Toe 2 Toe Ko

UFC 141: Lesnar vs. Overeem, former UFC Heavyweight Champion vs Alistair Overeem

2012-01-02T08:03:00.000-08:00

At UFC 141: Lesnar vs. Overeem, former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Brock Lesnar, announced his retirement from the sport of MMA. Nothing about this move was surprising, as many figured he wasn't going to have another fight before his tilt with Alistair Overeem was announced. Leave it to a patented Uberknee and the slightly inferior-sounding Uberliverkick to force a man into retirement. Doesn't quite roll off the tongue, does it?
Still, it's curious to see the varied responses in regards to Lesnar. Most consider him a joke, a sideshow who was brought in for eyeballs and for the most part, that is how he got started. Lesnar got a title shot very early on and wouldn't you know it, he started to do well. It's interesting to see how fans are treating his retirement. Many of the people who were his fans are thanking him for the things he did, a lot of his previous detractors are actually grateful for the eyeballs he brought to the sport, and there are quite a few who legitimately believe he is one of the better heavyweights of this generation.
Could that be true? Let's take a look at the numbers.
Lesnar finished his MMA career with just a 5-3 record, winning four of those fights in the UFC, and losing three. In his first ever UFC fight, Lesnar fought perennial contender and former interim UFC Heavyweight Champion, Frank Mir. He lost that fight by submission, but looked good before it was applied. Following that, Lesnar beat down Heath Herring, before challenging Randy Couture for the UFC title. Lesnar won via TKO in the second round, and then went on to avenge his loss to Mir by brutalizing him in the second round. Following that, he came from behind to submit Shane Carwin to defend his title a second time.
After that, he lost to Cain Velasquez, which was followed by his lost to Overeem on Friday. Keep in mind, only two other fighters have ever defended the UFC Heavyweight title on two consecutive occasions: Couture, and Tim Sylvia. Lesnar is also the only fighter to defend the title against two former champions. Six of Lesnar's seven fights in the UFC were against former champions of major organizations - five from the UFC, and Overeem, who has held titles in Strikeforce, Dream and outside of MMA in K-1.
All of those things considered, it's a lot easier to remember Lesnar a little bit more positively. Was he over-hyped? Certainly so (and personally, this writer is not a fan of his), but the things he did were far beyond what could have legitimately been expected of him from a level-headed standpoint. Now, it's certainly true that Lesnar received the title shot against Couture because of his name and his history with the WWE, but shouldn't we be grateful for that?
Lesnar brought eyeballs to the sport, and the potential circus-fight element of it all was somewhat invalidated by the fact that he actually, you know, won fights with the premier MMA organization in the world. He brought a lot of eyeballs to the sport. UFC 100 was a turning point for the UFC and the sport of MMA, and without Lesnar, who knows where they'd be right now? Certainly not broke and destitute, but what about the new deal with Fox? What if that doesn't materialize?
Think what you want about the legitimacy of Lesnar and his merits as a fighter, but everyone should be happy that he was in the UFC, all things considered. Plus, we wouldn't have got to see Velasquez maul him and Overeem get a nice boost from beating him the way we all knew he would.

UFC 125 Brian Stann vs. Chris Leben

2011-01-02T06:14:00.000-08:00

UFC 125 Brian Stann vs. Chris Leben

UFC 125 Clay Guida vs. Takanori Gomi

2011-01-02T06:06:00.000-08:00

UFC 125 Clay Guida vs. Takanori Gomi

What Happened to KO-wonder Duffee

2010-05-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has spent more than a few seconds training with Todd Duffee raves about his potential.Champion Sports 8.5ft Ball Bearing Heavyweight Nylon Jump Rope

Frank Mir, the former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion, can’t stop singing Duffee’s praises. Veteran heavyweight Carmelo Marrero calls Duffee one of the biggest, fastest and strongest heavyweights he’s rolled with. UFC president Dana White was touting Duffee’s talent before Duffee debuted in the UFC last year.
More From Kevin Iole

It’s a struggle to keep those who are familiar with his talent from gushing. Nearly everyone who’s around him for any length of time comes away impressed. He’s become a fan favorite because of his record-setting, seven-second stoppage of Tim Hague at UFC 102 last August – but he can’t understand the fuss.

