My 10 Favourite MMA Fighters Of 2011

by Brendan | Follow Him on Twitter Here

This is a feature I hope to start doing once a year. I watch quite a lot of Mixed Martial Arts so I thought I may as well talk about it sometimes as well. I know my site is supposed to be a MMA Training website but I figure a small amount of journalism dedicated to professional MMA wouldn’t hurt. It might even help improve the site.

To clarify I don’t buy into that “If they don’t fight in the UFC they aren’t worth ranking alongside UFC fighters bullshit a lot of other MMA websites peddle around”. It should be mentioned that a fair chunk of the aforementioned websites get paid by the UFC to write press about them. That is why a lot of websites seem to always take a pro-UFC stance. I’m happy to put any professional fighter from any promotion on my list.

10. Donald Corrone

donald cerrone
Cowboy has had an amazing year so far (up until the end of it anyway). He started it off by beating British fighter Paul Kelly. He followed that up by beating Vagner Rocha, tapping out Charles Oliveira and finally besting Dennis Siver. It was only Nate Diaz that managed to derail his whirlwind year. Nevertheless Donald Corrone had a fantastic year in 2011 with 4 out of 5 wins. If he keeps winning he’ll surely be given a title shot in 2012.

09. Shinya Aoki

shinya aoki
Shinya Aoki bounced back from an extremely disappointing 2010. Despite beating Tatsuya Kawajiri, Marcus Aurelio and Yokthai Sithoar, he dropped a decision to Gilbert Melendez and got knocked out by Yuichiro Nagashima in a DREAM/K-1 Special Rules bout. But in 2011 he has managed to submit Lyle Beerbohm, Rich Clementi and Rob McCullough using the exact same submission move which is a hybrid face bar and neck crank. Rob McCullough must have suspected what Aoki was going to do yet he couldn’t stop the BJJ phenom from doing what he wanted once the fight hit the ground. He topped off the year by beating Satoru Kitaoka by decision in DREAM’s new years eve show.

08. Dan Henderson

Dan Henderson
It’s been an eventful year for Hendo. First winning the Strikeforce Light-Heavyweight championship from Rafael Cavalcante. He followed that up by going up to heavyweight and knocking out Fedor Emelianenko in the first round. Something no one else has ever managed to do up until now. Dan Henderson then re-signed with the UFC and made his debut (is it classed as a debut if you have fought for them on two separate occasions previously?) against Shogun Rua, in what was one of the greatest MMA fights I’ve ever seen.

07. Edson Barboza

edson barboza
Probably the least known (along with Aoki) in my top 10 outside of the die hard MMA fans. Edson Barboza is a fearson Brazilian Muay Thai fighter with 6 of his current 9 wins coming via knock out. Did I also mention he’s had 25 wins as a professional Muay Thai fighter with 22 of them being Ko’s. He’s also a purple belt in BJJ so he’s rounding himself out well as a MMA fighter. His wins against Anthony Njokuani and Ross Pearson both earned him a fight of the night award. Expect big things from this guy in the future.

06. Anderson Silva

anderson silva
I’m sure anyone with a brain would have known I would include Anderson Silva on here somewhere. His Karate Kid-esq crane kick of Vitor Belfort could be a contender for knock out of the year. But his dominating performance and knock out of Yushin Okami, who was the last person to beat him showed that he will be champion for a long time unless Chael Sonnen manages to unseat him in a rematch of their 2010 slobberknocker.

05. Jake Ellenburger

Jake Ellenberger
I think no one would argue with Jake Ellenberger being included on this list with his two Ko’s and one decision in 2011. One of those included number one contender Jake Shields though Shields had just lost his father 3 weeks before so his head probably wasn’t 100% there for that fight. Though nothing should be taken away from Ellenberger who has had a fantastic year and must be only one or two wins from a welterweight title shot.

