The Art of MMA – How Dance Training Can Help MMA Fighters

I grew up surrounded by dance. Movement was everywhere around me in twists, turns, pivots, pirouettes, and point shoes. Despite the fact that it has been years since I’ve taken a dance class, it should be of no surprise that dance is still lurking around there in my subconscious and it sometimes pops into the forefront of my mind when I least expect it.

I spent Saturday evening parked in front of my TV, eyes darting between the screen showing UFC 240 and my phone where I was “live tweeting.” I woke up the next morning and watched the end of the PPV and all of a sudden it dawned on me: fighters like Jon Jones and Max Holloway are remarkable not because they are the most powerful fighters, but because they know how to move.

It is a fighter’s tiny movements, head darting from side to side, and larger movements, legs sweeping through the air and arms swinging, that make a fighter successful. It is when all of those movements come together with rhythm and ease that a fighter is positioned to win a fight. And if a fighter knows how to safely fall, all the better (there are classes btw on “how to fall” properly).

I wondered if this was just me or if anyone else had the crazy thought that fighters should take a dance class. As it turns out, I am not alone in this theory. This article from Dance Magazine explains one fighter’s experience with Ballet.

Here, Evolve Vacation lists a number of famous athletes in combat sports who benefited from a healthy does of dance. Ballet even shows up in this article from the Bleacher Report.

So, apparently, I’m not the only one who has made this connection!

As it turns out, Dance and MMA are intertwined, like a yin/yang symbol they compliment each other while having almost opposite characteristics. Dance is calm, intentional, and focused whereas fighting is violent, fast, and wild. But in reality, you have to be both a dancer and a fighter in order to succeed in MMA because when you are violently calm, intentionally fast, and wildly focused, you can take on any opponent (and you can do it gracefully).

What it is like to go to UFC’s International Fight Week

The UFC International Fight Week 2019 in Las Vegas was memorable in may ways. There were an array of events to attend, starting with the open workouts, weigh ins, UFC Fan Experience, and of course the UFC PPV – UFC 239.

The open workouts took place in the MGM Casino near the aptly named “TAP” restaurant. What struck me was that Holly Holm opened the workout event and Amanda Nunes closed it. Go girl power!

The open workouts weren’t exactly workouts. They were snapshots of what a UFC fighter’s workout is like. Most fighters indulged the fans with insight into how they warm up. There were many commonalities – including the move where athletes lock arms and move side to side, alternatively. Some fighters demonstrated take downs and some even boxed. Kudos to Amanda Nunes for boxing in front of us. I wouldn’t want to be on the other end of her punches.

Jorge Masvidal took questions from the fans, endearing us to him. Each fighter had a different approach to showing off his/her skills and personality and that was appreciated.

All in all, it was nice to see the fighters in person and to be able to be so close to them. They were still in the middle of cutting weight for the PPV and they all looked much thinner in person than on TV. Weight cut, or not, they were lean fighting machines.

The Weigh – ins were probably the most anticlimactic event of the week. It was as you see it on TV, but somewhat more energizing in person.

The UFC Fan Experience was hands down amazing. If you signed up in advance (which I did not), you got to stand in line to meet your favorite fighters, who formed a seated receiving line for autographs. Signing up for the autograph sessions is a great way to get a high number of autographs and to meet many fighters. However, you could also wait in line for the meet and greets with specific fighters, as I did for Valentina Shevchenko. The UFC partners host these meet and greets. I waited for about 2 hours to meet Valentina, but I did so while happily drinking a Monster zero calorie energy drink. Needless to say, by the time I was at the front of the line, I was perky and happy.

I also met Cowboy Cerrone, who was very friendly. The exterior of the fan experience had the UFC in big red letters as well as a full sized octagon for photo ops.

By the day of the PPV, I was invigorated. Still feeling awesome after meeting Valentina and Cerrone during the fan experience, I went to the PPV ready to cheer. I chose the lounge seating – which, although far away from the octagon, was a surprisingly affordable seat with a good view and a VIP experience. I had a comfy seat and a personal waitress. I was frankly very surprised that it was almost empty up there until the main card started. Maybe it is naïve of me to think this, but who in his/her right mind would pay money to sit in a swanky lounge and yet only show up half way through the PPV? Not me. No, I was there to watch, to analyze, and to geek out on MMA.

By far, the highlight fight for me was Jorge Masvidal vs. Ben Askren. There are no words to describe the fight. If I were to describe my reaction it would be: WTF just happened. This fight was one of the most impressive, scary, violent, gut wrenching, and surprising fights that I have ever seen. When you watch these fights regularly, you come to understand just how hard it is to end a fight in the first round, let alone a few seconds in. One of the reasons why Ronda Rousey deserves the recognition as one of the most talented fighters in history is because for years, she managed to end her fights in a matter of seconds and she made it look easy. Jorge made this look easy – and that isn’t easy to do.

The Holm vs. Nunes fight wasn’t as long as I would have hoped for but it did show Nunes’ dominance in her weight class (which, ironically, is mine as well and no, I won’t be challenging her anytime soon). Jones vs. Santos was impressive, not with regard to the action that took place but because of Santos’ resolve to fight through the 5 rounds despite what appeared to be an injured knee.

The time spent in Las Vegas for the PPV was productive and fun. I’d recommend it to anyone who is a fight fan and who also wants to add structure to a vacation in the hot desert. Fans were excited throughout the week and what struck me most was their enthusiasm for the sport and the fighters. Fighting requires passion and resolve. UFC’s fight week brought out these attributes not only in the fighters, but in the fans.

Bottom Line – sign me up for fight week in 2020. You should come too.

10 Lessons Learned from My First UFC Gym Boxing Class

I decided that it was time. Time to experience a boxing class and to gain a new appreciation for just one component of successful MMA. I’m not a nervous person when it comes to trying new sports, but for this class, I was notably nervous about injuring myself. News flash- I didn’t get injured but I did gain a whole lot of appreciation for the athletes who train like this everyday and who rely upon succeeding in this sport to support their families. That being said, here are the top 10 lessons that I learned from my first UFC Gym boxing class:

1. The Warm Up is Hard

Let there be no mistake: the class started with a “not so average” warmup. I consider myself a pretty fit person but this warm up proved that when it comes to boxing, well, I’m not that fit. It started with a plank that you had to spring off of into a run to the other side of the classroom. Then you had to somehow flip over onto your back and then pop back up into a plank. There were jumping jacks, sit ups connected to the punching bags, and then jumps in different patterns that seemed easy enough until you are half way through and out of breath. If this was the warm up, I thought to myself, then I’m in for a tough class. This warm up would only be easy if you were spiderman and could spring up and down, forward and back with your spider net holding you tight. This is not easy for a normal human being.

2. The “Bag” Hits You Back

Something that I noticed very early on in the class was that when I punched the bag, the punch reverberated into my skull and chattered my teeth. This must be why fighters wear mouth guards. I was kind of surprised by this. I figured I’d feel the punch in my arm, but not in my head! It took a while to get used to and finally, the feeling faded away and the predominant feeling was the burning in my arms. Continue reading “10 Lessons Learned from My First UFC Gym Boxing Class” →

May 19, 2019 1

A Fight Can Change in a Minute or Less (UFC 237)

I watched the replay of Rose Namajunes vs Jessica Andrade from UFC 237. It was a shocking and certainly could be said to be an entertaining battle. It isn’t the first fight to end suddenly, as KO’s are an intrinsic part of MMA, but the fight was stunning, almost scary, and serves as a reminder that in sports, particularly MMA, the momentum can “swing” [get the pun?] in an instant.

Despite Rose’s lead on numbers of strikes (https://www.ufc.com/event/ufc-237#7770), it was Jessica who tossed Rose up and then down and won the bout. It was, most likely, a momentary decision from Jessica that she would attempt that move and a split second decision from Rose that she wouldn’t change position to fall differently. Now, neither you nor I can get inside a fighter’s head to figure out exactly what he/she is thinking, but just from observing this fight, there wasn’t much time to think, adjust, or react when presented with Jessica’s grappling lift.

This fight was over quickly and luckily Rose wasn’t injured seriously. It may be tempting to debate whether throws like Jessica’s should be allowed under the rules of MMA and it likewise would be fun to predict who will take on Jessica next for the title (will Rose fight her again)?

But my main takeaway is this:

In other sports, when there’s a momentum change, let’s take tennis for instance, the players have time to adjust and reset. There’s a structure (games in a set, number of sets in a match) that dictates the framework of the sport. In MMA, there’s a framework, but it can be cut short, and because of this, momentum is important, the need to take risks is heightened, and the danger of losing focus for even a minute, perhaps even a few seconds, could cost you your belt.

May 16, 2019 0

UFC Fight Night – Phoenix

Highlight on Women’s Fights

Early Prelims

Alexandra Albu vs. Emily Whitmire

This fight should be fun to watch. See the tale of the tape here: https://www.ufc.com/event/ufc-fight-night-phoenix-2019#7640

Check out MMA Junkie’s article on Emily here: https://mmajunkie.com/2019/02/ufc-on-espn-1-emily-witmire-waitress-job

Prelims

Ashlee Evans Smith vs. Andrea Lee

This is a fight between number 11 and 13 and therefore I’m really looking forward to seeing this one! See the tale of the tape here: https://www.ufc.com/event/ufc-fight-night-phoenix-2019#7627

Main Card

Cortney Casey vs. Cynthia Calvillo

This fight pits the number 11 vs. 12 strawweight fighters against each other. Again, really looking forward to it. Based on the weigh-in, both fighters are pumped and ready to entertain in the octagon. See the tale of the tape here: https://www.ufc.com/event/ufc-fight-night-phoenix-2019#7641

Follow GirlTalkMMA on Twitter for live tweets during the event tonight!

February 17, 2019 0

UFC 234 – Changing of the Guard!

What can we say about UFC 234? It was unexpected in every way. First of all, the main event was cancelled! Yes, cancelled – due to injury of the Australian hero who was meant to fight on his home turf. Then, the main fight was replaced by a riveting contest between Israel Adesanya and Anderson Silva – two fighters with great mutual respect and, arguably, an almost identical fighting style. It was, in short, a changing of the guard.

Adesanya won, but not by that much really. It wasn’t the blowout that I think fans were expecting. No. It was so much better than that. It was like watching the master and the student fight with the same graceful movements, the same fluidity, and playfulness. Continue reading “UFC 234 – Changing of the Guard!” →

February 13, 2019 0

Fight Night 144: Review

I’ll start by giving fight nights an overall grade, so to speak. The grade is on the A, B, C, D scale and it is based on : 1) Excitement, 2) Elements of Surprise, and 3) Well Matched.

This fight night was a B – in my opinion. Now: disclaimer that I missed some of the preliminary fights and started watching around Alves/Griffen, but from what I saw, the fights were fast, somewhat unsurprising, and evenly matched. So, with that in mind, I’ll go into some specifics… Continue reading “Fight Night 144: Review” →

February 5, 2019 0

The Beginning: Fight Night 144 – February 2, 2019

Tonight is UFC Fight Night 144 and the inaugural blog post for Girl Talk MMA. On deck this evening, there are 6 main fights and 7 preliminary fights. Fight location is Brazil. Note that if you want to watch all of the fights, the prelims start at 5pm EST.

Highlight on Women’s Bouts

The preliminary fight is between Mara Romero Borella from Italy and Taila Santos from Brazil. This is Taila’s debut fight and thus, anything can happen! Borella, who is ranked #12, lost her last fight but she has a pretty good overall record of 12 wins, 5 losses, and 1 no contest. Taila doesn’t have a UFC record (as this is her first fight) and she will likely have the crowd on her side. So, this could go either way, in my opinion. See the full side by side stats on the UFC site. Continue reading “The Beginning: Fight Night 144 – February 2, 2019” →

February 2, 2019 0

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