Duffee is preparing to fight veteran Mike Russow (12-1) on May 29 at UFC 114 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. “This definitely feels like my debut,” Duffee said. “I don’t feel like I’ve fought in a year-and-a-half. It’s hard.”

There has been a lot of hoopla surrounding Duffee (6-0) since he signed with the UFC last year, but the one-time college football player at Southern Illinois isn’t sure why. He landed a jab that knocked a surprised Hague down, then dropped eight punches on the ground, including a crushing left on the sixth blow, that caused referee Mario Yamasaki to stop it in just seven seconds.

It turned out to be the quickest win in UFC history. But Duffee, the textbook definition of level-headed, isn’t gloating, even though he became an Internet sensation with the short work he made of Hague.

“The way I see my situation is that right now, I have a job,” he said. “I’m looking for a career. If I win this fight, yeah, maybe I’ll make a career of this. But I’m only six deep [into my career]. Yeah, I have one impressive win on my record, with Assuerio [Silva, in a 2008 match in Brazil]. but people don’t respect me because, frankly, I’ve been overhyped.”

There were days when Duffee trained with Mir when he believed he was on the verge of something. The next day, he said, he felt like it was his first day in the cage.

“I can compete at that level in the gym, but it’s different when they turn the lights on and they close the door behind you,” Duffee said. “You have to remember to breathe. It’s way more mental. I’ve competed my whole life, but I’m not saying that I’m above and beyond making that simple mistake. Mentally, that’s one thing I’m really preparing myself to not do.”

Duffee came out of the American Top Team camp, where he regularly sparred with UFC light heavyweight Thiago Silva and Strikeforce heavyweight Antonio “Big Foot” Silva. Part of his reputation was built on coming from the famous camp, which is among the sport’s best but isn’t known for its heavyweights.

Duffee is one of the game’s most analytic athletes and he questions himself constantly. It’s why he spends his days working on the most minute details, so it will be natural in a fight.

“I know I’m at the level where I can compete with guys like that, but it’s not more about ‘Well, can I go out and do it?’ ” Duffee said. “It’s a game of chance a lot of times. You’re often milliseconds and inches from winning or losing. How many opportunities I get and how often I can capitalize on those opportunities is what I’m talking about.

“In the gym, I’ve done it and I’ve repeatedly done it for the last three years, competing at that level with those guys. I’ve done it. I’m there. It’s just now I have to go out and show the world.”

Duffee’s a banger who wouldn’t mind firing hands and taking his chances, but against Russow, a Chicago police officer, it may not be the pure toe-to-toe battle he’d prefer. Russow is a wrestler who would like nothing better than to take Duffee down to the ground and maul him.

Duffee isn’t particularly concerned with how the fight looks. He chuckles at fighters like Tito Ortiz, who predict they’ll inflict all sorts of harm upon their opponent before a fight only to go out and grind out a boring win. To Duffee, as he’s trying to transition from job to career, a boring win is a lot better than a thrilling loss.

There’s a lot of money to be made for the top stars who sell plenty of tickets and pay-per-views. Duffee’s not at that point yet. He’s not even worried about title contention at this stage. He’s just concerned with establishing himself and earning his keep.

“I’m not too concerned with, ‘Oh, I want to fight Brock,” he said. “‘I want to fight the champ.’ It’s a belt, dude. Anyone who knows anything about this sport knows it’s about matchups. You don’t see champions holding belts for a long time for that reason. This isn’t boxing. There are too many variables. So I don’t really care about the extraneous stuff. I want to establish myself as a professional as opposed to a prospect for the belt.”

A seven-second knockout in your debut might be a good way to establish yourself, but Duffee had a little piece of advice for fans who saw his quick wins and are already expecting big things.

“Don’t believe the hype,” Duffee said. “It’s all about performing night after night out there. That’s the only thing that is real, getting in there and performing when it’s time to go. I’d be the first to tell you I still have a lot left to prove.”