04. Carlos Condit

carlos condit
Carlos Condit hasn’t fought as much in 2011 as the other candidates on the list (especially Corrone) but his highlight reel knockout of Dong Hyun Kim is a legitimate contender for knockout of the year. He was supposed to face Georges St. Pierre at UFC 137 but an injury to GSP put that fight on ice. Now we hear that him and Nick Diaz will fight for the intrim welterweight champion. Condit is an extremely talented fighter and I believe he is more than a match for Nick Diaz. Mark my words it will be an entertaining fight!

03. Nick Diaz

nick diaz
What can I say about Nick Diaz that I haven’t said in the past. On one hand he is one of the most talented fighters in the welterweight division. On the other he is his own worst enemy. If we forget how he beat BJ Penn, he still had two incredibly memorable fights with Paul Daley and Cyborg Santos, who are both good competitors in their own right this year before the Penn fight. He was able to beat all three. That is why Diaz gets my number three position.

02. Jon Jones

jon jones
Jon Jones has had quite a year. First he knocked out Ryan Bader, then won the UFC light heavyweight championship from Maurício Shogun Rua, and then successfully defended it against Quinton Rampage Jackson. The year wasn’t over yet though as Jones defended his championship again against Lyoto Machida. He submitted Machida in spectacular fashion with a modified guillotine choke to retain the belt. So to recap in the space of 12 months Jones has beaten 1 number one contender (Bader), won a championship belt and defeated three former champions (Rua, Jackson and Machida). In my opinion he now has a legitimate argument for being the number one pound-for-pound fighter in all of MMA. But I’ve only ranked him at number 2, so who will be number 1?

01. Frankie Edgar

frankie edgar
Are you really surprised that this guy is my number one? He survived not one but two first round beatdowns at the hands of Gray Maynard, who is a much, much bigger fighter and even came back to knock out Maynard in the fourth round of their second fight. How much heart do you have to have to come back twice from getting destroyed in the first round of two fights in a row? A lot that’s how much. Jones might be the most naturally gifted fighter on the list but Edgar beats him hands down in heart and the desire to win. You can’t learn that in gym. That is why Frankie Edgar is my number one fighter for 2011.

Honourable Mentions

Roger Gracie – After beating Trevor Prangley so convincingly he would have been a shoo-in for my top ten if he hadn’t been knocked out by King Mo in September. He was pushed into a fight with Lawal far too quickly in my opinion after only having 4 professional MMA bouts. It was a case of Strikeforce needing some big name fights after fighters started jumping ship to UFC. Couple this with him being a world grappling champion and Lawal being a former light-heavyweight champion and it was a no-brainer for Strikeforce but a very bad move for Gracie.
Gilbert Melendez – The way he came back from injury and dominated Tatsuya Kawajiri was quite a stunning victory. Unfortunately he only fought once at the time of writing. He didn’t quite impressive me enough this year to be included on my list. But there is always next year.

Needs To Try Harder In 2012
Charles Oliveira – It was a pretty bad 12 months for this young fighter. Billed by everyone as a future UFC lightweight champion by most who have seen him fight. 2011 saw him drop one fight and have one fight ruled a no contest by kneeing Nik Lentz in the head while Lentz had all four limbs on the ground. His performance was so dominating up until that point he looked like he would have easily been a top 5 on this list.

Who are your 10 favourite fighters of 2011? Do you disagree with any of mine? Is Frankie Edgar not deserving enough of the no 1 spot? Let me know what you think in the replies.

Thanks for reading, cheers!

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Comeback of the Year 2011

by Brendan | Follow Him on Twitter Here

Happy New Year! I will soon be getting back to regular posts here on My MMA Training but we still have a few best of 2011 posts left, up next is Comeback of the Year. Comebacks are what makes the sport of Mixed Martial Arts so fantastic. Watching a fighter snatch victory from the jaws of defeat creates an excitement in fans that is unrivalled in other forms of entertainment.

My comeback of the year award goes to Diego Brandao for his The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale match against Dennis Bermudez. Featherweights really know how to put on an exciting fights and this match was no exception.

