It seems that in MMA you have about ten years of fights in your body. This is not based on science, but just an observation from watching fights for years. Obviously it can vary for certain people but it seems to be around the ten year mark that people lose the dominance that they once had.

The first person that most people will use to disprove this theory is Randy Couture. However, his first MMA fight was in 1997 at age 33. He then was at the top of his game for the next few years until his defeat against Brock Lesnar in 2008 - since that loss he had a few fights with some wins but never fought for the title again. Even though he did fight until a late age, because he started at a late age he had a decade where most of fights were title fights and then after that decade the body had just had enough.

Wanderlei Silva had his first fight in 1996 and went through to July 2006 with a record of 31 – 5, then from there he has had two wins from eight fights. With the way that Wandy fights - just going in their to destroy people - he has put his body through hell and sadly his dominance came to end in July 06.

Chuck Liddell had his first fight in 1998 and up until December 29 2007 he was rather dominant. Then came 2008, ten years after his debut, and he had three ko losses in row and then he retired. With Chuck we are talking about one of the most feared strikers in the sport, but once his time was up he was on the receiving end of the ko’s.

These are just a few examples but I could go on all day with some of greats of the sport, it is like the body can only take so much damage and then goes in to protection mode and just can’t handle the hits anymore. I do believe that this trend will change as the new breed come through and I think that the decade will shorten, and people will be able to compete at that top level for a shorter time. There will always be the legends but it is getting increasingly difficult to hold on to a title.

Gareth Lewis

Head MMA Instructor 

http://www.mixedmartialarts.co.nz/

MMA is more than just being able to scrap in the ring – you need to have a good balance with your training and your life to be able to do well in this sport. In my opinion, here are some of the foundations of success:

Strength – To be successful in MMA you need to be strong for your size. This doesn’t mean that you need to be a weight lifter,  or be able to get twice your bodyweight above your head. The key to MMA is being strong in the positions that you need. For example, what is the point of being able to deadlift 200kg if you can’t lift your opponent off the mat? Absolute strength is important but functional strength is more important - hence the saying “train the movement, not the muscle”.  The good thing is that every time you train BJJ, wrestling and MMA you are doing the exact type of resistance training that you need. Because you are on the mat it doesn’t feel like weight training, but you are moving a lot of weight around. This means that the more you are rolling and wrestling, the stronger you will get at the positions that you need. You can then put the gym on top of that to get all the strength you need.

Speed – The adage “speed kills” is true – the more speed you have the less time your opponent has to defend. The thing with speed is that you are born with it, or you’re not. If you are blessed with speed then your training will keep your fast twitch fibres firing and your speed will always be there. If you are a little unlucky and are not blessed with speed then you have to work to get more of it. People who are blessed with speed are also blessed with strength, which is often referred to as athleticism. GSP is the best example of this – he can shoot from further out because of his speed, which means he can maintain a greater distance when fighting, which gives him a decided advantage over the rest of the competition.

Cardio – “Fatigue makes a coward out of all of us”. It doesn’t matter what your skill level is, if you do not have a good cardio base then you will get beaten by people with less skill. When you are fatigued your reflexes go, and you can’t fight for those 50/50 positions with any real effect. From there it doesn’t take long for you to go in to survival mode, and once you are in survival mode the fight is more or less over as your opponent doesn’t have to worry about your offence as much. When in survival mode all you are likely to do is throw up a “Hail Mary” – either big one-off punches or one-off submission attempts where neither the punch or sub has any setup. Again we are lucky with the cardio as we get a lot of it in training but not everything you need - just like strength you need to train your heart the way it used in the fight, with lots of up’s and down’s. Doing cardio training where you heart stays at one level will not help as much as training where your heart rate has lots of variations.

Tactics – There has been a blog post already written about how to beat someone with better technique than you – you need better tactics – so I will keep this brief. Basically, you have to use your head when training and fighting – any idiot can train hard and throw a punch, it’s all about doing it right. Train specifically to what you need and fight to a plan that makes the most of your strengths and avoids your opponent’s strengths. Most of all, keep your head in the fight so you can stick to your plan and don’t get caught up in a street fight.  

