Media Ilia states he doesn't actually train MMA

Söze Aldo

Söze Aldo

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Isn't this more of a throwback to old-school fighters who trained in different disciplines separately, rather than the blended MMA style that's been more popular in recent years? It's definitely working for him, and it explains why he's one of the few MMA strikers who actually uses boxing combos.
 
fortheo said:
He literally says, "when training camp starts, I mix everything up."
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I mean he's obviously an MMA fighter still. The training camps are only a few weeks out of the year. He's saying he trains in specificized boxing and wrestling gyms. Most fighters today train in MMA style gyms that aren't specificized to solely one fight discipline.

It's interesting because the meta has been that MMA has evolved into becoming its own distinct style not just an amalgamation of different ones.
 
Söze Aldo said:
I mean he's obviously an MMA fighter still. The training camps are only a few weeks out of the year. He's saying he trains in specificized boxing and wrestling gyms. Most fighters today train in MMA style gyms that aren't specificized to solely one fight discipline.

It's interesting because the meta has been that MMA has evolved into becoming its own distinct style not just an amalgamation of different ones.
Click to expand...
The overwhelming majority of MMA pros train disciplines separately as well as "MMA". This isn't special or newsworthy at all. Is normal.

What would be interesting/novel is if he literally only trained and sparred boxing, wrestling, bjj, etc., separately, and never even sparred MMA except when in the cage. But he says in this very interview that he doesn't do that.
 
Qays Stetkevich said:
The overwhelming majority of MMA pros train disciplines separately as well as "MMA". This isn't special or newsworthy at all. Is normal.

What would be interesting/novel is if he literally only trained and sparred boxing, wrestling, bjj, etc., separately, and never even sparred MMA except when in the cage. But he says in this very interview that he doesn't do that.
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You're missing the point of mine that you quoted. There's a difference between training boxing in an MMA gym and training in a dedicated boxing gym, or training wrestling in an actual wrestling gym, for that matter. Most MMA gyms do teach all these disciplines, but always with MMA as the overall focus.

It's understandable that most fighters don't train at separate gyms for every individual martial arts discipline as most MMA fighters simply don’t have the time or resources to divide between multiple gyms.

Even before this interview, I always noticed how Ilia had one of the most traditional boxing styles among any current MMA fighters. Training at a real boxing gym would explain that.
 
Söze Aldo said:
I mean he's obviously an MMA fighter still. The training camps are only a few weeks out of the year. He's saying he trains in specificized boxing and wrestling gyms. Most fighters today train in MMA style gyms that aren't specificized to solely one fight discipline.

It's interesting because the meta has been that MMA has evolved into becoming its own distinct style not just an amalgamation of different ones.
Click to expand...

if you fight 3 times a year, each camp being 8-10 weeks, then you're in camp for 6-7 months out of the year, not only a few weeks a year, and then you're typically resting a couple weeks after each fight too. After all that you're lucky to have a few months left in the year for out of camp training.

I guess when you average less than 2 fights a year the way Ilia has since getting into the UFC, the camp time is relatively low indeed and he has plenty of off time to train in each discipline separately the way he likes. Many fighters do still do something similar to that, though.
 
Ilia is brilliant and has the genetics too. Only downside I can see, he may mentally check out against certain opponents in the future.
 
The only mma thing you would need to train is cage/clinch, ground and pound, and strikes to takedowns. In that order of importance imo
 
Ilia has the Tito routine

I train six days, actually six days a week. Five days a week, I'll train three days a week. One of those days I will train two days of the week. So, six days a week I will be training.
 
The question I would have is whether he's talking about MMA-specific training for the individual disciplines.

In other words, when he's training "wrestling," is he training with a wrestling team...or is he training mma wresting? When he's training BJJ, is he in a gi, or is it bjj specifically designed for mma?
 
Söze Aldo said:
I mean he's obviously an MMA fighter still. The training camps are only a few weeks out of the year. He's saying he trains in specificized boxing and wrestling gyms. Most fighters today train in MMA style gyms that aren't specificized to solely one fight discipline.

It's interesting because the meta has been that MMA has evolved into becoming its own distinct style not just an amalgamation of different ones.
Click to expand...
He says classes not different combat sports gyms. Where I am at there are numerous schools that do "MMA" and still have a boxing night, a wrestling night, jiujitsu night, etc. Lots of local fighters that could make it eventually train in these gyms, and as they progress they start doing two a days and it starts to become more blended. Lots of pros work on their striking and then work on grappling, especially if they are shoring up weaknesses. I just do not see this as something significantly different than other people.

Besides if he fights two times a year, that means 12-16 weeks out of the year is fight camp and more "MMA" style training.

Then again, I don't go to the gym like I used too, I stick with doing privates, substitute coach a wrestling session, or if someone asks me to help them in a camp. I just don't have the time, and cannot really afford the chronic non-stop headaches that I had when I trained 8-10x a week (it continued, even when I reduced it to 5). I really need to get off my ass more often though, but I need to finish my dissertation.
 
Söze Aldo said:
You're missing the point of mine that you quoted. There's a difference between training boxing in an MMA gym and training in a dedicated boxing gym, or training wrestling in an actual wrestling gym, for that matter. Most MMA gyms do teach all these disciplines, but always with MMA as the overall focus.

It's understandable that most fighters don't train at separate gyms for every individual martial arts discipline as most MMA fighters simply don’t have the time or resources to divide between multiple gyms.

Even before this interview, I always noticed how Ilia had one of the most traditional boxing styles among any current MMA fighters. Training at a real boxing gym would explain that.
Click to expand...

?? Places like Mjolnir and ATT ATL, for example, people don't need to a traditional boxing or wrestling gym, because they have actual professional boxing coaches and wrestlers teaching boxing and wrestling, and the pros take "regular" boxing and wrestling classes, just like they would at a boxing gym, even taught by professional boxers. Those skills are later implemented into MMA training and sparring as well. But lots and lots of the top gyms and pros train this way. I don't know the actual number, but I'd be surprised if the majority didn't.

**exceptions absolutely apply
 
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