Have you got some? … Man I need a hit bad

No I have not turned to drugs … well apart from caffeine, but since I had my eye slatted by some big f*ck wit at training I have not been able to spar. I have still been teaching and doing some cardio and weights for the first time in my life constantly… But I really miss getting punched and that hurt feeling you get after sparring.

Nandos – fulchickenzan !!!

To celebrate the teams hard work over the last couple of months, we made a pilgrimage to the holy land that is Nandos. It was great to see all the lads scuff down a hearty helping of peri peri and chicken, make me think we need to do stuff like this a little more often.



Spenna

Thought of the day - GI Vs No GI for MMA

I don’t train much Gi work any more, it’s not because Eddie Bravo told me not to. I would love the chance to train more in a Gi, not because Marcelo Garcia told me to ….. well … they didn’t really tell me in person :-) but I have seen many internet arguments on different forums with the age old debate of Gi Vs No Gi for MMA.

I see benefits in both types of training, I like no gi because it closer resembles MMA, there is no cloth to grab and so gi chokes go out of windows, but I think it is quite dangerous to assume that just because you train no gi grappling, it transfers directly to MMA with out amending/refining your game plan.

I remember some years ago I had been sparing a lot of MMA ground work and a good friend of mine Darren Currie asked me to do some grappling sparring with him, but add some punching in. For those of you who does not know Darren, he is a very good grappling teacher from the combat base gym in ponty, but a lot of his training was gi/nogi grappling. We sparred for a couple of minutes, for the most of the time I was in Darren’s guard controlling the position and stopping his attacks by punching him. After the spar, Darren said he could not believe how different grappling is when you add striking.

Some time later, I was doing some Gi rolling, I was working away in guard and my opponent grabbed my collar then started to move around, pressing elbows in my legs changing his position trying to break my guard… This carried on for at least 2 minutes, the time ran out and we changed partners. It didn’t enter my mind until I was going home when I thought, if he could have kept his arm there for 2 mins …. If it was MMA it could have been 2 mins of been punched.

In both cases MMA was not in mind, there was no benefit in sparring with out the gi because he was getting punched and I would have benefited more from training in the gi if I would have seen his collar control as potential punches. Just because you are not wearing a gi does not mean it transfers straight to MMA.

“So why don’t you just spar MMA” – Physically sparring MMA can be quite demanding, cuts, bumps and injuries are easy to pick up. Don’t get me wrong … nothing replicates MMA than MMA sparring (Seems obvious, but a lot of people don’t do this), but if you want to train more than 3 times a week it is very hard to do this and spar MMA. I also think there is other benefits in Gi grappling that is difficult to do in MMA and NOGI grappling, I think Gi slows you down and makes you think about the transitions a little more. Some times in my MMA and NOGI Grappling sparring I tend to rush and make mistakes because I am able to go faster with out the GI.

Any way …. Enough rambling … what do you think? Post your comments here:-

http://fulinkazan.myfreeforum.org/

Spenna

do you do UFC?

All 36 of us do ;)

Nandos – Wednesday 28th May

Any one fancy a team nandos trip on Wednesday after training?

Spenna

Thought of the Day – Respect

Those of you who have trained with me know that I run my classes in a less formal manner than a Traditional Martial Art, I have never questioned my approach before but the last couple of weeks have made me re-think my approach to coaching.

Over the last week or so a few things has happened to make me question if I should be much strict with the way I coach. Make things a little more formal like no talking when warming up, not bowing and stuff like that.

But why do I have to do it now? I have never had to do it before! More and more people know what MMA is and want a piece of the action … not a bad thing because of this I have had some good new lads join the gym … But like every thing else …. With the good, comes the bad … What goes up, must come down and so on.

So what do I do? Just banning people who don’t show respect to the team? This concept makes me nervous because I have never banned any one and I always try and run an open door policy. But like in life …. The actions of a few can affect the masses and we have a very busy time coming up this year with fights.

As usual with my little rants, I don’t give an answer …. Just more questions, lets see how the upcoming weeks pan out.

Spenna

Bank Holiday - Closed Monday May 26th

Team Fulinkazan MMA classes will be CLOSED MONDAY MAY 26TH, Back open as usual Wednesday 28th.

Spen-Fu Seminar – 1st June 2008

Seminar for Simon “Eddie” Warring new class

Address: Flax Gym, Norman Lane, 5 Lanes ends, Eccleshill, Bradford
Time : TBC

For more information about Spen-fu seminars email me at mark_b_spencer@hotmail.com

Spenna

New MMA Class – MMA Basics

Started my new class over at Caged Steel on Friday “MMA Basics” (18:00 to 19:00) there was a good turn out for the first session with 10 people coming down.

It would be great to see some of the regular Caged steel fighters down at the class, if you would like more information email mark@cagedsteel.co.uk

Spenna

This is why when sparring with out head gaurds you can't spar full power!

Weekend wonderland

Busy weekend for me and still feeling the effects of the long slog, not really had chance to stop but here is a review of the FU lads.

Qas

It’s is probably about a year ago when Qas came up to me and asked me to look for him a fight. At the time I thought Qas was progressing well in his training but he was not quite ready to fight, so I told him that if he gave me some more of his time and committed to his training he would be ready in about 5 months.

You have to understand that, I have guys asking me to fight all the time and I usually find myself saying the same thing:-

“Give me x amount of time were you committee x times a week and we will get you a fight”

Most of the time people say one thing and do the opposite… But Qas did every thing I asked him and won an excellently executed game plan which we worked on. Qas closed the distance and controlled his opponent for a majority dec win. I am very, very proud of Qas and he earn’t his win in the Gym.

Andy

It amazes me the amount of people we get with natural talent coming into the gym and Andy is defiantly one of them. I am pretty sure Andy could pick any sport and do very well in it, I am thankful it is MMA and he has picked my team! Andy started the fight with a big right hand and then ended it seconds later with a big right hand … another day in the office for Andy SMASH!!

Nathan

Bad night at the office for Nathan, after working really well in the clinch for a round and a bit, he found him self stuck in side mount and the fight was ended. Still a bit of work to do but he has a lot of potential.

JCB

Although not FU, he has been down to the gym training with use so I helped out with his corner. Lee had a bad night but still scored some good take downs, still a bit of work to do, but bags and bags of potential for in this young lad.

Hollywood

Cool as a cucumber … the guy is my hero. Had a good exchange and landed some good punches, dominated the clinch, then a big take down, passed guard quickly and then scored a tight arm triangle choke. Down side is he has broke his hand and can’t train for a couple of months …. He is still my hero thought.

Well Done to Pete and Khanie for organising the event … onward and upward!

Wednesday

Good training session last night, Ricky from the Thai boxing class helped the fighters with a bit of advice and sparring. It was great to see old Gary back who is fighting in 6 weeks so we should see some more of him over the next couple of weeks.

All the fighters are looking sharp and are peaking very well, one tough cardio session on Saturday @ Kings 08:00am for the lads and then we are ready to rock.

There was a great Wednesday night fight night between Sam and Jim, both looking close to fighting this year in there first amateur bout. I will post the Video up on Friday, check back to see the fight.