Technique – This is obviously very important because when your strength and cardio are running low all that you have left is technique, so you had better make sure that it is good. All those little things that your instructor tells you about and you don’t listen are the most important things. The smallest things can have the biggest effect, such as hand position, having your hips a little lower, underhook a little higher, hand facing the other way etc. These are the little things that can save your ass when you are in trouble. When you are training make sure you pay attention to what the good guys are doing and look at the subtle things that they do to stay out of danger.

Head – It is very important to keep a level head and stay positive. Fight training is one of the hardest times to stay positive. Training is only one aspect of the fight game you have to stay positive with – there are also the other aspects of your life in which you have to keep the stress down and positivity up, such as work and home life. The last thing you want is to come home angry after training and be short with your partner because you missed a few arm bars.

Heart – This is the most important part, as without heart all the skills in the world do not mean s**t. Heart is what keeps you training hard, and pushing harder than the next guy. You must believe that you can beat anyone and be up for any challenge. If you do not have the passion and drive for fighting then you shouldn’t do it. Here is a quote that may help you train when you don’t feel like it: “Anyone can do it when they feel like it, it’s the people who do it when they don’t feel like it who succeed”.

Each one of the elements are not isolated - if your fitness is not there then that takes time away from working technique and tactics. If your head is elsewhere then that affects every element of your training. Keep focused and stay committed and that will take you a long way.    

Gareth Lewis

Head MMA Instructor 

http://www.mixedmartialarts.co.nz/

There have been big changes in MMA over the years, and there are some specific fights which have marked the change.

Evolution One: The Ground

BJJ was introduced to the world at UFC 1 on November 12, 1993.  At the time people didn’t know which style would win out of  (among others) Karate, Kung-Fu, Boxing andTae Kwon Do. People had no idea what to expect, but one thing people did agree on was that you can’t win a fight from your back.

Royce Gracie came in and showed the world the strength of BJJ by submitting his opponents off his back. This was such a foreign concept to the martial arts world that the commentators didn’t know about the guard, and had no idea what any of the submission were called. This continued in UFC 4, when Gracie fought Dan Severn, who was a very powerful wrestler.  Gracie went for a triangle and Jeff Blatnick , who was an a Olympic gold medallist in Greco Roman wrestling, said he “as long as his arm is in there he is safe”.  Blatnick was completely surprised when Severn tapped from what they thought was some sort of neck crank.  BJJ made such an impact that after UFC 1 people knew that to win you had to have skill on the ground - this was possibly the biggest evolution in martial arts as a whole.  

Evolution Two: Combination

The Gracie’s dominated MMA for the 90’s, until they met a Japanese fighter namedKazushi Sakuraba.  Sakuraba was a wrestler, amateur and professional, who had ground fighting and submission skills. He was the first person to beat one of the famed Gracie’s, when he defeated Royler Gracie at Pride 8 on 21 November 1999.  To make it more impressive he didn’t knock him out, he beat Gracie by submission which at the time was considered as unlikely as the All Blacks losing to France in the Semi finals of the RugbyWorld Cup.

This win was not a flash in the pan either. Sakuraba went on to beat another three Gracie’s, Royce, Renzo and Ryan, which ended the Gracie domination of MMA.  Sakuraba showed that you needed to have a more complete game, wrestling combined with submission defence or striking and ground ability, to be at the top of the food chain.

This trend continued to the final “passing of the torch” at UFC 60 on May 27 2006, where Royce Gracie fought Matt Hughes.  Gracie was soundly beaten by Matt Hughes, who won his fights with takedowns and ground and pound.  He was, at the time, the most dominate UFC Champion ever.  It become clear that if you were a specialist in one area and become good at another then you would be hard to beat in MMA.