Diego Brandao was in control of the fight until Bermudez landed a short right hand that changed proceedings completely. In the blink of an eye Brandao was dazed, flat on his back and desperately trying to survive. Suddenly just when it looked like Bermudez had taken the round and quite possible the fight the Brazilian slapped on a fantastic armbar from guard that won him the fight.

Diego BrandaoBermudez left his left arm open and extended, Brandao grabbed on and the rest is history as they say. At 4:51 of the first round, Brandao submitted Bermudez with an armbar to become the Season 14 featherweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter – in arguably the greatest single round in TUF Finale history.

Brandao reportedly wanted to win The Ultimate Fighter to provide a better life for his family in Brazil. The $80,000 in bonus money alone should give him a great head start (not to mention the legions of new fans he will now have after demonstrating how much heart he has).

Who got your pick for comeback of the year? Leave me a comment and let me know in the replies. As always thanks for reading.

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Knockout of the Year 2011

by Brendan | Follow Him on Twitter Here

Firstly Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to all of you, I hope you got everything you wanted and spent some quality time with friends and loved one’s while eating far too much food and watching a lot of TV. I certainly did, I should probably go for a run but first I need to give you my Knockout of the Year.

Mixed Martial Arts has had some amazing knockouts this year. Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida’s Steven Seagal inspired front kicks that KO’d Vitor Belfort and Randy Couture respectively. We also had Cheick Kongo coming back from the brink of being knocked out himself to flash KO Pat Barry. We even had a rolling front somersault kick courtesy of Marius Zaromskis but this knockout was better than them all.

My award for Knockout of the Year goes to exciting Middleweight prospect Cairo “Lightning” Rocha who left a lasting impression on me after watching the below MMA fight during a Challenge of the Immortals PPV held by Brazilian Fighting Championship.

After watching the video you’ll be able to see why the 6’3″ Brazilian speed demon is nicknamed Lightning. The only thing you need to know is Rocha is in the white shorts and Neves is in the black shorts.

Cairo Rocha Vs Francisco Neves

Rocha landed a superb spinning back kick right out of the martial art Capoeira. Beautiful and absolutely brutal at the same time. Neves is out cold before he even hits the floor.

Boom Headshot! I don’t care how good your chin is that kick would knock anyone out.

With more experience there’s no telling where this guy could end up. After all he is part of the fastest growing sport in the world!

Who got your pick for knockout of the year? Leave me a comment and let me know in the replies.

Thanks for reading cheers!

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Submission Of The Year 2011

by Brendan | Follow Him on Twitter Here

We have been treated to a lot of amazing submissions in 2011 but this one really stood out for me. No before you ask it wasn’t a submission in the UFC, or Strikeforce, Dream, even Bellator. It happened in BAMMA right here in the United Kingdom.

Danny Mitchell’s flying triangle on Dean Amasinger is my choice for submission of the year 2011.

For most MMA fighters a Triangle is a move used solely for when they are on their backs with an opponent in their guard. Not so for the Cheesecake Assassin, he likes to throw them while standing up. You may recognise the man he taps out, Dean Amasinger. Dean was on Season 9 of The Ultimate Fighter if you watch the UF (I don’t because I hate the ‘fakeness’ of reality TV – especially X-Factor).

I liked this submission so much because we hardly ever get to see this move pulled off successfully in BJJ let alone in an MMA fight. In fact I don’t recall ever seeing it in any MMA match I’ve ever watched (that isn’t to say it hasn’t been done before!).

With Amasinger holding Mitchell up against the cage after a brief exchange of strikes. Then all of the sudden Mitchell throws his shoulders forward to create some space for his hips to move and uses the space to throw his legs up over and around Amasinger and then locks his feet together. He then falls to the mat and puts the move on fully to get the tap.

No one could have predicted that finish, let alone Amasinger who was caught completely off guard and had no idea what was happening until it was too late.

Danny Mitchell Vs Dean Amasinger

The submission happens at around the 11:45 mark in the video.

Does anyone else want some cheesecake right about now?

I hope you enjoyed this post. Please let me know what you thought in the comments.