PART 1 - The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 Premiere Heavyweights // Bloodiest fight ever !!!

2009-09-21T06:24:00.003-07:00

UFC Ultimate Fighter Season 10 nasty cut on Big Abe

2009-09-21T06:24:00.001-07:00

Thoughts ??

watch free video UFC 100 - BROCK LESNAR-POST FIGHT

2009-07-12T10:58:00.000-07:00

UFC 98 - Evans vs. Machida - Countdown Preview

2009-05-23T07:34:00.000-07:00

Vitor Belfort Brutally KTFO Matt Lindland Affliction Day of Reckoning

2009-01-25T06:56:00.000-08:00

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THE New ULTIMATE FIGHTER ?

2009-01-14T05:14:00.000-08:00

TUF fishbowl staying as-is
By K. Iole

Expect outlandish behavior to continue on “The Ultimate Fighter” as Dana White doesn’t plan to make any changes.
The winner of Saturday’s light heavyweight fight at UFC 93 in Dublin, Ireland, between Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson will become a coach on the upcoming season of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
And though the show remains popular, the UFC has heard a lot of criticism about the antics of the fighters in the house. Fighters have gotten out-of-control drunk, urinated and ejaculated on food that others ate and exhibited much other lewd and raunchy behavior.
The man who could put an end to it, though, says he’s not changing a thing. UFC president Dana White said he’s not going to require the fighters to change anything about the way they behave. That means alcohol stays in the house and the fighters are free to do what they please when they please.
“If you take any young guys, from a frat house, and put them alone and together you’re going to get that kind of stuff,” White said. “Welcome to dealing with young guys. I’ve talked to the pro skaters and snowboarders and they helicopter guys up to a house and sometimes they get snowed in. They told me that some of the [expletive] that happens with those guys makes what happened on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ look like a joke.”
White said the show puts the fighters in a fish bowl and allows him to learn whether he’s interested in adding them to the promotion. He said he gains a lot of information he wouldn’t have were he to restrict their behavior.
With that, let’s get to the reader questions and comments. My answers are in italics after the questions.
DAMPENS THE ENTHUSIASM
I’m really looking forward to the upcoming main event at UFC 93 between Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson. However, the whole, “Winner gets to coach opposite Michael Bisping on the next season of TUF” really takes away some of the excitement. It’s my understanding that this fight is at 205 pounds. Then why force the winner back down to middleweight to fight Bisping? Does another win at 185 really mean anything to a guy like Franklin? The coaching spot and Bisping fight is almost like a punishment to
Franklin or Henderson. As long as Anderson Silva is still dominating middleweights, I would prefer to see both Ace and Hendo stay at 205. What do you think?
Alan Grafton
Kansas City, Mo.
The Franklin-Henderson winner will fight Bisping at 185 pounds, though Franklin and Henderson are meeting Saturday at 205. This is because Bisping dropped from light heavyweight to middleweight last year. The way White spoke Monday, it sounds as if Franklin and Henderson will spend most of their time at light heavyweight. I do think he’ll cherry pick good fights for each guy and if that means they move back and forth between divisions, they will. But he spoke Monday as if he sees both Franklin and Henderson more as light heavyweights rather than middleweights.
BOXING MENTALITY CREEPING INTO MMA
I am starting to see some of the bad signs in MMA that is so prevalent in boxing. The talk regarding future matchups is becoming littered with “will this be an interesting or marketable matchup?” They should instead be asking who is the best fighter in the division. This has hurt fighters like Lyoto Machida, who I believe is comparable to Anderson Silva as the best pound-for-pound fighter. Machida is not only undefeated, he also has wins over Tito Ortiz, Stephen Bonnar and is one of only two fighters who
have victories over Ace Franklin. Yet he has been in the UFC for almost two years without a title shot.
Tadd Dickey
I would be plenty scared if that thinking invaded MMA, Tadd, but I don’t think it has, really. You see the best fights regularly in MMA, which you don’t always see in boxing. Having said that, you must recognize that MMA promoters are running a business and have to sell tickets and pay-per-views. Thus, they have to put on fights their customers, the fans, want to see. Machida has been hurt, no question, by his style. But he’s also in the UFC’s deepest division and Machida is a guy who couldn’t finish David Heath or Sam Hoger. I don’t say that derogatorily, but those are the kinds of guys a title contender should put away. Having said that, I expect Machida to get his chance in the first half of 2009, provided he gets past Thiago Silva at UFC 94 on Jan. 31.
HENDO-FRANKLIN WINNER TO GET TITLE SHOT?
Hey Kevin, I always look forward to reading your mailbag, but this is my first time sending you a question. I was just wondering if you thought that the Dan Henderson-Rich Franklin winner will be the coach for the next season for “The Ultimate Fighter”