Evolution Three: The Complete Fighter

The third fight between Matt Hughes and George St Pierre (GSP) was at UFC 79, on December 29, 2007. The first fight went to Hughes, and in the second GSP soundly beat Hughes.  The third fight, however, caused many people to call it “a fight that made me question everything I know about MMA”, and say “it was like watching Superman die”.

GSP simply demolished Hughes - he made it look easy.  If you didn’t know that Hughes was one of the greatest fighters in the sport, you would’ve assumed he was a no one, as the fight was so one sided.  GSP was a very good striker, wrestler and ground fighter – this means that where ever the fight went he was happy.  In fact GSP took Matt Hughes’ strength - wrestling -  and beat him at it. No one had seen anything like it before.  GSP evolved a little quicker than others, but it is clear that to be the top in MMA now you have to be very good at everything –  you cannot have one area in which you are weak.  

Evolution Four: The Freaks

From 2007 there were some guys that were good at everything, as they had years of training behind them - GSP and Fedor spring to mind.  In 2010 there was a change – it was the start of the “freaks”. The best example of this would Jon “Bones” Jones - Jones is 22 and has trained MMA for only 3 years, and time of writing he seems unbeatable.

He hasn’t learnt BJJ, Striking and Wrestling – he has learnt MMA as a style and as a complete package.  He hasn’t had to learn how to put the skills together because to him it is all one package. With this skill set he has been adding transitions that most people haven’t even considered. The fight that made this apparent was when he fought one of the greatest talents the sport has seen  in Maurício “Shogun” Rua for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship at UFC 128 on 19 March 2011.  Jones used a spinning elbow against the cage that made Shogun look average, and completely dominated Shogun. It seems that to be the best now you have to be young (as there is only one UFC champ over30 years of age) and have some freak ability.

MMA has changed the way we look at martial arts. The argument on what the most effective fighting art is has been answered – and it’s not one, but a mix of arts. Now it seems that that mix is becoming its own art, due to these new “freaks” who just make it look all so easy.  The way the sport has changed since November 12 1993 is incredible, and any one of the original guys wouldn’t last a round against a middle of the road fighters these days.  This is great, as in a few years GSP will be knocked off his perch and we will get to see Jon Jones pushed to his limit by the latest young guy who will change the game yet again.

Gareth Lewis

Head MMA Instructor 

http://www.mixedmartialarts.co.nz/

Everyone in training has at least one person that causes them grief in a certain position. In reality, most of us have a number of people that give us a lot of grief in a number of different positions.

 Wrestling - If someone sets up their single leg takedown offence from the underhook, and they take you down with this combo time after time, it is common for people to ask their instructor how to defend the single leg.However, if you look at the move, the problem isn’t the single leg, it’s the underhook. The question should be “How do I stop that set- up?”,  or more specifically “How do I defeat the underhook?”. So when you are wrestling that person again, if you work on defeating the underhook you should notice that they are not having the same success. They may get you with other moves, but as long as they do not get you with the single leg from the underhook then you are taking a step forward.

 Striking - If you trained striking with the mentality of escape over prevention then you would take all the punches on your gloves, or head, and stay in a straight line. But to be successful you should be setting up your offence, to make it as hard as possible for them to land their shots.For example, if you are up against a guy with a good left hook, if all you work on is keeping your right hand up then you are doing nothing to stop the left hook – you are just putting some padding between the left hook and your head. There has to be a better way! What you could do instead is aim a lot of your offence at the left side of his head - yes, even your jab - which will tie up his left hand with defence and make it harder for him to throw that left hook. On top of throwing at the left side of his head you should make the most of your movements to your left to stay away from his power shot. Of course if you are a better striker then you will beat them anyway, but if all things are equal you a need to take away from their strengths.  

