Issue 123

How can any man expect to get around the elongated, almost sword like, limbs of Jon Jones? Or avoid the laser-esque velocity of Edson Barboza's kicks? Say, the pitbull tenacity of a Frankie Edgar? Or what about the raw, natural strength and power of Matt Hughes or Chael Sonnen? It’s these special qualities, after all, that separate good fighters and outstanding champions.

Facing a fighter with any, or all, of these facets is daunting for a preparing fight team. But nobody is unbeatable, and any fighter can be beaten at any time – even, perhaps one day, ‘Bones’ Jones. Speed, heart, strength and reach are four of the biggest qualities a fighter can possess, yet they’re certainly not characteristics that will ensure victory.  

Four of Planet MMA's hottest coaches to learn how they’d prepare their fighter to nullify any potential game changers. Breaking down each fighting facet individually, they share their experience and insight on helping you beat the odds.

1: SPEED

Heading into UFC 146 in Las Vegas in May, Edson Barboza was considered one of the hottest prospects in all of mixed martial arts. He’d won all 10 of his previous pro fights, and had just delivered one of the most brutal knockouts in the sport’s history at UFC 142, a spinning back-kick against heralded Brit Terry Etim. 

Clearly a fantastic fighter, with a strong mix of fighting styles at his disposal, the true key to the Florida-based Brazilian’s mind-blowing success is down to his incredible speed. Not only is he able to deliver lighting-fast kicks to any part of his opponent's body, he also has the ability to duck and dodge counter strikes too, almost as if they’re being thrown in slow motion.

Let’s face it, Barboza’s opponent at UFC 146, Jamie Varner, didn't stand much of a chance against a man seemingly riding a one-way freight train to UFC title contention. After all, the former WEC champion had only just pulled himself out of a nightmare 1-4-1 career spell which saw him dropped by Zuffa.

However, according to Varner's coach, John Crouch, his fighter was foolishly underestimated. “I felt like Jamie was very underrated and had an excellent style to matchup with someone like Edson,” Crouch tells THFE. “It was just a matter of getting Jamie into a positive state of mind so he would believe in his abilities. I felt like if we could get to that point, the fight would be a good one for us.”

So for the team at Arizona's MMA Lab it was all about getting Varner into the proper mindset. But, of course, there also had to be some technical game plan for countering Barboza’s speed, and that would allow Varner to do what no man had done before. And, according to Crouch, it was all in his feet.

He says: “We wanted to use footwork to put us in good spots, and cut off the cage to help neutralize the opponent’s strengths. When we fought Edson, we worked on both these to get Jamie inside where Edson's kicks would not be as much of a factor.

“When I game plan for a fast fighter I want to try to put him in positions where his speed won’t help him as much. We try to even the field as much as possible.” Speed kills they say… That is unless it’s got no place to accelerate to.

2: TENACITY

Frankie Edgar may be considered small when compared to other gigantic lightweights, but if you talk to all the opposition fighters he's gone up against in the UFC they'll admit that the former champion is one of the scrappiest and toughest fighters in the 155lb division. 

What makes Edgar such a difficult opponent is his inability to stay down. Whatever is thrown at him, the New Jersey mauler is most likely going to take it and deliver some of his own punishment in return. So how do you beat someone who is essentially a punch-throwing, takedown-utilizing zombie?

According to Robbie Olivier, head coach at Tsunami gym in the UK, any fighter who doesn't know when to quit can be quite a handful. The man behind the UFC’s gypsy jiu-jitsu-preaching welterweight John Maguire insists both patience and a cool head are the only way to force a whirling dervish to punch himself out.

“An opponent that is ultra aggressive is difficult to deal with, but one way I believe you can do it is through timing. Timing your strikes and takedowns off of their over commitment to get the fight where you want it,” explains Olivier.

Olivier also feels there is also one more thing a fighter can do to make sure the constant pressure they're under doesn't make them crumble: staying calm. “A well trained fighter will be able to control the pace,” he adds. “I think staying calm is very important, and that can be trained if you constantly put your fighter under pressure in training rounds.”

3: STRENGTH

There's little worse than being picked up and ragdolled by another human being. It's painful, not to mention unbelievably disheartening. With wrestlers such as Matt Hughes, Tim Boetsch and Chael Sonnen all having almost Incredible Hulk-like strength, many fighters are willing to accept the fact they're going for a ride at some point when the bell goes.

Kenny Johnson has trained for six Olympic trials and is currently the wrestling coach for Team Black House. With the likes of non-wrestlers such as Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida and Roger Gracie all under his tutelage, Johnson claims the key to holding your own against strong wrestlers, such as himself, is understanding the basics.

“Firstly, I'm going to get with the athlete and the coaches and figure out what game plan they want. Then I'm going to assess the conditioning of our fighter, because it's not just about how strong you are, but how long you can be strong against someone as strong, or stronger than you,” explains Johnson, the man responsible for THFE's Fight Manual wrestling drills.

“I want to see what level of wrestling my fighter's skill-level is, and what skills I want to implement into the game plan. The first thing they should know is how to defend a takedown on and off the cage. They also need to know how to sprawl.”

So when Silva fought Sonnen and wasn't able to defend the takedown in the first round, but was successful in the second, what, in Johnson's opinion, did the champion manage to do differently? “In the first round, Chael got off a nice shot and Anderson sprawled in the wrong position. In the second round, Chael tries to shoot on him, but Anderson moved away from him. He didn't allow Chael to control him. 

“Part of his success in the second round was being able to control distance. Whilst the other part was being able to notice when someone is going for a takedown.” Once again timing plays a big factor, along with competent wrestling defense when it comes to tackling brute strength.

4: REACH

It doesn't take a genius to know that to finish a fight standing you have to make sure your strikes connect with the body parts of your opponent. The majority of the time that wouldn't be a problem, as closing the distance is one of the basics fighters learn from the beginning. However, how do you do that against someone whose limbs are as long as poles?

With a select few dangly armed individuals possessing this unique advantage, finding sparring partners can be quite a conundrum. It may seem like these fighters have had the luck of the genetic draw, but according to Alliance MMA head coach, Eric Del Fierro, fighters with an incredible reach can still be cut down to size.

“Every fighter is different and there are really no weaknesses if you have addressed them in camp,” Del Fierro explains. “The good thing about mixed martial arts is that striking for MMA is different than boxing and kickboxing. It is a range fight. Fighters need to be able to go in and out of range to be effective strikers. It's a longer-range fight than most boxers and kickboxers are used to. 

“One weakness a short fighter can take advantage of when he gets inside of a tall fighter is to throw longer combinations on the inside.” Take note Dan Henderson, and of course any man matchmaker Joe Silva ever pairs up against six-eleven heavyweight Stefan ‘Skyscraper’ Struve.

There are always going to be fighters we think are unbeatable because they're able to use their particular gifts to their advantage. Gifts which have helped defeat many opponents in devastating fashion. However, when it comes down to the two fighters, staring across the cage at one another, it only takes one specific aspect of a game plan to ensure those fight-winning characteristics don’t look so special at the post-fight press conference.

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