Thanks for reading. Cheers!

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Jones Vs Machida UFC 140 Breakdown

by Brendan | Follow Him on Twitter Here

If you have been reading this site for a while you will remember that I predicted Lyoto Machida would give Jon Jones his toughest test to date and I wasn’t wrong when the two finally met at UFC 140. But as we all know what sets true champions apart from the rest is how they deal and subsequently overcome adversity.

For the first time in his UFC career Jones lost a round. Despite two judges giving him the first round it was clearly Machida’s, Dana White and Ariel Helwani both agree with my sentiments as well if you watch their post UFC 140 interview.
jones vs machida
In the first round Machida used his speed and elusiveness to avoid Jones’s attacks while countering him with flurries of punches and kicks when he leaped in and out of range. For all watching it looked like we were returning to the Machida Era. The look of bewilderment on Jones face at the end of round 1 only added to the feeling that it would be Lyotos night. But Jones proved why he’s the champion and did it with BJJ.

In the second round Jones switched his tactics and shot for a takedown. While on the ground he used his razor sharp elbows to open a nasty cut above Machida’s eye. Referee Big John McCarthy then called a stop to the fight so Lyoto could be looked at by the cageside doctor to access the severity of the injury.

After the restart the two traded punches until Machida got caught with a right straight that caused him to stumble. He attempted to turn this fall into a takedown. But Jones latched on to a guillotine as Machida attempted to back out and get back up to his feet.

Jones vs Machida UFC 140Jones used a modified guillotine in which he pressed Machida up against the cage to put pressure on both sides of the neck. From the GIF you can see that Jones uses his right hand to push up his left arm in a kind of lever fashion to put incredible pressure onto the neck of Lyoto. Not only is he being choked but he’s also getting neck cranked at the same time. Joe Rogan said at the end of the fight that it is the same choke Cody McKenzie likes to use (known as the McKenzietine :) )

There is no denying that Jon Jones has amazing reach but seeing how he finished that submission, it seems to me that he has a heavyweights strength even though he fights at light heavyweight.

Jones holds the choke until Machida goes limp and John McCarthy is forced to stop the fight (late in my opinion, which isn’t like Big John). Jones then performs the greatest walk off submission I have ever seen, leaving Machida to fall, unconscious face first onto the mat. I said after the Rampage fight that I could see Jones being champion for a long time and this fight further cements that theory.

Rener and Ryron Gracie break down how Jon was able to submit Machida. They also break down the submissions from Diego Brandao and Tony Ferguson from the ultimate fighter finale and Frank Mir’s kimura armlock that broke Minotauro Nogueira’s arm.

What did you think of 140? Do you think Jon Jones will be the champion for a long time? Le me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading cheers, and all the best to you!

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Paul Sass Demonstrates The Flying Triangle

by Brendan | Follow Him on Twitter Here

Paul Sass did not earn his nickname “The Sassangle” by knocking guys unconscious with head kicks. The man knows what he is good at and it’s BJJ. His submission game is good, very good. More accurately it is his triangle choke. 8 of his 12 career victories have by way triangle and the other 3 have come from heel hooks. The man knows how to tap a guy out.

Watch the video below to see Sass take a page out of Anthony Pettis‘s book and throw on a ‘Showtime Triangle’ by jumping off the fence. Talk about adding some flair to a move. If he ever does this in a real MMA fight he will automatically be awarded submission of the decade.

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Chael Sonnen – The Fighter You Don’t Know

by Brendan | Follow Him on Twitter Here

We are used to seeing Chael Sonnen trash talking Anderson Silva or taking his opponent down with his superior wrestling and punching him in the face for 15 minutes. It may however surprise you that under that trash talking / old school WWF bad guy persona there is a genuinely nice person.

Under the bright lights and the large crowds that the UFC attracts he morphs into the sort of fighter that mows down opponents and verbally berates any one in the immediate area he doesn’t like when the fight is over.