 BJJ -  If you are up against a guy that has, for example, a great triangle, sitting in guard and working your triangle escapes and counters is only teaching you how to work a number of different ways to get in to the triangle. Let’s assume that most people get the triangle from guard. In practice you would start by working your takedowns and avoiding their guard as you both hit the ground. It would also help to avoiding someone pulling guard from standing. On the ground, instead of avoiding guard, work on keeping positions. Think of it like this - after getting the takedown, you might land in side control. Obviously you want to keep side control, but if you really want to avoid guard then you have to stay away from their legs – north south would be an option, as for them to get you in to guard you have to regress your position on three levels (side control, half guard then full guard). As another example, when in half guard if you think about locking up their leg then it also makes it very hard for them to get back to guard (even if it does make you a little easier to sweep). If you keep your position then they will not be able to get to guard and get the triangle, no matter how good they are at the triangle.

Overall, if you practice escapes for particular moves then all you are doing is finding different ways to get caught with that move, so work on stopping the transition to their set up and you should find that you get more success.

Gareth Lewis

Head MMA Instructor 

http://www.mixedmartialarts.co.nz/

For the general public their perception of us “cage fighters” is that we are thugs and just want to fight, in some cases they are correct. These people do not want to hear that the good fighters are smart and need to be switched on to keep up with the shifting sands of MMA. Intelligence is one of the most important weapons in a MMA fighters’ arsenal.

If you are up against a superior athlete, that is someone that is faster and stronger than you, then you need to be smarter to beat them. Your tactics have to be better than their athleticism. You must know where you strengths are, your opponent may be stronger than you but the chances are you will have better endurance. That is based on the fact that the more muscle you have the more oxygen and energy you use and the quicker you run out. Against someone like this you would think that you would get them in positions that they are using a lot more energy than you this could include up against the fence or on their back. For the first round at least I would be inclined to work and keep active but not go for the finish on the ground, just keep them defending and trying to escape while all the using up energy. Against the fence same thing keep them defending without going for the big takedown, to keep them defending as they are in a bad position. All the very athletic guys I have come up against in training get very frustrated when their muscle doesn’t work then you can capitalise on their mistakes and get the win.

On the flip side you also need superior tactics to beat superior technique. If you are up against a superior grappler then plan A would obviously be to not go to the ground and then when you did get there get up as soon as possible. If it was that easy then there would be very few submissions in MMA. It is common for the ground fighter to try traditional takedowns, such as single and double legs, when they do not get success with that their next option is to try and pull guard. Defending someone pulling guard is a little harder than you would think but there is an upside, you now have top control. However there is also a downside when you are in a good grappler’s guard it can be difficult to survive, if your tactics aren’t up to the task. When Randy Couture is in his opponents guard he puts his hands on their biceps and keeps his chest low and looks to posture for ground and pound, which has become a common way to deal with the guard. Then the ground fighters found ways to deal with this so new tactics had to be made. When a Lockdown fighter is up against a good ground fighter we work on constant movement in their guard, we posture then back down then stand to get their arms reaching for defence then back down to the knees for ground and pound and so on, lots of level changes. This is based on the theory that whoever is dictating the movement is controlling the position, and if the guard player is allowed to throw up submission and sweep attempts then you are constantly defending and more or less losing.

It is never too early to work your tactics, during sparring you should be watching the guys you are up against and work out ways to combat their style, watch their set ups for takedowns as most people do similar things to set up the same moves. There will always be the guys on the mat who have good tactics and technique and they are the guys that will be hard for most people to beat, but a challenge is always fun. As I have mentioned in previous posts that the best guys just do the basics very well and shut down the holes that the rest of us have. One tactic against the top guys is to have a round off while they are up against a guy that will push them then grab them the next round, nothing surprising there but sometimes you need these little advantages to get a win.

Get thinking about what you are doing and what your opponents are doing, figure out a way to keep the fight in your best areas or at least in your opponents weakest areas, stay smart and work your tactics.   

Gareth Lewis

Head MMA Instructor 

http://www.mixedmartialarts.co.nz/

The downside of MMA is that you give up being a specialist in one of the disciplines. No matter how good you are at MMA if you had focused on one thing, such as striking, you would be better at that than you are now. The nature of MMA means that you should be very good at one area and good at the others thins means that your training has to include all areas of MMA and then put them all together.