opposing Michael Bisping and if you think so, would that fight be for the next shot at Anderson Silva? Also I was wondering if you think the UFC would have a Randy Couture-Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira fight, since they both lost out in the heavyweight tournament.
Steve Briner
Kissimmee, Fla.
Steve, as I said above, the Henderson-Franklin winner will face Bisping after the show’s conclusion in a middleweight fight. If Franklin comes out the winner, beating Henderson and Bisping, he definitely won’t get a fight with Silva, who has twice knocked him out. There is a chance Henderson could if he were to win, since he started off strongly against Silva and won the first round. Bisping, I believe, would have the best shot at getting a bout against “The Spider” with a win, though. I do think there is a real possibility we could see a Couture-Nogueira fight this year.
LICENSING REQUIREMENTS
Recently, there has been some news regarding fighters such as Antonio Silva and Gilbert Yvel and state licensing. I was just curious, what steps do fighters need to take in order
to get licensed by a particular state commission? Also, I was just wondering if you’ve heard any news about the monumental UFC 100? I’ve heard a rumor that all five belts will be on the line. What are some things/fights you’d like to see?
David N.
Short Hills, N.J.
Each state has different requirements for the fighters to be licensed. But the fighters generally must pass a battery of medical tests and prove their fitness to fight. In some cases, they might have to prove they’re skilled enough. The cases of Silva and Yvel involve California and things that occurred in other jurisdictions. Silva is suspended in California (and thus in the U.S.) because he failed a steroid test. He fought in Japan despite the suspension, because Japan for some reason does not honor U.S. suspensions. So California will punish Silva for that and almost certainly will extend his suspension. Yvel was involved in some questionable incidents during fights and will have to answer questions from the commission, but he’ll be licensed.
As for UFC 100, I specifically asked White about putting all five belts up and he said no. He said there’s not enough time to do it on the possibility that all five go the distance. He also said he’s still not sure of the venue. One suggestion for a fight I’d make is to do a one-off and allow Fedor Emelianenko to fight Randy Couture. It’s a bout MMA fans have longed to see. The UFC wouldn’t want Emelianenko to beat its champion and then leave the promotion, but Couture is not a champion and is near the end of his career. Having that fight would prove the UFC is attuned to the fans’ interests and wouldn’t hurt their long-term business.
LEITES’ SHOT UNDESERVED
I was surprised to find out that the UFC is offering middleweight champion Anderson
Silva a fight against Thales Leites. I don’t understand how Leites’ resume grants him a title shot, and I wonder if the UFC got the message from Silva when he fought Cote. I’d much rather see Yushin Okami just fight Silva first.
Kevin Stianchi
Bridgewater, N.J.
Leites defeated Nate Marquardt last year. Given the high esteem in which White holds Marquardt, that fight alone I’m sure convinced the UFC president to give Leites the shot. Okami would probably have had one by now had he not injured his hand last year and missed several months.
TORRES RANKED TOO LOW
Kevin, in talking with other fans of MMA, we’ve pinned down why we’re upset about the current Yahoo! rankings, and why we feel Miguel Torres is getting disrespected. No one is going to argue Silva or Fedor being 1 and 2 in any order, but Torres should be third, at
least. Why? Neither Penn, nor St. Pierre, have been dominant in their careers. Penn supposedly has all the potential in the world, and now he’s focused. Gee … great. St. Pierre definitely has all the skill in the world, but he has focus issues. Torres has results. Torres is a better fighter than these guys. You know Miguel’s past is common knowledge now. He used to fight guys quite bigger than him. He could move up a weight class and own it if he so chose to. Deep inside, everyone knows this is true. Deep inside, no one can say Penn or St. Pierre are dominant. Yet. I have no doubt they can be. Sorry to keep writing you about this, but the Yahoo! rankings are the only thing bugging me about MMA right now, save for the mockery Japan made of the sport on New Year’s Eve.
Edward
Raleigh, N.C.
Torres is fifth in our rankings and, as much as I like Torres, I have no problem with that. Fighters who are good enough to even be considered for the top 10 are so close in ability, it’s hard to separate them. I disagree vehemently with you about Penn and St. Pierre, though. Look at the fighters St. Pierre has beaten (Matt Hughes twice, Penn, Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Matt Serra, Sean Sherk, Frank Trigg, Jason Miller, Jay Hieron, Karo Parisyan, etc.) Penn doesn’t have that long list of wins, but he has wins over Hughes, Sherk, Takanori Gomi, Serra and Joe Stevenson and many feel he should have beaten Machida in their heavyweight fight in 2005.