Following his victory over Brain Stann at UFC 136, Sonnen delivered what I believe to be one of the most entertaining post fight speeches in MMA history declaring that ‘Anderson Silva is ducking him’ and talking about upping the ante if he receives a rematch. You would have half expected him to throw down the microphone, run backstage punching anyone who got in his way before speeding off in a monster truck back to his hotel like some sort of 2011 answer to Stone Cold Steve Austin. Instead once the cameras were off him he treated one young UFC fan to the night of his life.

These quotes have been taken from MMAMania.com

“I took my 11 year old son, Ty, to UFC 136. He is a huge UFC fan and we travelled from NJ to go to the Fan Expo and attend the fight. After Chael’s victory, my son approached the security gate to get his autograph. Chael lifted my son over the gate and took him behind the scenes where the other fighters were either recovering from their fight or preparing for an upcoming battle. A security guard brought me back as well, and what followed is a father/son moment that we will both never forget.”

Chael took off his wraps and signed them for my son. There are professional photo sessions taken immediately after the fight, Chael included my son with him in the photos. He then took us to each locker room, introduced us to the fighters and had them sign Ty’s shirt, hat, and program. We then were allowed into Frankie Edgar’s locker room where he was warming up for his title fight. Frankie stopped his warm-up and spent time talking to my son and signing various items. We returned to our seats to watch the final two fights. Chael had the security people take us to a section where UFC fighters sat who were not fighting that evening. Each of them signed my son’s program.

Chael was a gentleman and gave my son an experience that he will never forget. The entire UFC family could not have been more accessible and friendly. I’m sure that there is not another group of professional athletes that would be as inviting to an 11 year old boy during an event. I will always be a Chael Sonnen fan after seeing his heart warming interaction with my son.

When I first read about this I called bulls**t on the whole story and refused to believe it. But then someone linked to a Youtube video on another site.

Watch Dana White’s UFC 136 Vlog, which clearly shows Ty hanging out with Chael. Ty thanks him for the experience and you can clearly hear Sonnen tell him that ‘they are just getting started’.

Ty and Chael appear around the 5:28 mark.

I also found this fan photo of Chael and Ty on a forum.

chael sonnen

Chael Sonnen & Ty

Here is another UFC fan talking about meeting Sonnen:

My wife is young and crippled by M.S. When we met Chael you could tell he wanted to be extra nice to her and show her a fun time. He is a total gentleman, like 95% of the fighters. Anyone that listens to the crap he says and doesn’t just laugh their ass off is clearly a poor judge of reality and character.

Sonnen a nice guy? That is going to take some getting used to for a lot of MMA fans.

In all honesty anyone can see that 90% of what he says is schtick and it all stems from when he was a little kid and loved professional wrestling. He will even do imitations of Macho Man Randy Savage and other wrestling icons of that era and MMA fans don’t even realise he’s paying tribute and think he’s just being a d**k. Sonnen is merely a child at heart and is trying to make the fight game as much fun as he thought it would be as a child.

As much as the mainstream media and detractors want to criticise this sport, there are many more heart warming stories like this than there are negative one’s. These are the stories that the MMA media and fans should be publicising, not the bad ones.

Chael Sonnen I tip my hat to you!

Have you ever met any professional / semi-professional MMA fighters? If so what were they like? Let me know in the replies. Thanks for reading, cheers.

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Terry Etim Vs Edward Faaloloto

by Brendan | Follow Him on Twitter Here

On Saturday 5th November Terry Etim put in just 17 seconds of work at UFC 138. Etim blew through Edward Faaloloto in Birmingham, England with a submission victory that earned the liverpudlian (meaning he’s from Liverpool, England if you are from the US) the Submission of the Night bonus worth a cool $70,000.

