MMA fighters that don't "Spar"

Steveston

Steveston

Lion's Den
Platinum Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2013
Messages
5,238
Reaction score
224
Listening to Joe Rogan's fight companion series I've heard about a few fighters that don't spar.
Tim Kennedy says he does zero sparring before his fights as Robbie Lawler use to do the same.
Martin Kampmann only spars once a week I find this hard to believe.
If I didn't spar before competition I would feel totally off considering I feel off when I take a week off from sparring.
 
have you spent a lifetime sparring and have full confidence in your ability to fight?
 
0 sparring has an air of BS about it, but very little sparring is probably a good idea.

Once a guy has significant experience most of what he's getting out of a sparring session, even a light one, is repetitive blunt trauma to the head. A partner that can offer a specific look for an unorthodox style would be the one exception I can think of where a guy should be sparring no matter what.
 
Sparring is the funnest part of training for me, so I'd hate to not do it! This really is an each to their own sort of area.
 
Seems like less sparring or less hard sparring is the trend these days. I saw a vid not too long ago with several top fighters saying they spar hard once a week and some dont spar hard at all. Several fighters are goin light sparring with fight gloves on. I do think its kinda odd but I might be too set in my ways lol
 
Lawlor didn't spar in a specific period when after his first UFC run up until this. Nowdays he spars again but apparently they had gym wars at his old gym and he was worried about the damage. Probably the reason why he is in his prime now and not totally past it.

It probably deends on the fighter and his experience how often he spars.

But Rogan is someimes full of shit claiming shit like that you don't need to spar at all. First of all Lawlor is sparring again and also Rogan has been doing striking sports longer than many UFC fighters and Rogan has fought under kickboxing rules so after his logic he wuld be fine without sparring.......
nw if there wasnt that clip of him sparring JWP where Parr goes like 10% and Rgan still flinches from every single strike thrown at him and looks all over the place and 10000 times worse than he looks on the pads. Rogan looks better than a ton of active UFC fighters hitting the pads but when he spars he looks like a flinchy beginner.

Obviously you can say someone like Lawlor doesn't care about taking punishment and doesnt flinch but even things like Rogans timing and distance management is non existent claiming that hitting pads is enough is ridiculous

Look at the difference between Rogan hitting pads better than the majority of active UFC fighters (at least with single strikes and power and speed wise) and him sparring

[YT]CuKSoSA0HJE[/YT]
 
Lawler*. wouldnt have said anything but you said lawlor every single time lol
 
It's fighters saying they don't spar, not rogan. They say they get in and move around and do light, technical sparring but they don't spar hard. The logic is they know how to take a hit and keep calm under pressure, so why get used up in the gym?

Makes sense to me.
 
^IMO this notion comes from a general lack of structure to MMA sparring. Here in Vegas when MMA guys come to Tocco's I often here stories of fairly disorganized, not well-supervised, very intense sparring at big reputable MMA Gyms. It turns quite a few fighters off because they just feel as if they're getting beaten up all the time. It's like a combination of the traditional Karate belt tests (Kumite with like 10 guys) and hard boxing sparring. So of course, you'd feel a lot better with lighter more technical sparring. But I'd suspect a few Gyms around the U.S. have figured out a medium where fighters can practice the increased pace and intensity without feeling like they're just being bludgeoned all the time.
 
jx820 said:
0 sparring has an air of BS about it, but very little sparring is probably a good idea.

Once a guy has significant experience most of what he's getting out of a sparring session, even a light one, is repetitive blunt trauma to the head. A partner that can offer a specific look for an unorthodox style would be the one exception I can think of where a guy should be sparring no matter what.
Click to expand...

The thing is doing sparring, not someone trying to get his ego higher ---
My last coach came from a brazilian gym where sparring many times were almost getting killed every session...
 
well they're sparring other professional fighters. sparring at 50% for them is like going 200% of me lol i mean if rumble is KO'ing guys in sparring, i think that speaks for itself
 
There are no ranked MMA fighters that does NO sparring.. Come on now.
 