Frank Mir Comeback ?

2009-01-03T08:32:00.000-08:00

Remaking Frank Mir:

How Ken Hahn gave a BJJ black belt a striking game
J. Regar

Even more surprising than Frank Mir’s recent UFC 92 victory over UFC interim heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was the manner in which he did it. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace battered Nogueira not with his ground work but with a remarkable stand-up game. Much of that improvement can be attributed to Mir’s new stand-up coach, Ken Hahn of Striking Unlimited, who speaks to MMAjunkie.com’s Jacob Regar about Mir’s transformation and his keys to one of the year’s biggest upsets. MMAjunkie.com: When did you begin coaching Frank Mir? Ken Hahn: Eight weeks before the (Antoni) Hardonk fight (in August 2007). MMAjunkie.com: What were some of the traits you saw in him that made you interested in being his coach? Ken Hahn: I had already worked with him and had seen him around when I was at Cobra Kai, but I never approached him. I was training one of his close friends, and his close friend said to Frank, “Hey, you’ve been with these other trainers for so long. Why don’t you give this guy that I’m working out with a chance?” So he started watching me train people, and he said to me, “Well, you’re opening up a gym/ I’m going to go over there and try it out.” That’s where [our relationship] started. I never really approached him. I’m not the type of guy that’s going to steal someone’s fighter, but at the same time, I’m not going to turn him away. If he wants to learn from me, I’m going to teach him. Basically, he did that, so I told him, “I’ve been with a lot of different fighters at a lot of different levels, and I’m not going to teach you unless you want to listen. He agreed to listen no matter what, and I agreed to teach him. It’s kind of like those old days in the karate days when you have to do everything I say or I’m not teaching you. As soon as you ask “why,” we’re done. So as long as he understood that, I told him, “You’re going to be the best there is, but you’ve got to follow me and trust me.” And that’s how it all started. The first two fights, I didn’t really have a chance for him to display everything we had been working on. A lot of the skills we worked on were put in the background because most of the fights ended by submission. But the Nogueira fight was a match made in heaven because I knew for a fact that â Now, people want to claim that he was too weathered and that he has been through too many wars, but I told everybody my opinion that he has been through a lot of wars and he is going to be slower. Despite that, the type of training that we provide for Frank is not what regular people get. Nogueira was training with Forrest Griffin and Wanderlei Silva for this fight; that’s all the people he trained with. Those three guys just got together and hugged each other while I had Frank train with reputable professional boxers â one heavyweight and one light heavyweight. Then I had him spar with kickboxers, wrestlers and Olympic-level judo players. When you have a chance to train with so many different high-level guys, there’s just no way around improving. .You’ve got to get better. There’s a rumor circulating that Frank only worked on striking and didn’t focus at all on jiu-jitsu, but he was with Robert Drysdale almost every day. He had privates with him. Once again, he was in a position where he was getting tapped out every day. Then all of a sudden he was getting tapped out every other day, and then once a week. That means your skills are getting better and better. So that’s completely different than training with all of your buddies, and there’s no one to really push that drive in you because you’re already at the top. Who’s going to tell Nogueira what to do? No one. Who’s going to tell Wanderlei what to do? No one. Who’s going to tell Forrest what to do? No one. The bottom line is Frank was willing to listen and do whatever I said. I mean, who’s going to say, “You’re going to spar professional boxers today? Well, I’m not a boxer.” I don’t care. You’re going to box them, and you’re going to survive because that’s what is going to get you the hand speed. That’s why he was so much more efficient boxing. MMAjunkie.com: What was your game plan for Frank heading into his fight with Nogueira? Ken Hahn: My game plan for Frank was for him to showcase his standup abilities â for him to be faster, stronger and more confident. And don’t worry about the jiu-jitsu. Make a name for yourself by knocking a legend