Top MMA trainers admit to their biggest mistake

[nuraknu]

In combat sports, there is always a fine line between winning and losing.

The simplest of mistakes can result in a loss, not to mention bodily harm. Every athlete is human, and thus capable of making a mistake. That goes for their coaches as well.

ESPN asked several of the best trainers in mixed martial arts to reflect on a mistake they've made. Most struggled to identify just one as the biggest of their career, but were able to come up with a specific example.

Fighting is undeniably an individual sport, but there is a team element to it nevertheless -- which you should get a sense of reading these....

[Includes statements from:

• Jason Parillo, RVCA VA Sport
  
  
• Mark Henry, New Jersey striking coach
• Javier Mendez, American Kickboxing Academy

• Trevor Wittman, Grudge Training Center
• Mike Brown, American Top Team
• Duke Roufus, Roufusport MMA
• John Crouch, MMA LAB
• Mike Winkeljohn, Jackson-Wink MMA
• Henri Hooft, Combat Club
• Brandon Gibson, Jackson-Wink MMA
• Duane Ludwig, Ludwig Martial Arts
• Justin Buchholz, Team Alpha Male
• Firas Zahabi, Tristar MMA
• John Kavanagh, SBG Ireland]

Source: Okamoto/ESPN: Top MMA trainers admit to their biggest mistake

 

[nuraknu]

Nice work from Okamoto. I only got to read a couple so far, but it's amazing that he got all these guys to participate.

 

[ender852]

In combat sports, there is always a fine line between winning and losing.

The simplest of mistakes can result in a loss, not to mention bodily harm. Every athlete is human, and thus capable of making a mistake. That goes for their coaches as well.

ESPN asked several of the best trainers in mixed martial arts to reflect on a mistake they've made. Most struggled to identify just one as the biggest of their career, but were able to come up with a specific example.

Fighting is undeniably an individual sport, but there is a team element to it nevertheless -- which you should get a sense of reading these....

[Includes statements from:

• Jason Parillo, RVCA VA Sport
  
  
• Mark Henry, New Jersey striking coach
• Javier Mendez, American Kickboxing Academy

• Trevor Wittman, Grudge Training Center
• Mike Brown, American Top Team
• Duke Roufus, Roufusport MMA
• John Crouch, MMA LAB
• Mike Winkeljohn, Jackson-Wink MMA
• Henri Hooft, Combat Club
• Brandon Gibson, Jackson-Wink MMA
• Duane Ludwig, Ludwig Martial Arts
• Justin Buchholz, Team Alpha Male
• Firas Zahabi, Tristar MMA
• John Kavanagh, SBG Ireland]

Source: Okamoto/ESPN: Top MMA trainers admit to their biggest mistake

why the fuck is the article squished into 2/3 of the page by some shitty articles bar?

 

[so long]

Seriously thanks for sharing that @nuraknu - this is so much better than the typical he said she said chael said or Joe Rogan farted on his podcast articles that the sites that I know of usually push out.
This is like actual reporting with unique content about MMA.

--> Is there a thread about good / serious / unique mma reporting sources on this forum as a reference? or can you recommend some?
I also enjoyed this article the other day, @BirdWatcher ! Mayweather-McGregor Showed What Boxing Has To Offer MMA | TMMAC - The MMA Community Forum

Thanks!

 

[La Paix]

Seriously thanks for sharing that @nuraknu - this is so much better than the typical he said she said chael said or Joe Rogan farted on his podcast articles that the sites that I know of usually push out.
This is like actual reporting with unique content about MMA.

--> Is there a thread about good / serious / unique mma reporting sources on this forum as a reference? or can you recommend some?
I also enjoyed this article the other day, @BirdWatcher ! Mayweather-McGregor Showed What Boxing Has To Offer MMA | TMMAC - The MMA Community Forum

Thanks!

Yup, both good reads that weren't the typical format.

I'm not sure if there's a thread out there like you've described. I usually like ones that aren't from the sites that need to present a certain side or face the consequences. Deadspin doesn't give a fuck bit can be too extreme the other way sometimes too. Cage potatoe was the same. Good stuff but sometimes laid it on a little thick.

 

[The EZ Life]

interesting read....

scroll down enough and u see this... whats up with her forehead? am I seeing things?

 

[nuraknu]

interesting read....

scroll down enough and u see this... whats up with her forehead? am I seeing things?

That is the hematoma she got from Jessica Andrade.

