Issue 137

January 2016

How the UFC Performance Center will help fighters realize their full potential

Forest Griffin

The former UFC 205lb champ is searching for the best MMA training practices

The aim of the UFC Performance Center is for our fighters to get better training. We want to help them realize they need to do to take care of their body, how a real MMA camp should work and what a real routine should look like. Our sport is still new and nobody really knows what the best practices are.

It’s going to be geared towards science and conditioning as well as actual martial arts training. We’ll have some coaches on staff and fighters will be allowed to bring in their own as well. We’re basically offering a way to help guys to be better coaches and train our athletes better.

Every other major sport has places for athletes to learn how to work out, train better, rehab and maximize their performance. I’ve got to go to a bunch of sports teams like the Philadelphia Eagles and the Atlanta Falcons to see their facilities for myself. It’s stuff our guys haven’t really had access to, knowledge of or the ability to pay for.

We’re going to give fighters access to the information and facilities at a minimal cost. The point isn’t to make money – we’re probably not going to break even. We’re trying to generate the best information and get it out there to everyone across the world. 

We’ll reach out to experts to develop the best practices for recovery, physical therapy, strength training. We’ll let fighters try them and maybe if it’s not for them, at least want to give them what we think statistically is the best way not to get hurt and maximize their performance. 

We’re looking to lay out a blueprint for the most effective way to train and then disseminate it to everyone. We’ll investigate ice baths, hypoxic chambers – whatever the latest craze is – test them out and tell guys whether they’re worth their investment. 

My job is to determine what works best for our athletes. We’ve actually reached out to a lot of fighters that are currently on the roster too. We also going to have a coaches’ summit to how can they use this. 

Having this kind of guidance would have been a huge asset for me and the other fighters that came up in my era. I often trained when I was sick or hurt – when I shouldn’t have. I got a lot of injuries. At the same time, I was really lazy when it came to drilling. I didn’t take the time to stop and improve. I just went into the gym every day and worked as hard as I could. 

I worked as hard as I physically could – probably harder than I needed to. I thought that was the best way to train. There was a point when I was coaching on The Ultimate Fighter, someone said to me, ‘You’re training the s**t out of us Forrest.’ When you get guys like Tim Credeur and Matt Brown telling you you’re working them too hard, you know you might be working too hard.  

It’s like Boxer the workhorse from Animal Farm. His maxim was, ‘I will work harder.’ That’s what I would tell the guys every day and that is the stupidest maxim ever. That will turn you into glue like the horse. You have to train smarter and harder, not just harder. Going into the gym and beating people up every day is just not the way to do it. 

Legends unite

UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes is another former champion working with fighters and coaches to develop the performance center.