J-Mac gives his thoughts on UFC 118, changes with his gym, and his plans to get back in fighting shape.
A hectic few weeks are finally winding down as my gym here in Red Deer, Pure Fitness & MMA, has moved to a new location. We've actually separated the MMA and the fitness and moved into two 3,500-square foot places. The last week I've been putting in 16-hour days every day, doing so many little jobs. It has been exhausting.
The reason for the move is the old gym was getting quite chaotic. We would have a boxing trainer in teaching private boxing, at the same time as an MMA instructor teaching people MMA, and then there would be a fitness class and then a spin class going on all in a 4,000-square foot box. Everybody was competing for space and there was way too much noise.
It's always a good thing as a business when you run out of space and need to expand because it means your doing well. But we were definitely outgrowing that space. The new location is pretty close to downtown Red Deer, so it's more central for everybody. The two buildings are side-by-side. And the old place didn't have showers, now we have showers! We can accommodate people better, give them more space and reduce the chaos. And we now have enough space to set up an octagon, so we've got the cage, wrestling mats, etc., and overall more area to train.
So far it's been great but a ton of work moving it. When you move your house, you think it won't be that bad, but then you find 10 loads of stuff you didn't know you had. It's been a couple of weeks but now we're settling in.
I had a talk with my wife this week after the UFC announced the Dec. 11 card in Montreal and I've decided I'm going to put in a full-blown effort in September to train as hard as I can, fitness-wise and fighting-wise, and see if my ankle will hold up to the training. And if it does I'll have my manager call (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva to see if I can get on that card.
I've set Oct. 1 as my target date, because that would give me 10 weeks from then to the fight card to put in a decent training camp. I think my ankle is at a point where it can withstand this. And if I don't set a goal for myself I'll keep coasting along. This gives me something to work towards. But if my ankle can't handle the training over the next 3-4 weeks, I know I'll need to give it more time. I have been active the last few weeks but not pushing it hard, but I believe now's the time.
And I'd really like to keep the Montreal streak alive. Sam Stout and I are the only guys to fight on all Montreal cards so far. It would be a good tune-up fight for Toronto.
Thoughts on last week's UFC 118
First off, I was happy to see Dan Miller choke out John Salter. That was what I intended to do against him before the injury. (Do I sound a bit sour, or what?) But seriously, it was great for Miller; he had some personal issues and it was good for him to get back on track.
It was very, very frustrating for me to sit and watch the B.J. Penn-Frankie Edgar fight. I'm a huge B.J. fan. And it is ever so frustrating to watch a guy with so much talent and so much skill go out there and fight like that. It was the worst gameplan ever. And I'm not the best guy to talk considering I don't always stick to my gameplan but at least I have a good one going in.
My friends said it was just like their first fight only Edgar was slightly better than last time. You watch what Penn was able to do in the first round, getting a takedown in the first 20 seconds and immediately getting on top. Why didn't he do that for rounds 1, 2 and 3, instead of thinking he was a pro boxer? He is the first American to win the world jiu-jitsu championship and he's a great wrestler, but instead he just wants to box Edgar. He totally let Edgar dictate the fight.
It even looked like he took a little nap in the middle of the fight. From like minute 5 to minute 12, he was napping; then he wakes up, but it was too little, too late. If that guy is bang on, watch out. If the same guy that showed up to fight Sean Sherk or Kenny Florian shows up, he's unstoppable. But he only shows up once every 10 fights. It's so frustrating to be a fan of him.
Since I'm ranting, I might as well move on to Florian. Same thing with him and his gameplan. He's a guy with great jiu-jitsu, training in Montreal with the Tri-Star guys and GSP and seemed to totally forget about his ground game. He had zero guard, zero attack from his back.
Fighting a great wrestler in Gray Maynard, knowing you're probably going to be on the ground and fighting off your back, and you're not ready to take advantage of a situation where maybe he makes a mistake and you can submit him? I read on one of the forums people saying he looks weak and fragile, I tend to agree. I've never trained with him so I don't know, but he looks like he's getting overpowered by these guys at 155. That's strange for a guy who has fought at 185 pounds, when he was on The Ultimate Fighter.
Maynard is strong but by no means a big guy. But he is really muscular and that's my point. Kenny needs to put on some muscle. He needs to get on the same workout program as other Tri-Star guys, who always seemed to be ripped. It just looks like Kenny is being pushed around and muscled around.
I don't even want to talk about the James Toney-Randy Couture fight because it's not worth talking about. One thing I'll say is every clip they showed of Toney training leading up to the fight it seemed to be he was always boxing. Now why is a pro boxer doing that? Maybe he should have been working on submission defence or sprawling, because I think he's got the boxing dialed in.
And that's my final thought for this week.