PivotPunch said:
Obviously you can say someone like Lawlor doesn't care about taking punishment and doesnt flinch but even things like Rogans timing and distance management is non existent claiming that hitting pads is enough is ridiculous

Look at the difference between Rogan hitting pads better than the majority of active UFC fighters (at least with single strikes and power and speed wise) and him sparring
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more. You can look great on the pads not even having sparred a single round.

It's just an assumption that when someone looks decent on the pads they will look decent against a live opponent because when the top boys go on pads they of course look good and then you see them in sparring and they look good there too. So a false association occurs where people think: good on pads = good in sparring/fighting. Pads complement your skills but you need sparring. I think the video highlights that rather well.
 
Sinister makes a good point about how the style of sparring in MMA gyms may turn some fighters off. When I was at a boxing/Muay Thai gym, sparring was typically done in the ring with at least one coach watching, and only two people sparred at a time. Whereas at the MMA gyms I've been at, everyone pairs off and spars on the mats. The coach often spars with us. I'm not a huge fan of that style of sparring, and I can see why other fighters wouldn't want to do it. If I'm sparring, I don't want to be on the lookout for other fighters so I don't bump into them, and I want some feedback from a coach afterwards.
 
LJD said:
Sinister makes a good point about how the style of sparring in MMA gyms may turn some fighters off. When I was at a boxing/Muay Thai gym, sparring was typically done in the ring with at least one coach watching, and only two people sparred at a time. Whereas at the MMA gyms I've been at, everyone pairs off and spars on the mats. The coach often spars with us. I'm not a huge fan of that style of sparring, and I can see why other fighters wouldn't want to do it. If I'm sparring, I don't want to be on the lookout for other fighters so I don't bump into them, and I want some feedback from a coach afterwards.
Click to expand...

If there's a larger class, wouldn't it end up being similar? 2 groups sparring in the ring/cage instead of the mats.
 
Sinister said:
^IMO this notion comes from a general lack of structure to MMA sparring. Here in Vegas when MMA guys come to Tocco's I often here stories of fairly disorganized, not well-supervised, very intense sparring at big reputable MMA Gyms. It turns quite a few fighters off because they just feel as if they're getting beaten up all the time. It's like a combination of the traditional Karate belt tests (Kumite with like 10 guys) and hard boxing sparring. So of course, you'd feel a lot better with lighter more technical sparring. But I'd suspect a few Gyms around the U.S. have figured out a medium where fighters can practice the increased pace and intensity without feeling like they're just being bludgeoned all the time.
Click to expand...

It's fairly common out here in oregon as well, especially for ammy fighters.
 
aries said:
I couldn't agree more. You can look great on the pads not even having sparred a single round.

It's just an assumption that when someone looks decent on the pads they will look decent against a live opponent because when the top boys go on pads they of course look good and then you see them in sparring and they look good there too. So a false association occurs where people think: good on pads = good in sparring/fighting. Pads complement your skills but you need sparring. I think the video highlights that rather well.
Click to expand...

The idea is if you're 10 years into your career, what can you get out of sparring that you can't get out of a top quality mitt holder?
 
j123 said:
If there's a larger class, wouldn't it end up being similar? 2 groups sparring in the ring/cage instead of the mats.
Click to expand...

Sparring wasn't part of the classes. The classes were primarily for people just looking for a workout, although the more serious members would take them from time to time. But for the most part, those who were serious about learning boxing or Muay Thai would work with trainers, in partner drills and on their own.

Since sparring wasn't limited to specific class times, a large group of people wanting to spar wasn't really a problem. People could just work in or spar after one group finished.
 
thats why alot of mma fighters boxing looks like trash..spar more less weight lifting!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,236,972
Messages
55,458,152
Members
174,787
Latest member
Freddie556

Share this page

Back
Top