Modern UFC fighters going through Lions Den tryouts?

[Fluffernutter]

There is a discussion about old school MMA training the old school trainers demanding insane work rate. One was Kens try out, he believed that cardio was and still is the greatest asset a fighter can have regardless of combat sports. I am curios to know, if all modern UFC fighters can go through the try out?

This is the requirements: (copy and paste)

• 500 squats

• 200 push ups

• 200 sit ups

• 1.5-mile (2.4 km) run

• Repeated runs up and down bleacher steps

• Bear-crawls up steep hills

• Lugging heavy barrels of water and sand bags up steep hills

• The candidates who were still left at this point would then go on to do as many pull-ups as they can without stopping.

• Candidates then went to the actual Lion's Den facility for several hours of sparring.

Shamrock wanted fighters that could get through this ordeal without quitting, even after their body had failed on them, in order to see how serious the fighter was about dedicating his life to MMA fighting


Here is the video of part 1, the rest are also on YouTube if you want to watch all of it.

Saki admitted that he only trained twice a week because he was afraid he would get injured leading up to his UFC debut.

Askren stated that he cut back on training for his last fight. He trained smarter, not harder.

Both won.

It's great to work very hard and improve, but at the same time, you can't fight if you get hurt in training.

 

[DarkneT]

Well that sure looks like a way to break your body

 

[leto1776]

1) no that's not true because a gimmick isn't limited to things that will generate revenue through membership. Perhaps it was a gimmick to enhance the reputation of Lions Den fighters. Perhaps it was a gimmick to secure publicity for the gym.

But surely it was a gimmick. Ken wasn't fucking doing that shit. He was a roid freak that nearly had a heart attack in the ring and got subbed by a guy almost half his weight.

Sorry but Ken simply wasn't capable of doing this workout. I simply refuse to believe it. He never once showed this kind of conditioning in a fight. Not once.

2) you have no idea if this washed out anything other than a tiny fraction of his "clientele." Maybe he just put dumb kids who wanted to be professional fighters through this. We have no idea how many people were paying for generic memberships to this gym. We have no idea if this was simply to train at his gym or if this was the tryout for the professional team.

Back when Ken had these tryouts, he didn't have simple gym memberships. The only people who trained at the Lions Den were on his fight team. To train there, you went through the tryouts. If you made it, you were in, and signed an contract with them. This is all well documented.

This is a training regimen of the elite old time pro wrestlers, which is where the Pancrase dojo got it from originally. Karl Gotchl was the one who spread it to the Japanese as he was a key figure for the New Japan Pro Wrestling dojo when Inoki first started his own promotion. In the United States, Verne Gagne's camp in the 1970's had these sorts of numbers in order to weed out undesirables/non-athletes.

Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Ken Patera, Sgt. Slaughter, the Iron Shiek, plus countless more had to endure this sort of training day in and day out. Ric Flair even quit a couple of times only to have Ken Patera (a U.S. Olympic power lifter) tell him he's not quitting. Gagne even went to Ric Flair's home, grabbed him, threw him on the front lawn and told him he's not quitting. While his matches were all scripted, most acknowledge that Flair had the best endurance of any wrestler. Flair would do 500 squats daily as an active wrestler during his prime.



Glad you brought this up. I remember a documentary back in the 90s with guys trying out at the WCW Powerplant, and they went through similar tryouts. Something like 1000 squats/day.

Gagne's camp:

 

[trolldum]

I see a problem there only if they did 500 squats at once.

 

[90 50]

Good lord, it's not their training regimine it was a tryout to see if you had the drive and mental fortitude to endure it and be worthy not just some Whiney quiter

How many times does that have to be posted before people get it.

 

[Bluesbreaker]

^Has only heard of Pancrase, thanks to this thread.

 

[leto1776]

1) show me the documents.

2) I'm not accepting hearsay on the behalf of fake athletes as the truth about their training regimes. These guys were literally actors in scripted wrestling matches they pretended to win or lose. Why would you accept a single thing they had to say as the truth?

IOW, you're a blind hater. Let me guess, you only heard of this sport because of Conor?

 

[Ogata]

Saki admitted that he only trained twice a week because he was afraid he would get injured leading up to his UFC debut.

Askren stated that he cut back on training for his last fight. He trained smarter, not harder.

Both won.

It's great to work very hard and improve, but at the same time, you can't fight if you get hurt in training.

To be fair, Askren and Saki have been life long athletes and martial artists. Meaning that, over the years, they have trained so hard and taxed their system so much that taking it easy is a good thing for them.

But in Kens case, lots of his guys are new beginners. These guys need a crash course in conditioning and once they have that conditioning, then they can decrease the training frequencies.

 

[ThunderL1ps]

1) show me the documents.

2) I'm not accepting hearsay on the behalf of fake athletes as the truth about their training regimes. These guys were literally actors in scripted wrestling matches they pretended to win or lose. Why would you accept a single thing they had to say as the truth?

Olympic athletes like Ken Patera and Chris Taylor are fake? Ex-NFL players also fake? Amateur wrestling champions frauds? Billy Robinson didn't teach Sakuraba or Josh Barnett anything either because he came from pro wrestling? Tell us more. .

 

[lagofala]

The world has moved on from such unscientific methods. Plus many from the lions den were on roids.

 

[hillelslovak87]

I dont think Ken himself could have done all that shit

Thats what I mean by bullshit

Its was a gimmick to get people into lions den

You're full of shit. The results speak for themselves, and that's why the Lion's Den is still a champion factory.