out. I said, “You’ll be known more for knocking him out than for submitting him.” MMAjunkie.com: Given Nogueira’s boxing expertise, did you think Frank would be able to take advantage of him as well as he did with his hands? Ken Hahn: Yes, because I saw his hands on the show. Once I saw him hit mitts on the show and spar some of his guys, that was it; I know exactly what he’s capable of. Plus he’s had so many fights, you can look at them and see how many times people have knocked him down, not knocked him out, but knocked him down. So my strategy was, “You’re going to knock him down, then keep knocking him down, and when he gets back up, knock him down again for five rounds, and then you won’t get tired because you’re not trying to gut him.” That’s basically what he did. And then by the second round, he got so relaxed that he became even more deadly. If it had gone to the third round he would have began engaging the kicks. In the first round he threw a couple of kicks just to see what was going on, but if he would have followed up with a kick, he would have killed him. The first round was rough, the second round started getting better, but that was it. He couldn’t handle it. The only punches Nogueira landed were one or two jabs and a low kick. That’s not good. That means that 80 percent of Frank’s shots landed. MMAjunkie.com: Frank was switching up his stance during the fight from southpaw to orthodox and back-and-forth. Was that something you helped Frank worked on, or was that more of Frank’s own style? Ken Hahn: No, it’s because he was originally a southpaw, and then he got into that accident, so he switched to regular stance to favor his non-injured leg. After the (Brock) Lesnar fight, his leg was fully healed, and we decided to go back to his regular fighting stance and go back-and-forth. His true fighting stance is southpaw, though he integrated the two fighting stances. You can see he actually had three or four fights where he fought in regular stance. And that’s enough experience to be able to defend yourself. But, when you look at how he defended from a southpaw stance, he looked 20 times better than from a regular stance. If he was fighting from a southpaw stance against Brandon Vera, he probably wouldn’t have got caught by Brandon’s knee. But from a different stance, you have to relearn everything from the beginning. Frank’s a lot more confident in that left-hand stance. But he can switch in and out, and that’s what made him so elusive against Nogueira. Looking at the distance and the timing, every time Nogueira tried to step in, he was already gone. And then he would take an angle and weave and throw his punches. It was like in slow motion. And the thing is, every day he practiced hard. It made the fight easy. And that’s a classic example of what happened. We put him through so much hell that once he blocked that four-punch combination, he thought with a surprised tone, “Oh no, are you serious? That’s what it’s going to be like?” And then he tore him apart. To be able to block someone’s attack â like a four-punch combo â and look at him like, “I blocked every single one of those,” that means your eyes are on the game. You’re on there. And for someone to look back and block everything you threw and smile, you’re whole demeanor is going to change. Not to mention [Nogueira] got dropped three times in one round, including a sweep. He just never had a chance to recover. MMAjunkie.com: Honestly, what’s it like holding Thai pads for someone who outweighs you by 100 pounds? Does your background in Enshin Karate and Muay Thai training with Fairtex prepare you for that level of impact? Ken Hahn: I think it does. Even in Enshin Karate, we held pads for each other, so it was a really good stepping stone to enter Thai boxing and hold Thai pads. You’ve got to understand that holding Thai pads is not just holding Thai pads. You have to sufficiently hold them in a fighting stance when you use them. You have to maintain that fighting stance when you hold them. A lot of guys will hold a Thai pad for a kick, and then they will use their back foot to brace for the impact. But you should be in a fighting stance and just twist your body to meet the kick, so you can absorb the impact properly by bending your knees and such. Does that make sense? MMAjunkie.com: It does, but doesn’t it ever hurt your forearms? Ken Hahn: Oh, it does. I mean everyone is going to have the pains. But, basically, I’m not just focusing so much on power when I’m holding the Thai pads. I mean, I’ve got 200-, 300-pound