Etim came out on fire and hit Faaloloto with a hard jab, a body kick and two left hooks. He then followed up with a well timed spinning back kick. Faaloloto decided that he didn’t want any more of Etim’s stand up game and decided to go for a takedown. Faaloloto left his head exposed. This allowed Terry Etim to put on a Guillotine Choke, jumping into it to tighten it up. You could tell Faaloloto was in trouble by the look on his face before the fight even hit the floor. He was left with no choice but to tap out, all of that action in only 17 seconds!
Terry Etim Vs Edward Faaloloto

Terry secures an arm in guillotine which differs from the conventional guillotine by well having an arm in when you perform it. This means that as opposed to lifting up to finish a regular guillotine choke you need to instead put you weight down on the top of the head to push down and pull back on the your opponents neck.

I am sure from watching the gif to above, which is almost the entire fight minus the fist pump in the first two seconds, you can see that Etim looks like he’s made big improvements in the his overall fighting ability, especially when you consider he has spent 19 months on the sidelines.

I wrote a 2000+ word post on the various types of Guillotine Chokes and how to perform them but in case you have forgotten here is Ari Bolden from Submission 101 explaining how to get a submission using the regular guillotine.

If you want to see more quality videos from Ari check out the Submissions 101 Video Series.

I sincerely hope you found this article interesting and useful. I would love to hear if you have tried putting a standing guillotine on an opponent in MMA, BJJ, or Submission Grappling (even if you couldn’t quite get it to work correctly) please leave me a comment and let me know what you think or if you know any other sneaky ways to get a Guillotine from standing that I haven’t mentioned on the site previously.

I would also love to hear if you have any ideas how I can improve these articles so please leave me a comment if you have any tips or suggestions.

As always thank you for your support cheers!

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Mixed Martial Artists Subdue Armed Robber

by Brendan | Follow Him on Twitter Here

Whoever says that Mixed Martial Arts and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu are both useless for self defence needs to take a look at this video. We need to remember that BJJ, Muay Thai, Judo & Sambo were primarily invented to be used as martial arts for individuals to defend themselves from would-be assailants. We get so caught up in the sport aspect of MMA that we sometimes forget what its original purpose was, to see which martial arts was the most effective in a real fight.

Two MMA fighters were in Los Angeles for a BJJ tournament but ended up using their grappling skills for more than trying to win a gold medal. They subdued an armed robber with a rear naked choke who was holding up the clerk at their hotel. After handing over the money from the till the clerk noticed the robber place the handgun in the bag along with the cash. He raced after him out of the office grabbed him from behind and screamed for help.

Luckily for him two of his guests were 10th Planet Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighters and trained Mixed Martial Artists Brent Alvarez and Billy Denney, who had both just arrived in town for a tournament in Long Beach and were waiting in the lobby. As the robber struggled to break free the two martial artists jumped on him with Denney grabbing the robber in a rear naked choke while Alvarez seized the gun.

They then quickly put him on the ground with a leg sweep and held him until police arrived.

Denney, 28, told the LA Times: ‘The manager eye-balled us and immediately started running after this guy saying “He’s got a gun, he’s got a gun, he’s got a gun, he just robbed me”

See the two 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu guys tackle the robber in the below video.

Just goes to show that evil doesn’t always win when good people refuse to sit back and let it happen.

God I love Mixed Martial Arts!

Do you think the world would be a safer place if everyone was trained in a martial art? Let me know in the replies.

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Nick Diaz And His Superhuman Cardio

by Brendan | Follow Him on Twitter Here

If you’ve watched any of Nick Diaz’s fights in the last few years it almost seems like he never gets tired. In fact he seems to get more energy as the fight wears on. If you saw how he outworked BJ Penn at UFC 137 you will understand what I mean.

The first round was fairly even with both competitors getting their fair share of the exchanges. But I would have given the first round to Penn. The problem with fighting Diaz is his opponents can only keep up with his relentless pace for so long before they start to gas and slow down. Once this happened to Penn in the second round it was basically a free for all for Diaz. Diaz was out striking Penn from the second round until the end of the fight. I have never seen BJ Penn look like that after a fight. He didn’t even look like that after fighting Jon Fitch or St. Pierre and they are both bigger and stronger than Diaz. I have a lot of respect for Penn coming out for the third round because he looked like his corner should have thrown in the towel and stopped the fight.

nick diaz cardio

Nick Diaz Cardio

How does he do this you may be asking. Well I’ve done some research and this is what I’ve found. Nick competes in Iron Man races and Triathlons. Whatever your feelings are about the guy you have to tip your hat to him to be willing to take his conditioning to the next level. From what he puts himself though before a fight it is clear he is extremely passionate about his health and fitness. Running these sort of races isn’t something for the feint of heart, it takes months of preparation and you need to be able to ignore that voice in your head that tells you to quit when you feel exhausted.