Striking for MMA, this is an over simplification but you have to decide to give up a few leg kicks for takedown defence. In traditional striking the stance is quite high and light on the feet. If you have heavy feet it makes it harder to move around the ring and get away from your opponents attacks or get close to unload yours. As you are so high your striking is good but it makes it very easy for a wrestler to get to your legs, if a good wrestler gets hold of your legs you are going to get taken down. To have a more effective takedown defence you need to get lower in your stance and plant your feet, this makes it harder for the wrestler to get underneath you and get hold of your legs. The down side is that you are more likely to be to on the receiving end of some leg kicks, so therein lies the dilemma, do you look to throw and defend kicks and possibly get taken down or plant your feet to keep it standing and possibly receive a few legs kicks. So when you are training striking against strikers to you stand tall and work your pure striking skills or do you stay low and work your MMA striking?

Wrestling, the specialist wrestling stance is low with you elbows tight against your side, like a T-Rex, obviously this works for wrestling. If you take this stance in to MMA you are going to get punched in the head a lot and then your takedowns will not matter as your eyes will be swollen shut from all the punches. The other fun part is the ground aspect of wrestling, where you never go to your back no matter what. Which when you learn BJJ makes it a little tricky as you have it hard wired in your head to be on your back when you are on the receiving end of a takedown. So when training wrestling do you work “their” ground skills to adapt your game or do you avoid it as when it hits the ground in MMA you switch to BJJ?

BJJ, when training BJJ you usually start form your knees when rolling and go to submission. There are no punches and there is usually a gi. BJJ is the sport the put MMA on the map and is a major part, even though it has to be adapted for MMA. BJJ in MMA is a little more vigorous, that means that there is striking and it’s more about position and there are not any so called safe positions where you can stall. For example in half guard when you are on the bottom you can hang there with some simple hip movements to stay in a safe place you do not get this luxury in MMA as if they can’t do anything they will punch you. The other big thing is the gi; do you wear it or just stick with the no-gi?

Overall it is my opinion that when you train at the specific places that you play by their rules and try to beat them at their own game, then take these skills and adapt them for MMA. That being said all our coaches have to put up with us in at the specific sports as we do things that are not usually done, fall to our back in wrestling, grab to much in striking and we are the biggest munters on the mat in BJJ. As we have gone down the MMA track we have decided that we are not going to specialise in one area so we will not be as good as what we could be - that is the down side of MMA we are giving up being a specialist and becoming a generalist.

Gareth Lewis

Head MMA Instructor 

http://www.mixedmartialarts.co.nz/

The famous Shark Tank.

So what is it? Usually a shark tank is used for fight prep. It consists of 5 people, give or take, surrounding the person preparing for the fight and every minute they get a fresh opponent. This is very common way to get people ready for the fight.

The people that are part of the shark tank need to have good intensity; if they go in worrying about the fighter then they are not helping them at all. The fighter needs to experience the pressure that they will get in the fight; if the opponents go easy then they are not helping the fighter at all, as all they get is a false sense of security. That just means that you need to pick the people in the shark tank to fulfil the skills that are required 

What is great about the shark tank is that the fighter gets one hell of a workout, it doesn’t matter how it they are they will be struggling by the end of three 5min rounds in the tank. Maybe the best thing is that if the fighter is the biggest most skilled person on the mat then with the shark tank they will get pushed to the limit as fatigue is a great leveller and people who usually gets their ass kicked can get their pay back.

However where Lockdown was going wrong with shark tanks that when the fresh person came in after each minute they literally jumped on to get the best position possible and start laying the smack down. The theory behind this was that they learnt how to deal with bad positions when tired so what ever happened in the fight they had experienced it in training. This was flawed system as all the fighter learned was to take a beating.  So when they went in to the fight all they had trained under pressure were bad positions so what do you think happened when the pressure came on – that’s right they ended up on their back taking a bit of a beating. As a trainer this was the most upsetting thing I had missed and was very disappointed that I didn’t notice sooner, so don’t make the same mistake that I did.

