Fighting Fit – MMA conditioning

MMA fighters are now acutely aware that conditioning can win fights. When you face a fighter of comparable skill, every advantage is sought to make a difference.

Michael Bisping and Sean Sherk are just two fighters who have focused on cardio as a means of securing that crucial advantage and it has seen them come out on top against less conditioned opposition. Sherk, a former lightweight champion, uses an intense, relentless pace to break opponents down.

“I train as hard as I do because I don’t ever want to get tired in a fight,” says Sherk. “I’ve had maybe two fights where I’ve gotten tired – I didn’t like the way it felt so I train as hard as I can so I can burn my opponents out of gas. I’ll never get tired I can go 110mph for five rounds.”

The UFC’s All Access programme recently featured Sherk’s training routine and it certainly opened a few eyes in the MMA world. It highlighted the sort of fitness levels now required by those looking to be a UFC fighter.

Sherk’s training highlights:

The Diaz brothers, a rowdy bunch of dope smoking troublemakers and also elite fighters in the MMA world, ironically compete in triathlons to supplement their training. They have developed a unique style dubbed ‘punches in bunches’ which without a doubt has had a beneficial impact upon their performances.

It involves delivering numerous punches, without necessarily much power behind them, at a fast pace as a means of breakdown opponents. Nate Diaz has adopted this strategy while his brother Nick used it to defeat Frank Shamrock.

The video below illustrates this strategy in Nick Diaz’s bout against Marius Zaromskis:

Wanderlei Silva, the eternal fan favourite, is known for having one of the most extreme workout regimes. Silva, once the most feared striker in MMA, utilises a more hardcore approach to training.

Hard sparring is one of the staples of his camp and while this can be a damaging practice in the long term, it may well be what has allowed him to remain competitive for so long. He also uses new cutting edge techniques like ice baths and hypoxic training, using a snorkel to limit his air intake during work outs, to improve his cardio.

Wanderlei Silva training:

However, not everyone believes all MMA fighters are playing by the rules in their efforts to become more conditioned, and none have been more vocal on the issue than BJ Penn. He has openly accused Sherk and St. Pierre of steroid usage stating, “When I first heard that Sherk got in trouble, honestly my first reaction was, ‘isn’t it obvious that he’s on something?’”

Of St. Pierre he said, “In my opinion, he doesn’t play by the rules when it comes to steroids and growth hormones and that stuff. Look at him. He’s the worst. He looks like that every day. That’s cheating. There is a reason why there are rules against using steroids. The rest of us, we get fat, then we train and get skinny and the cycle goes over and over again. He looks the same way all the time. Come on.”

Penn however has been something of a sore loser in the past and his statements on some issues lack credibility. Despite this, Penn has realised the importance of strength and conditioning training after gassing in several fights and has reinvented his training regime.

Penn’s new training methods can be seen here:

However, not all fighters have ascribed to the philosophy that you need a six pack to be a fighter. Roy Nelson, who is on a two fight win streak, has started to prove that a great set of pecks may be superfluous to a fighter’s needs when it comes to winning fights. In the clip below, commentator Joe Rogan warns, “Do not let his appearance fool you.”

In this clip, Nelson makes it clear that despite his expansive torso he is a capable fighter:

By Stephen Barry