Issue 165

March 2018

Bellator lightweight Saad Awad reveals how he puts in the miles to improve.

Q. What’s it like training most days at Millennia MMA with top welterweights like Lorenz Larkin and

Sean Strickland?

It’s a challenge every day. Every single one of these guys at that level brings something different. Lorenz is a wizard on his feet; Strickland is a guy who grabs you and will take you down and just play around with you. Those two guys mix it up. I don’t know if you have seen Lorenz get taken down lately because he hasn’t. He is really hard to take down. Now he is submitting people on the ground. It shows in our training because we all bring something different to the table. I think from all the different aspects we come from and have trained in, we sharpen each other and we are all getting better in areas that may have been weaknesses before.

Q. You also recently worked with Duane Ludwig. What has he added to your striking toolbox?

I have partners that have been training with him for a while. They would come back to our gym and would drill on their own. They would show me stuff they learned from Duane. It started to open up my game. I realized I had to get down there. I finally made it down there. We trained once but that one session really opened the doors to stuff that me and my other training partners had been doing in our gym that they brought back from working with him. I will start mixing it up more. They have a good camp. They have a lot of good guys and I enjoy mixing it up. Hopefully, I will keep learning and evolving in the sport.

Do you hop around and train with anyone else in Southern California? For sure. For example, all of my coaches were gone this week to corner one of our guys for his fight. I have been driving down to OC and training. I drove down there and trained with T.J. Dillashaw and Mark Munoz was coaching. I got to mix it up with Jake Ellenberger and other high-level wrestlers. It was all wrestling. Man, those dudes are tough. I learned a couple of things just from that one day of being there.

How much of a challenge is the California traffic for getting around to other gyms and learning new things? On the way home I sat in traffic for two and a half hours. I was even on a toll road! That is supposed to be faster. It was still bumper to bumper. Cali traffic, man... You have to base everything on the time it will take you to get there. Traffic was crazy, but it was all worth it.

Q.Can you tell us the strange way you started working with your strength and conditioning coach?

One of my good friends, Rick McCorkell, who is also a CrossFit coach, is now my strength and conditioning coach. He has been for a few years. We fought in a tournament in Costa Rica back in 2006. That’s where we met.

Does he make you do any crazy CrossFit-style workouts?

He is really on me. He does all of those strength and conditioning challenges.

He is always into something and he drags me to the gym to do all that stuff. There is a lot of band work, agility stuff, swimming... He is always mixing it up so I don’t get bored. He gets me sore every time. He lightens it up toward the end of camp, and I have noticed a big change in my game with my cardio. I feel a lot stronger, too. Big shout out to him for really helping me out in that aspect.

Do you tailor your training specifically for each opponent?

I used to never watch tapes. I would put it in my head that I was going to go in there and do what I wanted to do. There were times that it would work out for me. Then I realized I needed to watch tapes and prepare for these guys. For the past two years, I’ve been watching. I adjust training toward those opponents and make sure

I get in my work and I keep it to a certain level. But based on the opponent, I will lean a little more towards what they are good at and work in that area. I always try to mix it up in camp and learn and grow in areas where I know I can get better.