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KombatClinic.com sponsored seminar
MMA with Michael 'the Count' Bisping
UFC middleweight, 'TUF' series 3 winner and UK's best ever MMA fighter
The warm-up
After the pre-seminar introductions Michael began by taking the class through various warm up routines that he uses during his own training sessions. Whilst many of the drills were pretty much standard exercises that you would find in most MMA gyms some of the drills included (partner) bodyweight exercise. The two that stick in my mind were 1). Starting with two [high] underhooks each was to take a high lunge forward and then lift and swing their partner over the lead thigh. The drill was repeated over alternative thigh's the length of the hall without the partner touching the floor- very tiring and 2). This drill included shooting in on your partner, securing the contact (as if going for a double leg takedown) and lifting the partner straight up. The idea was to repeat the drill for a full minute with 20 lifts being a benchmark of work rate, again a huge effort.
Even before the class Michael stressed that the session would consist of drills, flows and strategies that he utilises as his strengths during a bout (i.e. a great deal of stand-up work, quality takedown defence and escapes when grounded) a nice addition to finish the warm up involved coupling rudimentary MMA skills: shadow boxing, sprawls, sit-outs and up kicks all done fast, again for one minute.
Technical component: stand up and the clinch
The moment you meet Michael his open character and approachability are more than evident. Michael actually arrived about 30 minutes before the class; I have been to hundreds of seminars over the years with much lesser 'Champions' where the moments before a class have been really awkward. Everyone is literally scared to breath because of fear of upsetting the prima-donna in front of them when quite frankly, the individual couldn't fight a cold let alone another person.
Michael made everyone feel welcome, discussing the upcoming UFC, asking what we all thought of the bout between Matt Hughes and Thiago Alves and generally answering any questions anyone had about him and his career. This manner of teaching continued right through the night starting with the stand-up work.
Known as a striker Michael began with some basics: stance, guard, head movement and footwork. Michael's next appearance is on 7th June at UFC 85 (only some four weeks away) coupled with the fact he recently dropped from 205lbs (light heavyweight) to 185lbs (middleweight) he looked sharp. Light on his feet for a guy of his frame and with some serious snap in his techniques he took the classes through some simple Jab, cross combinations working on distance and timing before adding the hook and upper cut to follow from a sprawl defence.
The largest portion of the stand up section covered the clinch, both Greco-roman with dominant positions from the underhooks, defending using an overhook and the Thai clinch where the 'plum' was discussed and worked with partners.
Michael stressed that his strength was his stand up game with this in mind, quick counters and takedown defences were drilled. The 'whizzer' (modified Harai-Goshi), re-pummelling off of failed whizzer attempts, a modified lateral drop (again) off of a failed whizzer attempt (similar to Randy Couture's slam of Tito Ortiz ) and a very simple yet, fail safe single-leg defence. Again all these techniques were shown with great ease from Michael, it was obvious to all in attendance that although Michael has strength's in stand up his wrestling has developed to a very high level through working on training camps with such notables a current UFC Light heavyweight champion of the world Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson.
Technical component: groundwork
Much of the ground portion of the session focused around the Kimura, variations on the set-up, escapes and reversals and flows into the straight arm-bar. If I were to list the class content from the 3-hours of work the list would be huge.
Stand-up: Jab-cross, hook, uppercut, head movement, distance, timing, reactions, Thai clinch, Greco clinch, pummelling, collar and elbow tie, Thai knees
Takedowns : Double-leg, double into single, single into double, the 'tree-top', the 'whizzer', re-pummelling off the whizzer, lateral drop
Groundwork : Kimura (half guard), Kimura (side control), modified Kimura (side control), Kimura escape (half guard), transition from Kimura to arm-bar (Kesa Gatame) (not definitive).
The seminar itself was attended by around 20 individuals some had prior experience at MMA, some were pro-fighters in their own right but others had limited MMA experience with more traditional martial art backgrounds, nevertheless, due to Michael's friendly approach to all in attendance the session flowed effortlessly, everyone was made to understand the tactics, strategy or technique being drilled before we moved on. Paradoxically to the amount of material covered nobody's head was full to bursting with confusion, yet again testament to Michael's teaching style.
As with most MMA-based seminar there was the obligatory 'roll' where all get to test their skills in groundwork. Most had a roll with Michael, and to my knowledge nobody got close to tapping the guy! As I have already said, in less than one month Bisping will face his next opponent in UFC 85 live at the O2 arena in London, still he didn't disappoint and sparred with all that wanted a chance. I personally am around the same height (maybe an inch taller) than Michael and without wanting to give away my weight probably outweigh him by some 10 kilos. His core strength is amazing (in every position) and watching him putting his reputation on the line to spar with us so close to a fight is again testament to the best combat athlete to ever come out of the UK.
We are hoping to arrange another session with Michael around his hectic schedule and I urge you that when the chance arises to train with Bisping at our place or anywhere else, you take it 100%
Bisping is a great guy and an exceptional fighter as well and from all at KombatClinic.com we wish him well at UFC 85.
Once again a huge thank you to Michael for making the seminar so successful and also to all those that attended the evening, keep you eyes and ears open for another chance to train with Michael very soon!
Take care,
Dave
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