heavy bags that they can blast away on if they want to just blast away. I use them more for timing and distancing and technique than for blasting away â kind of like how boxing focus mitts are. Most people associate using the Thai pads with power, and you can if you are a big guy. But if you’re a small guy holding them for a big guy, then you have to change it up. You have to learn how to take the abuse. At the same time, I don’t agree with placing the Thai pad on your thigh because the kicker ends up kicking at a wrong angle or you will bust the pad holder’s elbow. MMAjunkie.com: Rumor has it Frank isn’t the easiest guy to get motivated for training. What methods did you employ to reach Frank’s competitive drive and bring it to the surface? Ken Hahn: The main thing was making Frank believe that it’s not a fight-to-fight kind of deal; it’s being a martial artist. A martial artist trains every day. He wakes up, brushes his teeth, trains, eats, sleeps and goes and does it all over again. Whereas a fighter â most of the time â just fights paycheck-to-paycheck. “Oh, I’ve got to train, OK?” Five weeks out, train, fight, take six months off. A martial artist fights and then takes a couple of days off, and then he’s right back in training. In fact, in the old days, when I would fight in the Sabaki Challenge and all that stuff, it was mandatory for me to come to practice the next day, even if I could barely walk, at least show up and walk around. Of course, all that is is spirit because the next day you are beat down, you don’t want to move, everything is sore, but to show up to class and at least move around, that’s the spirit that you have to develop. MMAjunkie.com: In Frank’s post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, he mentioned experiencing quite a bit of fear prior to entering the cage to face Nogueira. Were you aware of this, and if so, would you mind sharing some of the content from your pre-fight pep talk? Ken Hahn: Well, I think [Nogueira’s] a hero. He’s an MMA legend. And he’s definitely a dangerous fighter. Before fighting Lesnar, I remember Frank met Nogueira in person and he stood next to him and I told him, “You can’t look at him as a hero anymore. Now he’s a competitor, and you’re going to be the guy that kills the hero. You’ve got to fight him, and you’ve got to beat him.” So I think the biggest thing to motivate him was one, making him believe that he’s a martial artist, and two, letting him know that you don’t have to throw away anything you learned in the past. If you learned karate, go ahead (and) use the karate, but know when to use it. If you have a spinning back kick, you can’t use it in the beginning because it’s not a high-percentage hit, but if you wait until the third round, then he’s not going to be expecting it. Launch away. Another thing was I just let him have fun. I didn’t yell at him as much. I didn’t force him to do certain things until after he built a certain level of stamina. This was the first fight that we had five months to train. And we had injuries and all kinds of crap, but we still pushed forward. MMAjunkie.com: Out of all of Mir’s sparring partners leading up to his fight with Nogueira, who gave him the best run for his money during stand-up practice? If that’s a Striking Unlimited secret I will understand. Ken Hahn: We had access to pro boxers. … Not guys that just turned pro. I’m talking about top-30 pro boxers. These guys are legitimate, 10-fights, seven-KOs, legitimate guys. They are two Native American brothers. One guy is 175 pounds, and the other is 260 pounds. So when you get both of those guys at pro level hitting him, he’s going to get punched the way it’s supposed to feel. He’s going to have the movement to where he can’t touch you. Why do you think his distancing got so much better? When he has to chase down pro boxers that move and slip, you start figuring out the same thing. If you roll with a champion jiu-jitsu guy, you’re going to go, “Whoa, this is different.” But the more you train with him, the more you pick up. So for standup, having pro boxers as part of our team that want to work with him was very beneficial. Those pro boxers teach boxing hear at my gym, Striking Unlimited. MMAjunkie.com: Can you drop their names? Ken Hahn: Yeah, Derek Hinkey and Tyler Hinkey. But I think just offering up different types of fighters for Frank was important. Sometimes I would feed him guys that weren’t that good so he could get his skill level up. It’s one thing to train with the best guys, but you have got to use those