Issue 141
The former UFC middleweight champion and Brazilian Top Team founder insists transitioning from one style to the next is key to a successful MMA career.
Q: What would be your best piece of advice to a youngster who has set their heart on becoming a professional mixed martial artist?
A: First advice, start training in the core styles and try to compete in those styles separately. Boxing, Muay Thai, jiu-jitsu – that experience will help them get used to competition and to understand the styles better. They will learn to cope with nervousness and adrenaline of competition, how to execute their moves under pressure.
And then after that, as they are getting to a certain level, they can start to put it together and start doing amateur MMA competitions. Get a good record at amateur and then start looking to become professional. Choose a good team and a good coach.
Q: What about people who already have a background in one discipline, such as your student Rousimar Palhares with jiu-jitsu, but want to cross over into MMA?
A: Sometimes guys come with high-level jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai or wrestling but it’s not enough. They have to learn something else. If the jiu-jitsu fighter goes straight into competing MMA he is probably going to have trouble with strikers and how to adapt to that kind of opponent. How does he know when to strike, when to take the guy down at the proper time?
So it’s best that young fighters try to learn as much as they can out of each discipline and then take their progress slowly. And try to find opponents at the same level.
Q: What’s the most important thing for the developing fighter to concentrate on? Is any one discipline more important than another?
A: It is important to concentrate on the transitions and when you are going to use the particular skills. It’s not just wrestling, it’s wrestling in MMA. It’s not just Muay Thai, it’s Muay Thai in MMA. It’s important to be able to transition between the different disciplines during the fight. And also remember that because your opponent is very good at one discipline, that doesn’t mean he cannot be beaten in that area.
For example, Matt Lindland was an Olympic wrestler and it’s gonna be hard for me to take him down in wrestling. But in our fight (UFC 37, May 2002) I managed to take him down a couple of times because I know how to use my different skills in MMA.
Q: If you want to make it to the top do you have to join a big-name team or gym eventually?
A: A lot of guys in Brazil are looking for the big teams that can help them as a professional, give them good advice and good training, help them get a contract. It’s not essential but at a certain level sometimes it can be a benefit for the fighter to move to a big team, for sure.
Q: Brazil is the spiritual home of MMA but for a long time it was impossible to make good money there and the sport was a bit maligned. What is it like these days, following the UFC expansion?
A: The market is huge, and growing. All the martial arts academies are full; a lot of people like businessmen want to train MMA just for a hobby, for fitness. They want to know all about MMA. The physical training for fighters is becoming popular in the regular fitness gyms as well, a lot of those gyms are now offering MMA-style fitness programs.
We’ve got a lot of social projects going on also. I am doing one right now with the government of my state, Rio de Janeiro, to teach the martial arts in the poorer neighborhoods. It’s a project that teaches martial arts together with regular school, promoting discipline and using the martial arts to make them study more.
So it’s not only learning martial arts, but getting their education. And then they can do whatever they want. They can try to become like the successful fighters or they can use their education somewhere else. The UFC presence has helped a lot, making the market bigger and making it much more well known.
