Training philosophies: battle tested vs handicapping yourself

Iman Barlow

the boss
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will we see a change from the gym wars of chute boxe to hopefully something more refined, like where the Thais engage in slap sparring for the training?

Or better yet, go the Roy Jones route where his dad made him fight one handed to hone his defense? How about training submissions and making ppl tap well before the danger zone?

Imagine instead of having full blown slugfests in training to "simulate battle", the new criteria is, YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO FIGHT UNLESS YOU CAN GO EACH ROUND by taking 3 headshots or less.
 
I think you will. A few pros already don't take head shots when sparring. You will get no support from that on an mma forum though. Mention anything about fighters tailoring their training to prevent injuries most of the archaic mma fan base gets their panties in a bunch.
 
well, look at the chute boxe guys they're not doing so hot right now
 
The chute boxe grading was sadistic, i've seen some full retard sparring in old chute boxe vids

The thai way of training suits them as they fight more often, in some cases once a fortnight, you dont need to spar hard often when you fight that often

mma fighters dont fight as often as stadium level thai boxers so need some toughening up experiences in hard sparring
 
Hard sparring is absolutely necessary. I think what kills guys bodies is the high intensity wrestling. GSP never had injuries then masters wrestling and blows his knees out. Its no secret.

I think that the truth is somewhere in the middle.


You cant be in Chute Boxe 2003 but you have to be used to fighting in real time with real speed and real instincts. Its the only way to prepare yourself for the real fight.
 
I've watched a few training clips of Connor McGregor and his partners and they go very light, probably like 10 percent, even in grappling range. When they land a take down or submission it's pure technique, and the strike barely touch. I'm sure they go hard once a week or so, but it looks like they focus on technique, range, angles, and movement. It would be very surprising if other gyms weren't also following this model.
 
I've watched a few training clips of Connor McGregor and his partners and they go very light, probably like 10 percent, even in grappling range. When they land a take down or submission it's pure technique, and the strike barely touch. I'm sure they go hard once a week or so, but it looks like they focus on technique, range, angles, and movement. It would be very surprising if other gyms weren't also following this model.

The stuff fighters post on the internet is not their only training.

I think hard sparring is something that happens "behind closed doors".
What happens in the gym stays in the gym. Its not typically something fighters want us to see.

You need a good mix of both. The two training methods compliment each other but to much of one over the other is not optimal.
You need to fight to learn to fight, no different to any other sport. You need to play basketball to learn basketball.
On the other hand not drilling technique or going at that lighter pace to concentrate on technique will not give you the right carryover of technique in a real fight.

Too much sparring def leads to injuries and more accumulated wear and tear.

I would be blown away if any fighter out there does not engage in Hard sparring as preperation for their fights...the question is how much.
 
Hard sparring is absolutely necessary. I think what kills guys bodies is the high intensity wrestling. GSP never had injuries then masters wrestling and blows his knees out. Its no secret.

I think that the truth is somewhere in the middle.


You cant be in Chute Boxe 2003 but you have to be used to fighting in real time with real speed and real instincts. Its the only way to prepare yourself for the real fight.

The problem is always the same - as you say, you need to get used to the speed and intensity of real competition. But at the same time, every hard shot you take to your head reduces your capacity to take hard head shots (reduces your chin - there's a lot of medical research on this now because of the NFL and NHL, and its all pretty definitive, you don't harden your chin by being hit, you weaken it ... as well as leading to dementia etc).

And hard takedown practice leads to a lot of knee and shoulder injuries - common problem in college and international judo and wrestling. It'll probably take awhile for the right balance to be worked out.

I guess a case could be made for going lighter the longer you've been competing in MMA - by the time you've had ten or more fights, you're probably pretty used to the intensity in the cage, and sparring is to keep timing and reflexes up, which can be done without real intensity.
 
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