The upgraded shark tank – work smarter not harder. After thinking about what was going wrong what Lockdown decided to do was to work more offence in the shark tank. The first fight we did this for was when one of our guys was up against a skilled grappler. So the first minute of the shark tank was all about striking to keep distance, as to avoid the takedown, second minute clinch work avoid the takedown in the clinch and getting out of the clinch to get back to striking, third minute getting form the ground back to feet, then fourth and fifth minute was all about offence from inside the guard. Minutes four and five the person who had guard was going for the submission and sweeps, Lockdown was very lucky as we had some good grapplers to use for these two minutes.

The new shark tank paid off as in the fight I would say it was one of the best performances from one of our fighters he gave the guy hell on the ground and at the end of the fight there was very little between the fighters. Since then most of the shark tanks at Lockdown have been all about getting the fighter ready for the skills they need. But most important we make sure that they are practicing how to get success in specific areas when they are gassed. This means that in the fight they fighter knows that they can get the position that they need even when they are gassed and mentally they know they can get it which is possibly they most important thing.

Overall with the shark tank make sure you have the people that will replicate the opponent as best you can, they give the fighter hell, but most of all make sure the fighter practices the skills that at they need to get the win. On the flip side you also need to give them the beat down shark tank just so they don’t get complacent with their training and waked them up to the idea  that this stuff is hard and if they are not at the top of their game then they will not get the win

Gareth Lewis

Head MMA Instructor 

http://www.mixedmartialarts.co.nz/

Munters are special breed, they are the guys that try and kill you during a training session. If you are striking with them they throw big looping punches to take your head off, in BJJ their main objective is to pull your head off and in wrestling they push you away until they feel like grabbing something hard enough to break off.

Generally you have to be in the right frame of mind to train with these guys as it is always a 100% death match. What happens with these guys is they get told by almost everyone to calm down, training partners and their trainers all tell them to relax and so on. This is a bit of a shame believe it or not.

So why is a shame that we try and get these crazy guys to calm down? Because these guys pressure test our game, they are as close to what we will face in competition as we can get. Think about the guy that just wants to take your head off in striking, in your first few fights in the kickboxing / boxing that is exactly what happens your opponent will go head hunting to take you out. Obviously we hope this doesn’t happen but if you get in to a fight in the street the person you are up against will sure enough try and take your head off with big punches. In BJJ you will be up against a guy that will try to force everything and generally uses strength to get what they want. Also if you do get in to the dreaded situation in the street then the guy you are up against will not be using technique rather strength and anger will be their allay. Finally in wrestling when you are down on points your opponent will do their best to not engage with you so dealing with someone that keeps distance on you is a great thing to practice.

But the best thing that munters do is that they don’t play by the rules, they will do things a little faster and harder than other people you train with. They are not worried about playing by the rules and making friends they just want to win and if they get your arm as a trophy then so be it. With striking having someone trying to knock you over ensures that your defence is up to task, when you focus on defence your offence is left behind so again this is a great pressure test for your defence.

Finally, embrace these munters pick your moments to train with them and see how your game deals with the pressure. Enjoy it and make sure you do either all of these or at least one of the following – keep your hands up, tap early and don’t let them get a grip just to be safe against these so called trouble makers.

Gareth Lewis

Head MMA Instructor 

http://www.mixedmartialarts.co.nz/

This post is all about BJJ.

If you ask your instructor ‘what do I have to do, to get my next belt’ then that is a sure way that you are not ready for it. The beauty of BJJ is that you get your rank when you deserve it.

Now I am not that experienced with receiving belts as I have only been given two out of a possible 4 belts. (Not including the red-black and red belt as they are so far away for most people they are not going to be considered for this post). But I have seen similarities in people that seem to progress a little quicker than most.

