 155 and 170 pound UFC titles. He beat the likes of Matt Hughes, Jens Pulver, Joe Stevenson, Kenny Florian, Sean Sherk and Renzo Gracie utilizing his quick hands and world championship level Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  Not only was he hard to fight, but he was even harder to finish.

Although Penn’s talent and ability were never questioned, his work ethic and motivation leading into fights were constantly scrutinized.  At times we would see a Penn that was in shape and hungry for the fight, like he was against Sean Sherk, and at other times he almost seemed like he was just moving through the motions.  Whether Penn actually stays away from competition remains to be seen.  We have seen others like Randy Couture be drawn back into the sport by the thrill of competition and the desire to do again what they love.  Maybe one day we could even see the former Mundial champion return to the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu scene, nothing with Penn can be deemed out of the realm of possibility.

As for CroCop however, this does seem to be the end of the line for the 37 year old Croatian kickboxer on all competitive fronts.  A highly touted career in K1 which spanned from 1996 to 2003 and an MMA career from 2001 to 2011 CroCop has seen the all the highs and lows of the combat sport world.  A decorated K1 kickboxer he held notable wins over French kickboxer Jerome Lebanner, Remy Bonjasky, Peter Aerts, Mark Hunt and Glaube Feitosa to name a few.  As a southpaw CroCop brought a vicious left high kick to his game which led him to coin the phrase “right leg hospital, left leg cemetery”.  Although he had success in K1 he never was able to clinch the coveted Grand Prix title.  This would become much the story of CroCop’s career as being one of the most dangerous fighters to not hold a title.  His transition to Pride would prove to be the same with him losing via submission to Minotauro Nogueira after dominating much of the fight for the interm heavyweight title.  The same would unfold as he took on Fedor Emelianenko for the heavyweight title losing a one sided decision to the Russian standout.  It was not until his run in the Pride Open Weight Grand Prix that CroCop was finally able to clinch a title defeating the likes of Ikuhisa Minowa, Hidehiko Yoshida, Wanderlei Silva and Josh Barnett.  After the win CroCop headed stateside with a small stint in Japan to compile a record of 6-6 with one no contest.  With his performance becoming ever lackluster and as a true sportsman knowing that he could not compete at the level necessary to win, called it quits after a TKO loss to Roy Nelson.  Definitely to be remembered as one of the fiercest strikers in mixed martial arts, it seems likely the CroCop will begin to direct his focus to politics in his native Croatia, to which he is already a part of.

With two legends gone, it will be intriguing to see what the new breed of fighters will bring to the game.  And with the sport so new, it is likely that we were able to be a part of something special, the first generation of hall of famers who truly were the first crop of complete mixed martial artists.

 

**Update: BJ Penn possibly open to coming back.  Talks about taking time off and enjoying life and seeing whats comes out of it.**

Caio Terra is arguably one of the best BJJ practitioners competing today.  Fighting in the lightest weight category Caio consistently puts on Jiu Jitsu clinics using superior technique to win matches.  He is a multiple time winner and medalist at the Mundials in both Gi and No Gi.  He has also put out one of the best half guard instructionals.  We had a chance to recently catch up with Caio and gets his thoughts on the future of the BJJ landscape, BJJ in Mixed Martial Arts and his future plans.

MM: You are a three time silver medalist in Gi (2009, 2010, 2011), World Champion in the Gi (2008) and three-time World Champion in No-Gi (2008, 2009 & 2010) all in the black belt divisions.  What makes you push forward and continue competing?

CT: I compete to get better, to make my technique evolve. I don’t compete for results. I shouldn’t have lost in 2010 and 2011, and in 2009 I had my opponent on the triangle but ran out of time to submit him, I certainly learned a lot in all these experiences so I am glad I competed and that I am still able to compete.

MM: You didn’t compete at the ADCC this year.  Would you care to elaborate on it and how you think you would have done in such a deep division?

CT: To be honest, I wasn’t training and I am and was hurt really bad so I am not sure on how I would do, but definitely I would try to complicate my opponents. I just think they (ADCC) didn’t act right by not inviting a lot of the top competitors nowadays.

MM: With so many great competitors in your division at the ADCC what would have been your strategy?

CT: I never come with a strategy. I feel comfortable in any position and I feel that most of the times I know more than my opponent, which gives me time, and in a certain way, makes me relaxed to use the right moves at the right time.

MM: Touching on a similar note, who would you like to compete against the most outside of your weight class and why?

CT: I would like to test my Jiu-Jitsu against the best people. Roger Gracie would definitely be one of them, I am sure I would learn a lot.

MM: We have seen over the last few years guys making the jump from high level BJJ to MMA; guys like Jacare and Roger Gracie.  Have you considered ever making the jump to MMA? 

CT: I have and started training, but I injured myself way too many times this year. I think I trained less than 45 days so far in this year. I still have been competing but I know I should not be doing it.

MM: We have seen a lot of top flight BJJ practitioners have great successes in MMA; Werdum submitting Fedor, Demian Maia dismantling opponents, Jacare and until recently Roger Gracie.  Who do you think has the best Jiu Jitsu for MMA and why?  Also can you think of any guys competing in BJJ right now who you think would have success in MMA?

CT: All these guys have an awesome Jiu-Jitsu for both BJJ tournaments and MMA as well. The problem is that you have to be compete in everything.   The rules make it very hard for Jiu-Jitsu competitors. But in a street fight I am sure these guys would handle anyone that they lost to. I would like to see how Rafael Mendes would do in MMA in the future, he’s has a lot of discipline and trains very hard, I am sure he could pick it up pretty easy.

MM: Which position or positions from BJJ do you feel are underutilized in MMA?

CT: There are a lot of positions in Jiu-Jitsu you can’t do in MMA but it’s a matter of adapting your game.

MM: We have seen a number of new positions and guards over the last few years.  Some hailed a miracle and others a step back for Jiu Jitsu.  Where do you feel sport BJJ is headed in the next few years and what positions do you feel will be used more and more?

CT: If you are talking about 50/50, people only say it’s a stalling guard because they don’t know how to play with it, but it’s like any other guard.  If you know it and the other doesn’t, you can control your opponent. I do Jiu-Jitsu because I like the sport and if changes I am sure it will be for the good and safety of the athletes.

MM: You have worked with so many great people over the years and have had a great opportunity to learn different games.  Who do you really look up to in terms of accomplishments both on the mats and as an instructor?

CT: I like to look up to the ones that have won big tournaments because I know they have the experience to teach me how the moves have worked and not worked for them. Having all my coaches and training partners was a blessed and I am always trying to get better to show them that our team work was successful.

MM: Final question.  With 2011 almost up what can we expect to see of Caio Terra come 2012?

CT: I want to keep proving that Jiu-Jitsu is the only Martial Art in the professional level that a small guy can beat a bigger one using technique. I will drill and study a lot to come out better next year.