Nick Diaz Triathlon

Nick Diaz Mid Triathlon


Diaz recently participated in the 30th annual Donner Lake Triathlon in Truckee, California, finishing an impressive 36th out of 292 entrants. The race comprises of a 1.5 kilometre swim. A 40 k bike ride and finally a 6.5 mile run. Diaz completed the course in 2 hours, 46 minutes and 20.4 seconds.

Diaz has long been a triathlon competitor and credits that for his reputation as one of the fittest athletes in Mixed Martial Arts. In fact in a recent interview he stated.

“Fighting is 90 percent mental, and knowing that 15 minutes or 25 minutes are no problem can help you sustain that mental advantage over your opponent,” he said. “What’s 25 minutes when I’ve been pushing 80 percent of my maximum aerobic threshold for three hours?”

The below video actually shows Nick right before competing in a triathlon and he explains why he has such good cardio & endurance. Most of it he puts down to swimming as a child.

A lot of MMA coaches state that distance running is useless for Mixed Martial Arts and we should instead concentrate on sprinting. I think Nick Diaz makes a good case for that statement being a load of crap. No doubt sprints help your body develop the ability to have quick, controlled bursts of energy, but distance running definitely has its place. I have used distance running to help my weight loss. But I have also noticed a big improvement in my cardio for Brazilina Jiu-Jitsu and Grappling. When my team mates are all breathing heavily and out of breath I still feel fine. Doing GSP’s RushFit series has also improved my cardio dramatically.

Here is an example workout that I have created which will go a long way to increasing your cardio and endurance.

Simple Cardio Workout

  1. Start off with a 5k run. This will fill your muscles with lactic acid and start to tire you out
  2. 5 rounds of 1 minute sprints (add a hill incline for some extra difficulty if you feel the need)
  3. 30 Burpees

The goal is to try and complete this workout as quickly as you can. Over a period of time you should see that your cardio is increasing because this workout will start getting easier and you will not feel as tired after completing it and subsequently you start to finish it in a shorter time.

If you find that you can’t get through the entire workout when you first start doing it, do not worry. Just complete as much of it as you can. Eventually you will be able to do it all from start to finish.

If you are lucky enough to own a gym membership with access to a swimming pool you can substitute the sprints for 10 minutes of swimming laps of the pool as quickly as you can. I don’t have a gym membership any more so I make do with running. On a side note both running and swimming are great for weight loss. Swimming is probably the most effective of the two. I have a friend who managed to loose 20 pounds or 1.6 stone just by going swimming 3 times a week without making any serious dietary changes. It really helps burn the fat and speed up a persons metabolic rate.

The reason I’ve added Burpees into the mix is because in Mixed Martial Arts the most tiring aspect from my own experience is the switching levels between standing and being on the ground and getting back up to my feet again. Doing this multiple times in a five minute round really tires guys out. That is what really takes it out of me so I added those in for good measure. Don’t hate me, I hate them as well!

This workout will not give you Nick Diaz levels of cardio but it will go a long way to improving it. To get the same sort of cardio as Nick you are going to have to start distance running and maybe entering some races like he does. When you have the endurance to run a 2 hour race at 60-80% of your fastest pace you will find that the three five minute rounds of an MMA fight a complete breeze in comparison.

If you want to increase your endurance and cardio Nick makes a good case for distance running and swimming being the ways to go. Don’t be scared homie!

As always if you have any questions please feel free to leave me a comment. Thanks for reading cheers!

Posted in Strength and Conditioning | Tagged , , | 3 Comments