1) Specialise, the good guys usually have a well rounded game but have a certain area where they excel as they understand that position a little more than most. From there the good guys work out how to get to that position from 100 different places, so as the saying goes, all roads lead to Rome. This means that when things are not going to plan they know that all they need to do is get back to their position and they will be fine.

2) Little Improvements, they are not looking for any big advances in their game. The good guys seem to look for the little moves which will help, this could be a different hand position or leg position that will open up more possibilities or make a current move more effective. They seem to understand that there are no magic moves that will change their game; rather they are looking to close down the little gaps that they may have. They believe that if they take care of the little details then it will be easier to make the big stuff happen.  

3) Long term, they focus on improvements over months of training they do not focus on a session to session basis. This gives them the chance to really get involved with their position and figure out why things are not going quite to plan rather than getting caught up with winning each roll. As they know that there is about 2 years between belts they can focus on improving rather than winning.

4) Practice, very simple the better guys are the most consistent on the mat – simple.

5) Information, these are the people that ask the most questions and go to the seminars and read the books, as they are after those little details that will help them. After a session these guys will be going through the rolling in their head and trying to sort out the good from the bad and what made each position work better and what didn’t go so well.

6) Making others better, they realise that the better that everyone else is the better that they become. They help others and want them to get better, so that person can defend their moves and then they have to come up with a counter that way everyone gets better. I have not trained with “a good guy’ that has held back information, they are always keen to help out.

7) Train with the best, they are after the challenge. As their journey is not based on win / loss on the mat they seek out the best to test their skills against. Don’t get me wrong when they seek out the best they are trying to win, if they don’t then they know where to improve. These guys are not afraid of failing; they know that is just part of the journey.

8 ) On time, generally these guys are some of the first guys on the mat and the last to leave another simple one.

9) Don’t look for excuses, when someone beats them they are not looking for excuses such as he is bigger / stronger and so on. You will not hear these guys say “he just got me because of his flexibility” they will not blame being tired, having injuries or anything else.

10) Respect, they have respect for the sport, the club, the instructor and the other guys on the mat. They do what they can to make the sport and club stronger – that is it’s not all about them.

These can all be used for any of the other disciplines of MMA as well.

Gareth Lewis

Head MMA Instructor 

http://www.mixedmartialarts.co.nz/

The best people that you have trained with usually have one thing in common, they don’t think that they are better they know that they are better.

To put this in perspective, when you are training with a person that is new to the sport and you get to roll, wrestle or spar with them you are not concerned about losing in fact that is last thing from your mind. Usually you get to practice your moves and positions against them without any fear of things going badly as you know they just don’t have the tools to concern you.

The best guys at your gym have that mindset against almost all the people that they are up against, and when they spar with people at the gym they are working on new skills and different positions to keep on top of their game. Sometimes they are working their defence which makes you believe that you are beating them that night, but you are not.  Where this mindset comes in handy is when someone steps up against them, that is when someone decides that this is the night when they will go head to head with them and see what’s up, the top guys know that no matter how bad things get they will win as they are just better and when push comes to shove they will come out on top, because they are better. Of course this doesn’t work 100% of the time, but 99% of the time they will win.

Another thing that gives the good guys an advantage is everyone else treats them a little different, that means they go for their moves a little more tentatively as they are concerned about the repercussions if they miss it. If I hit him then he will get grumpy and hit me harder, is he leaving that arm there to set up for a magic sweep that I don’t know about. This hesitation will happen and when it does that is all the good guys need to get to where they will get the win. Knowing that they are better doesn’t make them complacent, they just know that sooner or later they will get that opening and will take advantage of it to get that win.

Overall the best guys have no concept that they can be beaten, even if they lost a fight they all believe that if they had a rematch in a month, a week, a day or right now that they would win. This is the mindset that competitive people have, and they need to have to strive to be better, to win, to be the best.

In short if you think you will win, of you think you will lose you are correct – so make it a win.

Gareth Lewis

Head MMA Instructor 

http://www.mixedmartialarts.co.nz/