Archive for February, 2015

Chris Weidman is the UFC Middleweight Champion and there a lot of people who say he is going to be the next big thing in MMA. On UFC Now the presenters, all current or former UFC fighters, all thought that Weidman will still be champ at the end of 2015. They all commented about his great wrestling and improved striking.

I found this all very surprising as I think Weidman got lucky twice. First off, I need to remind you that I am no fan of Anderson Silva, especially after the failed drug test. In the first fight Silva was doing his usual job of piss taking and it finally caught up with him as Weidman landed that left hook after Silva faked being hurt and got the KO. Did I enjoy seeing that? Hell yes I did. In the second fight Silva came out more serious and the first round Weidman won 10-9 due to the takedown, then in the second round Silva threw the kick that broke his shin and the fight was over.
Weidman did beat the most successful fighter in UFC history but I still believe that he got lucky, not just once but twice. Anderson Silva has fought people that are as good as Weidman in each area and won. He has put his back on the cage and won, he has got his ass kicked for 5 rounds and won in the last minute. As much as I don’t like him as a fighter it is very easy to argue that he is a damn good fighter.

Weidman is undefeated and has been very impressive and I wanted him to beat Anderson Silva and was very surprised when he did. Weidman came across as a good solid fighter but not a superstar. He does not have GSP’s dominance, Velasquez’s aura, J Jones’s ability to land any technique or Anderson Silva’s KO ability, although the elbow KO of Munoz was impressive. You may think it’s a bit hard on Weidman to compare him to fighters who will go down in MMA folklore, but in reality he is being compared to the other UFC champions at the time he won the title and I just can’t say his name in the same sentence as those other fighters.

Weidman is a very good fighter but I don’t think he will go down as one of the greats of the sport, to me Anderson Silva lost those fights Weidman did not win them. Compare that to GSP when he beat Hughes for the title it was a one sided hiding, then the rematch was worse. Jon Jones gave Shogun a beating to get the belt and Velasquez gave Lesnar a beating, just after knocking out a legend, in Big Nog, that had never been knocked out. To me those fighters took the belt from the champ in a big way. In Weidman’s case it seems that Silva slipped and lost the belt, it was not taken from him.
Maybe time will tell and Weidman will prove me wrong and become a great of the sport, but from his previous fights he just does not seem to have the X-factor that the other champions of the time have.

Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor
http://www.Lockdown.co.nz/

Do you know the person who doesn’t come to training unless they have a fight? Then when they are at training it is all about them, people hold the pads for them, they are in the ring sparring and taking up most of the trainers time?

When I was fighting it used to really frustrate me, now as a trainer I find it extremely disrespectful to me and everyone else on the mat who is there day in and day out. The fighters should be setting the tone of how hard you need to train to fight, even when they are not training for a fight.

We are very lucky at Lockdown to have some very talented fighters and I was really surprised when two of undefeated fighters put their name in for a fight, the same fight night, then from then I did not see them at training. In that time I got a couple of texts asking if they had been matched, when the answer was no they would not come to training. Needless to say I pulled their names pretty quickly as it drove me nuts. Why would you not train if you intended to fight? Your opponent would be training their ass off to beat you and by not training you are asking for trouble. Now I am sure both these fighters had valid reasons for not training but we have a simple rule, you don’t train then you don’t fight.

It is great to have a fighter that competes consistently, turns up to almost all the training sessions and you see them improve over the year as after each fight you can work on the things that didn’t go well in the fight. Then when you have a person that wants to fight, this is the example that you want them to have on the mat. Someone they can talk to, and watch, for help with training and fighting. You can get a real gauge on their progress and when they are ready they get to fight as reward for all their hard training. They can train alongside the experienced fighter for their build up and this is very important for the club culture.

When you decide to fight it more or less becomes the priority in your life, training is #1 and if you can’t commit to that then don’t fight. This is mostly why most people who fight are young and don’t have kids or mortgages. For the growth of the club and to set a good example to the younger fighters it is important that between fights the ‘fighters’ are on the mat giving back to the club by being training partners and helping others improve so they can then fight.

Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor
http://www.Lockdown.co.nz/