guys efficiently. You can’t spar with them all the time or they will beat you up. You can spar with them once every other week. The other times, you need to be sparring on [crappier] guys so you can build your confidence and work on stuff without paying the ultimate price. Try to work on new stuff with a really good guy, and you’re going to end up getting knocked out. Try it on the [crappy] guys and they don’t have the skill level to make you pay, so when they do tag you it’s not going to be that bad. But if you go against a pro boxer and you drop your hands trying to do something, you’re out cold. MMAjunkie.com: Going into the fight between Mir and Nogueira, what did you perceive to be the most dangerous areas of Nogueira’s game as they applied to Frank? Ken Hahn: I think if you play into Nogueira’s game and let him drag the fight out long, that could be dangerous. If you played Nogueira’s game and came out and tried to take him down and play the jiu-jitsu game, I think Nogueira would probably have an easier time wearing Frank out just because he’s been there so many times live. No matter how many times you’ve trained your techniques in a tournament or practice, it’s not the same thing as live fire. But the way we trained, I knew his cardio was going to be there. I actually was sad that it didn’t go longer than two rounds because that extra ring time experience would have been beneficial for Frank. If you compare how many fights Frank has to Nogueira, it’s less than half. MMAjunkie.com: Did you or Frank study Nogueira’s past fights as part of Frank’s fight preparation? Ken Hahn: Basically, I watched an entire history of his fights twice, and then I developed my strategy. The only guys that he submitted were guys that didn’t have jiu-jitsu, and the submissions came toward the end of the rounds when his opponents were tired. But everyone knocks him down, so you can definitely land punches on him. And when I was watching “The Ultimate Fighter” and saw Ryan Bader sparring with him and punching him in the face, I was like, “Wait a minute. If Bader’s doing that, you’ve got to do the same thing.” And if he’s not respecting the punch, then he’s not respecting Frank until he gets roughed up. So now when you go back and watch videos, you can see how many mistakes Nogueira makes. I noticed a lot of important things the second time I watched his fights. MMAjunkie.com: Do you think more people will now start to recognize you as one of the top stand-up coaches in MMA? Anyone who watched the fight and read your weekly “TUF8” blogs on MMAjunkie.com would have recognized many of the same principles and techniques that you discussed in those blogs being put on display by Frank. Ken Hahn: I think the true test will probably be how many new people start joining my gym; how many people will switch from their current gym, like Randy’s gym and Warrior gym, to my gym because their fighters lost? The main thing for me is being comfortable with my accomplishments. I knew where I am and who I am. Remaining level-headed is important. Basically, I just wanted to create a world champion because if I can, then that means I can produce more. MMAjunkie.com: Are you excited to help Frank prepare once more for a fight with Brock Lesnar? Ken Hahn: Excited? It’s another fight man, and I take it as a job. I told Frank he would be a champion, but realistically, it’s up to him now. He’s got to show up. He’s got to want it because it’s going to be harder now. Now, he’s not the underdog. There’s just so much more pressure on him. But as far as training him for his next fight, yeah, of course, I want to see Brock Lesnar lose. And I love going into the octagon and watching my guy display all of the techniques that I taught him. That I think is more important as a martial artist. For me it has always been, “I’m going to make you better than I was.” That’s not what my other instructor did. A lot of instructors don’t want you to be better than them because then you make your own gym and create new competition. In the olden days if you truly loved them (your students), you gave them everything because they were like a child or your brother, and you wanted to make them as good as possible. I don’t do that with everyone, but if you listen and I trust you, I’m going to give you everything no matter what. Jacob Regar is a law school graduate, the independent lead writer for American Stand Up and an MMAjunkie.com contributor. He is also a practicing martial artist with a blue belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu