Crossfit is a broad-spectrum fitness program that does not take into account the work/rest intervals of fighting. If you want your training to excel, it must replicate your sport as closely as possible. It’s not enough to simply include exercises that other MMA fighters are doing. Crossfit and MMA training both incorporate Olympic lifting, functional training, and Plyometric training…but they will do it in very different ways.

A good MMA workout will be divided into phases called macro cycles. These cycles should be adjusted to a fighter’s ability to recover from workouts and the amount of time between fights. Macro cycles should also be adjusted for the fighter’s strengths and weaknesses. If I am working with a fighter that has tremendous power, but gets gassed easily, I will adjust his training accordingly. What good is having power if you can’t recover between rounds?

The strengths and weaknesses of your next opponent should also be taken into account when planning workouts. If your next opponent is a beast that starts strong, but fades in the second round, you are going to have to adjust your training…especially if you’re not a beast.

How would you like it if you, and the fighter across from you, were both training Crossfit? You would both look great, but you would also have squandered your chance to get an edge.

A huge problem with Crossfit for MMA training is the lack of multiplanner movements. Most of the Crossfit exercisies are uniplanner and limited to the sagittal (think front lunge) plane of movement. Mixed martial artists must train in the frontal and transverse plans as well as the sagittal. Imagine that you are strong when moving straight ahead but weak when going to the side-to-side and turning. How much of a problem will that be for you?

Crossfit workouts are not designed to be sport specific. Planning how to adjust your workout is critical and will impact you as an athlete. I like Crossfit and would recommend it to nearly anyone who wants to get into great shape. However, if you need to be stronger, faster, and recover better than anyone in the room for 15 minutes, Crossfit is not the workout for you.

1. Couture and Nogueira can still throw down.

Randy Couture entered the cage Saturday night at 46 years of age. Nogueira came in with over 30 fights to his name and over 10 years of face smashing. It was two legends fighting their hearts out and showing the fans why they have achieved such status. Nog won which sets up more competitive match ups in the Heavyweight division (Nog vs. Brock anyone?) and Randy will be back soon enough to put on another great show.

2. Nate Marquardt Keeps Getting Better

Marquardt vs. Demian Maia was thought to be one of the most competitive fights on the card. Nope. Nate the Great landed one big right hand just seconds into round 1 and it was lights out for the previously undefeated Maia. As good as Maia has been I couldn’t picture how he would win this fight. Marquardt would have been a really tough guy to submit. On the other hand, I didn’t see an early knock out coming either. Nate will either get another shot at Anderson Silva or have to face Dan Henderson. Henderson vs. Marquardt would be an unbelievable match up, with Nate being the slight early favorite.

3. Thiago Silva Is an Animal

Silva showed why he is one of the best prospects in the UFC disposing of Top 10 LightHeavyweight Keith Jardine on his way to another impressive performance. The only loss of his career came to Lyoto Machida, who many regard as the best fighter in the world. Not sure who Silva should fight next, but I can’t wait to see it.

4. Lots of Fights for Randy Left

It was announced after the fight that Couture had signed up for another 28 months and 6 fights. At 46 years of age, this may seem like an unrealistic goal. But Couture weighing in at a 220 lbsproves that he can move down to 205 and challenge some of best at LightHeavyWeight, as well as challenge some of the Heavies. You never know with Randy. He will probably surprise us all and hold another belt one day.

Photos Courtesy of UFC.com

BJ Penn

Penn will look to win two in a row after a win at UFC 101 over Kenny Florian.

Sanchez is 2-0 as a lightweight with wins over Joe Stevenson and Clay Guida.

Meltzer also reports that this will be on Spike TV and Not PPV.

This fight will compete directly with Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto which airs live on PPV that night. Time will tell if this strategy will reduce the number of PPV buys for Pacman’s fight since it will be at night on Paid TV and the UFC free during the day.

MMATraining.com

Stout is coming off a win at UFC 97 over Matt Wiman while Nover is coming off a lose at UFC 98 vs. Kyle Bradley.

We have all chased after something we are passionate about even if there are countless examples of why it will fail.     We put on our happy ears and only hear the good news, the reasons why it will lead to fame and fortune and start investing.

Then it fails miserably and we think – why didn’t anyone tell me this was dumb?  

It is only years later that we ask the right question – why was I so dumb?

For the shareholders, investors and passionate followers of Strikeforce I would like to read to you the headlines of the press release on Strikeforce that will hit the newsstands and online outlets sometime within the next twelve months:
 
“Strikeforce Folds, Assets Picked up by UFC”

History should be a good indicator here.  Take a look at every major sport that calls North America its home base and point to a successful second league.

Baseball?  No.

Football?  Tried that with the American Football League years ago.  Result – merged the NFL.

Basketball?  No.

Hockey?  Also tried with the World Hockey League.  Any World Hockey League fans out there now?

And then there was mixed martial arts with EliteXC (knock, knock), Affliction (who’s there?), IFL (nobody), Pride (nobody who?) and now Strikeforce (Nobody fighting for those organizations anymore). 

All these alternative leagues have done over the years is artificially inflate the competitors’ pay for a short period of time.  Then they fold. 

In the meantime, we get a watered down selection of competition. 

The UFC itself doesn’t have enough depth of talent in a few divisions let alone MMA trying to support several different leagues.  Look at the heavyweight division in the UFC – is it possible we are going to see the winner of Couture/Nogueira fight Lesnar?  Couture/Lesnar II? 

Ummm. 

EliteXC and Strikeforce had a platform – one real ugly guy and one attractive woman, come see them fight.  Then disaster.  The real ugly guy lost to my mom and the attractive woman lost to the first competitor that didn’t look like talking tree bark.  

Fedor didn’t make Affliction a viable business, Kimbo couldn’t keep EliteXC alive and Gina failed in her attempt at putting Strikeforce in the minds of the mainstream. 

RIP Strikeforce – Aug 2010.

Two years ago

For a fight that was supposed to be a turning point in Mixed Martial Arts history, it certainly isn’t being promoted as such and at will likely go down as a failure. Here is a promo video for the event after the jump, which I found buried deep on Youtube.

1. The Loser of Thiago Silva and Keith Jardine

Why it works: He has already fought and lost to Jardine and the “Dean of Mean” is often inconsistent. The UFC could bill this one as a pivotal rematch while they both work their way up the ladder. Silva would be less interesting since he doesn’t posses the same skill set of Griffin’s last 4 opponents, but has name value which would give Griffin a significant win.

2. The winner of Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Brandon Vera

Why it works: Both Soszynski and Vera are ‘known’ in the UFC by the largest demographic - the casual fan. Vera is trying to climb back into title contention, while Soszynski has won 3 in row and a win over Vera would warrant a shot at the former champ. A quick glance at the rankings we see that these two are both below Jardine and Silva which gives Griffin a better shot at a comeback win.

3. Luis Cane

Why it works: I’m not convinced it does. Cane has no scheduled opponent on the horizon, but his methodical style likely matches up well against the aggressive Griffin. And Cane has little to no name value at this point, and as good as he is, that’s likely why no one wants to fight him.

4. Houston Alexander

Why it works: It should be a sure win for Forrest. Right? Well, maybe not. Houston has struggled as of late losing 3 in a row. But Alexander is a face that most casual UFC fans recognize and does have knock out power (and His Own Action Figure if you can believe it) You never know what would happen, but this would be an easy sell and an easy win for Griffin.

Whatever the UFC decides to do with their TUF 1 winner, they most plan carefully. He doesn’t need another loss and the UFC certainly doesn’t need one of their marquee names knocked out again.

Whatever they decide there are plenty of good fights for left for Griffin at 205 lbs. And we all know we will see him back fighting his heart out.

That’s why we love him. See you soon Forrest.