Issue 108

December 2013

The essential gear used by today's athletes. Good groin comfort is paramount for the UFC middleweight Muay Thai machine.

VENUM SHIN GUARDS

“If I’m doing MMA sparring I use the cheap $20 shin guards, only because they’re easier to roll around with. If I’m doing just stand-up, like Muay Thai, Venum has good shinpads. Fairtex has pretty good shinpads too, but I’m going to say Venum.”

MMA GLOVES

“Because of the way I train I try to use my UFC gloves to make it like a real fight. If not the UFC gloves, it’s either Venum or Everlast. It’s because they’re rounded. They’re safer and you’re not going to get cut as easy. I like the roundness of it.”

MOUTHPIECE

“I have a special dentist-made one. Fernandez Dental in Miami, they made me a special mouth guard that fits in my mouth, it fits right on. It’s basically unbreakable, it’s perfect.”

TORQUE T-SHIRT

“For T-shirts it’s definitely Torque; they made my ‘American Evolution’ walkout shirt. I also do my own T-shirts through Wai Kru. They have a ‘Doomsday’ shirt they just made. Also rash guards, Wai Kru make their own rash guards too. They really work for me.”

TWINS 12OZ MUAY THAI GLOVES

“I mainly use Twins. Twins is a pretty good brand. They make their Muay Thai gloves in Thailand and their 12oz’ers are pretty good bag gloves. I love those gloves. They’re a cool design too. Believe it or not I like the lace-up gloves. Velcro’s good but laces are safer because you can wrap your hands and tie your wrists so they won’t break. And that’s how old-school boxers used to do it too.”

CLASSIC CUP

“(Laughs) I’m going to be funny with this one; I use a cup that fits. I have a steel cup but one that fits is hard to find. The cups I use are Classic Cups. It’s an old-school cup; it has only a few sizes, either medium or big (laughs), and it works for me. It comes in gray only. I started crossing cups and trust me it was not a comfortable thing. So if it fits I’m good.”

VALE TUDO SHORTS

“I like vale tudo shorts; I feel like I can move more. I can really get my hips open more. So vale tudo or Thai shorts, it’s one of those two. MMA shorts I used to do but I feel they restrain me a little bit; I don’t like it.”

NUTRITION

“I do protein shakes and bars. I take multivitamins every day. That’s about it. I’m a thick guy so I can’t splurge when it comes to food because I get fat, I get huge, I get really big and being short at 185lb is tough enough already. But it works, so I try to keep to a diet.”