 

[hillelslovak87]

Bro, when you start dropping names like Ric Flair and Iron Sheik your credibility goes out the window faster than shit through a goose.

Sakuraba and Josh Barnett are extreme outliers. Even if some professional wrestler did show them some things it doesn't prove anything about these training methods. Show me these guys doing this shit. Show me that it's real and not just bragging hyperbole.

Listen, dude, it's not real. It never was. These were grown men who pretended to fight. It wasn't any more real than a play by Shakespeare.

Believing their ridiculous stories is simply foolish considering they lived their lives as almost a complete lie. They weren't the people they claimed to be, they didn't really do the things they claimed to do, and their entire reputations were built on creating a fantastical variation of reality where they performed superhuman feats.

Now you're going to tell me I should believe what they tell me?

Piss off, mate.

 

[Pseudo Sane]

Barnett said in a recent interview with Mark Kerr that no one had any idea how to train for MMA back in the day. Barnett would go to random gyms (combat sports and lifting) and ask random people to fight him.

Yes, but as Barnett's 4 failed drug tests amply demonstrate, Josh Barnett is a goddamn moron.

 

[lagofala]

Bro, when you start dropping names like Ric Flair and Iron Sheik your credibility goes out the window faster than shit through a goose.

Sakuraba and Josh Barnett are extreme outliers. Even if some professional wrestler did show them some things it doesn't prove anything about these training methods. Show me these guys doing this shit. Show me that it's real and not just bragging hyperbole.

Listen, dude, it's not real. It never was. These were grown men who pretended to fight. It wasn't any more real than a play by Shakespeare.

Believing their ridiculous stories is simply foolish considering they lived their lives as almost a complete lie. They weren't the people they claimed to be, they didn't really do the things they claimed to do, and their entire reputations were built on creating a fantastical variation of reality where they performed superhuman feats.

Now you're going to tell me I should believe what they tell me?

Piss off, mate.

Wasn't Iron Shiek an olympic level wrestler?

I think you might be uninformed about the origins of pro wrestling. Initially they were legit fights but 60 min wrestling matches stopped holding the crowds attention. There was no MMA at the time for ground specialists to compete in. So to continue as an act and draw, they started to predetermine matches and create storylines.

If you look at UFC today, it is moving away from the original concept of the best of each discipline against each other. They have manufactured storylines and rivalries. They use the same PPV distribution method popularised by Vince Mcmahon. A few of their biggest stars were prowrestlers. Guys like shamrock, severn and brock. Pro wrestling paved the way for MMA to succeed. I myself was a prowrestling fan that found MMA.

Every fighter exaggarates their accomplishments. Especially in the pre match hype. Conor Mcgregor over exaggarates everything. Doesn't mean they are not credible.

 

[Blayt7hh]

I dont think Ken himself could have done all that shit

Thats what I mean by bullshit

Its was a gimmick to get people into lions den

I think you are probably right. But Ken was in incredible shape, he was no chump. Obviously on roids, but still in incredible shape.

 

[SaigeVanZant]

There is a discussion about old school MMA training the old school trainers demanding insane work rate. One was Kens try out, he believed that cardio was and still is the greatest asset a fighter can have regardless of combat sports. I am curios to know, if all modern UFC fighters can go through the try out?

This is the requirements: (copy and paste)

• 500 squats

• 200 push ups

• 200 sit ups

• 1.5-mile (2.4 km) run

• Repeated runs up and down bleacher steps

• Bear-crawls up steep hills

• Lugging heavy barrels of water and sand bags up steep hills

• The candidates who were still left at this point would then go on to do as many pull-ups as they can without stopping.

• Candidates then went to the actual Lion's Den facility for several hours of sparring.

Shamrock wanted fighters that could get through this ordeal without quitting, even after their body had failed on them, in order to see how serious the fighter was about dedicating his life to MMA fighting


Here is the video of part 1, the rest are also on YouTube if you want to watch all of it.

That's a normal day for us sherbros

 

[Blayt7hh]

He got subbed by someone half his weight. After competing in Pancrase, where subs were allowed, and having submitted people before.

Incredible shape you say.

I had to delete the gif out of your quote, because your retarded ass didn't deserve to get to use it.

 

[Swoliosis]

Used to do a similar conditioning routine back in JUCO wrestling on Mondays. Fucking brutal.

 

[davisxp]

Roy Nelson, and I am not joking

Roy Nelson could probanly make 185 after that workout.

 

[Oliver Clothesoff]

There is a discussion about old school MMA training the old school trainers demanding insane work rate. One was Kens try out, he believed that cardio was and still is the greatest asset a fighter can have regardless of combat sports. I am curios to know, if all modern UFC fighters can go through the try out?

This is the requirements: (copy and paste)

• 500 squats

• 200 push ups

• 200 sit ups

• 1.5-mile (2.4 km) run

• Repeated runs up and down bleacher steps

• Bear-crawls up steep hills

• Lugging heavy barrels of water and sand bags up steep hills

• The candidates who were still left at this point would then go on to do as many pull-ups as they can without stopping.

• Candidates then went to the actual Lion's Den facility for several hours of sparring.

Shamrock wanted fighters that could get through this ordeal without quitting, even after their body had failed on them, in order to see how serious the fighter was about dedicating his life to MMA fighting


Here is the video of part 1, the rest are also on YouTube if you want to watch all of it.

Did they have to do all 200 pushups in a row or was it cumulative? I don't know a lot guys, even pretty fit ones that can do 200 pushups in a row. I've seen a people do a hundred before, but 200? In a row?