 

[nuraknu]

Seriously thanks for sharing that @nuraknu - this is so much better than the typical he said she said chael said or Joe Rogan farted on his podcast articles that the sites that I know of usually push out.
This is like actual reporting with unique content about MMA.

--> Is there a thread about good / serious / unique mma reporting sources on this forum as a reference? or can you recommend some?
I also enjoyed this article the other day, @BirdWatcher ! Mayweather-McGregor Showed What Boxing Has To Offer MMA | TMMAC - The MMA Community Forum

Thanks!

There was a thread in which a bunch of us listed the ones we follow, but my personal one is updated since then. But let me see if I can find it.

 

[nuraknu]

MMA Journalism | TMMAC - The MMA Community Forum

 

[so long]

Yup, both good reads that weren't the typical format.

I'm not sure if there's a thread out there like you've described. I usually like ones that aren't from the sites that need to present a certain side or face the consequences. Deadspin doesn't give a fuck bit can be too extreme the other way sometimes too. Cage potatoe was the same. Good stuff but sometimes laid it on a little thick.

Yeah man, Cagepotato was really funny too, but they got really weird/polarising, almost antisocial a couple of many years ago. Plus the site tried to install some bullshit malware on my phone; haven't been back since :C

 

[GSPTrainingInAPool]

Duke is very optimistic about the UFC's ability to promote more champions of added weight classes

 

[kneeblock]

I've cornered guys before. It's a really hard spot to be in because you have such a rush of emotions. You don't want your fighter to get badly hurt above all things and you also wish you could just have a joystick when you see them making technical errors. It can be more stressful to corner than compete in some ways because it makes you second guess yourself a lot if you're emotionally invested in the fighter. If you're lucky you're an established trainer with a gym and a protocol and you get to choose who you work with, but I feel like it's just as prevalent that you're in that corner because you were chosen by the fighter since they trust you or because no one else would step up.

I think my biggest mistakes for the few fights I've cornered have been overestimating the talent of the guy I was working with being enough to carry him through and not paying attention to their emotional state enough. Sometimes guys who seem super confident will give little tells like saying "no matter what happens, I'm glad to be here" which doesn't sound like much, but is a sure sign that they already have a mental out and doubts about winning. Other times guys will want to talk technique too much on fight day and that's another sign of waning confidence. The time to talk techs is in the gym. That can mean they're just playing scenarios too literally in their head.

I one time had a guy who fought in an unsanctioned bout a week prior to the fight I was cornering for and he lost by TKO. I wasn't there and he did it behind my back and I found this out about an hour before the fight. So I was faced with reporting it to the promoter to try to get him scratched or letting him ride it out. I hadn't really trained him at all for the fight besides one day for a couple hours as a last minute thing so i should have never agreed to it in the first place, but didn't want his corner to be empty. Much to my regret, I said nothing. He lost that fight by submission thankfully, but the guy was a lot better than him so it could have ended up much worse. I never worked with him again after that because I couldn't trust him.

I went 4-2 overall with my guys and then got out of it. Too stressful. There's nothing like the exhilaration of getting the win, but the losses can be devastating, particularly if you train hard. Cornering for grappling, which I've done more, is even more annoying, but at least is less risky.

Be interested to hear from @ECC170 @Leigh and others who have been there much more than I have.

 

[maurice]

I once had a grappling coach ask me to corner a kid I had never met because he was busy coaching another kid on another mat. I politely declined, and the ref agreed to wait.

How am I supposed to coach a kid who has never trained with me? We have zero rapport, and I have no idea about his strengths and weakness.

Worst experience was an opposing coach who wanted to fight me because my kids dominated all of his.

 

[Mix6APlix]

I'd love to go one on one with Okamoto in mma trivia for his job. I'd smoke him like a joint.

 

[ECC170]

I'd love to go one on one with Okamoto in mma trivia for his job. I'd smoke him like a joint.

Play quizup MMA... it's the best trivia game out there..it ranks you in your state and beyond

 

[member 603]

Cornering is hard, I agree with @Kneeblock when he said that you wish you could put your talents into your fighter that day to help them.... Every fight, every grappling tourney, every time they compete... You want them to win so badly that it hurts if they don't. That shits stresses me out nowadays LOL.

The thing is, as a coach, you know that it won't always go your guys way, you push them, train them, but as soon as the cage door closes, or the ref says "combatch", they are on their own.... All you can do is hope that you've done enough to get them ready, hope that they've absorbed all the knowledge you've tried to impart, hope that mentally they won't quit. The wins are always easy to celebrate, it's when your guy loses that you have to console, coach, evaluate on the spot.... There are rough days in coaching.