Abu Dhabi Trials - The Final Approach

Monday, 22 February 2010 13:56

This aint no breakfast sausage - detox begins! on Twitpic

Training at the academy is intense. Everybody is working hard including Professor Britto who is preparing for his next MMA fight and is working alot in his GI training with his students. I have been training 5/6 classes a week. It's easy. I guess I hear 'the calling' everyday and simply 'go' to it.

And now with only 2 weeks left I am cutting out the last of the junk food (fast food & pop) and focusing on fruit and vegetable intake.

I got some great advice yesterday. I had asked a teammate, who is a Purple Belt and Professional MMA fighter, (and always dominates me) for some tips. I want to know how I can avoid being 'crumpled' up so fast. Usually when I fight him - I usually am being folded up submitted before I have time to offer any offense so my question was 'How can I avoid that' because as soon as it happens - I feel like it's game over and I'm on defence mode with no game to offer...no answers for his questions...

When talking about how he approaches fighting a higher belt he mentioned that mentally you cannot go into the fight already defeated. Sure this guy has more skill and more technique and more speed than you...but that doesn't mean you should not simply try to execute your game - like you do with everyone else. When you start just try to do your game...try to pass the guard and get side control - maybe try to get knee on Belly. Sure your opponent will be able to defend and escape whatever you do but you should still try. Maybe 1 time they will be 'late'. And at least you will be learning. This is his experience when rolling with Professor Britto.

So that other piece of the puzzle - The Mental Game is another area to always consider. I am aiming to be as cognitive and alert as I can be for the competition.

Finally - I'm also working on the Flying Armbar {watch on facebook} and hope to pull it out at Abu Dhabi for a quick fight. I will take the 'WOW' factor too. Unless it's a 'WOW - did you see that guy land on his head' but I won't let that happen. The hardest part is just trusting yourself to Jump. After that it's up to how well you have set it up and how your opponent reacts.

With only 2 weeks left before my 1st competition outside of Toronto, The Abu Dhabi Trials in Montreal, I feel very positive and ready to go roll.

related articles

To Blog or not to Blog (2010-02-21) The Road to Abu Dhabi #1 (2010-02-01) Correcting a mistake (2010-01-30) A 'not so gentle' art (2010-01-29) A week of firsts (2010-01-25) Finding better balance (2010-01-19) So you had a bad day, takin' guys down (2010-01-17) Saulo's last class (2010-01-14) Legacy & Leverage (2010-01-07) Black belt Sandwich with a Blue belt Filling (2010-01-06)