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Years ago I went to Brazil to train MMA, got into all kinds of crazy things and penned down my adventures. I rewrote them a hundred times and I figured it might be cool to release them in a book. Dunno if many Sherbros are into reading? If I ever get to a finished product, and people enjoy my writing I would donate it all to charity anyway. Here is an excerpt. Feel free to leave me a comment or some critique. I also shot a ton of pictures, but will have to figure out how to post them here.
SPARRING
Everybody heard, everybody watched and everybody saw the gruesome sparring sessions of the former Chute Boxe team on the internet, which were supposed to prepare the fighters for real ring experience. And hell they did, accumulating tons of victories and belts throughout time and numerous organisations. Once the old Chute Boxe fell apart, many new coaches kept the tradition running, including Cristiano (Marcello).
Some of the sparring sessions I saw were better than many fights I saw. One day I saw Felipe Silva (the UFC lightweight) totally dominate a UFC heavyweight that would rather not be mentioned. At that time, Felipe was not signed to the UFC but just a Muay Thai champ who barely dipped his toes in MMA.
I saw Ariel Machado, who is currently signed by Glory, fighting Marcao, who won the Nitrix Tournament. The gym didn’t have caged walls at the time but just some boxing bags on the floors to mark its limits. Somewhere they managed to get over the boxing bags but kept sparring until they reached the locker rooms, between the spectators. Everybody of the team had stopped sparring, went looking and started cheering and clapping their hands. Once the round was over, both guys hugged it out and got off the mats with a smile.
But still, even if the sparring was often more than brutal, it wasn’t some brain dead knock till you drop type of fighting. Both fighters always agreed on sparring hard and made sure they were matched equally. There was absolutely no use of beating up somebody that was less skilled or injuring somebody. In all these years, I only saw a guy get knocked out 4 or 5 times, and often, it was because they tried incredibly dumb things and paid the price for it (I saw a guy attempt a flying knee but knock himself out hitting the gym wall once).
I often sparred, but I made clear I didn’t want to be mauled as many fighters skillsets were dimensions apart from mine. And it got respected, unlike in many Muay Thai and MMA gyms in Europe where there always happens to be a guy going way too hard against lesser competition, preferably kids or women.
Not here. Dinis made me clear that it had no use of going crazy against somebody who didn’t have the right tools, although it didn’t mean they were going to let you off easy. The goal was that you improve your striking, footwork, head movement and defence, not to have you carried away on a stretcher.
The guys treated the training sessions as work. Instead of going to the office, they were going to the 10 am wrestling class. Instead of going to a late night business meeting, they were fighting on an undercard of a promotion. It wasn’t the most common job, but it was just a job after all. There was no use to act bad on the job, not in an office, not in the gym. That would have been unprofessional, they told me.
Although some of the new guys were less skilled, fighting was often their primary source of income, sometimes combined with security work. If they got injured, it would have serious consequences for them, their other job and their families, who were often counting on that one measly paycheck from a hole in the wall promotion. That paycheck, often fed a family for a whole month, made sure mom was able to pay her rent and dad got to put fuel in his car.
Everybody was told to leave their ego at the door, and it was necessary. Imagine 30 guys, all on top of the food chain, living together on bunk beds in a small dorm, sharing the same toilet, the same kitchen and the same shower. In many situations it would create tension, not but not here. The guys here were working on a better future, on a better life for them and their families and chose to get along for their own good.
SPARRING
Everybody heard, everybody watched and everybody saw the gruesome sparring sessions of the former Chute Boxe team on the internet, which were supposed to prepare the fighters for real ring experience. And hell they did, accumulating tons of victories and belts throughout time and numerous organisations. Once the old Chute Boxe fell apart, many new coaches kept the tradition running, including Cristiano (Marcello).
Some of the sparring sessions I saw were better than many fights I saw. One day I saw Felipe Silva (the UFC lightweight) totally dominate a UFC heavyweight that would rather not be mentioned. At that time, Felipe was not signed to the UFC but just a Muay Thai champ who barely dipped his toes in MMA.
I saw Ariel Machado, who is currently signed by Glory, fighting Marcao, who won the Nitrix Tournament. The gym didn’t have caged walls at the time but just some boxing bags on the floors to mark its limits. Somewhere they managed to get over the boxing bags but kept sparring until they reached the locker rooms, between the spectators. Everybody of the team had stopped sparring, went looking and started cheering and clapping their hands. Once the round was over, both guys hugged it out and got off the mats with a smile.
But still, even if the sparring was often more than brutal, it wasn’t some brain dead knock till you drop type of fighting. Both fighters always agreed on sparring hard and made sure they were matched equally. There was absolutely no use of beating up somebody that was less skilled or injuring somebody. In all these years, I only saw a guy get knocked out 4 or 5 times, and often, it was because they tried incredibly dumb things and paid the price for it (I saw a guy attempt a flying knee but knock himself out hitting the gym wall once).
I often sparred, but I made clear I didn’t want to be mauled as many fighters skillsets were dimensions apart from mine. And it got respected, unlike in many Muay Thai and MMA gyms in Europe where there always happens to be a guy going way too hard against lesser competition, preferably kids or women.
Not here. Dinis made me clear that it had no use of going crazy against somebody who didn’t have the right tools, although it didn’t mean they were going to let you off easy. The goal was that you improve your striking, footwork, head movement and defence, not to have you carried away on a stretcher.
The guys treated the training sessions as work. Instead of going to the office, they were going to the 10 am wrestling class. Instead of going to a late night business meeting, they were fighting on an undercard of a promotion. It wasn’t the most common job, but it was just a job after all. There was no use to act bad on the job, not in an office, not in the gym. That would have been unprofessional, they told me.
Although some of the new guys were less skilled, fighting was often their primary source of income, sometimes combined with security work. If they got injured, it would have serious consequences for them, their other job and their families, who were often counting on that one measly paycheck from a hole in the wall promotion. That paycheck, often fed a family for a whole month, made sure mom was able to pay her rent and dad got to put fuel in his car.
Everybody was told to leave their ego at the door, and it was necessary. Imagine 30 guys, all on top of the food chain, living together on bunk beds in a small dorm, sharing the same toilet, the same kitchen and the same shower. In many situations it would create tension, not but not here. The guys here were working on a better future, on a better life for them and their families and chose to get along for their own good.
