Cambridge MMA

Well done to both Patrick & Colin who both competed at the last weekend! Strong effort from both - I'm looking forward to the next one now.
Go to our website to book your child's FREE taster session

Hi Team -

The kids in our club have been having the best time lately in our kids MMA and kids Grappling classes!

It usually takes a few weeks or months for them to get used to coming to train in the Dojo - it is a strange place afterall! It's a bit like a gym for working out with an area with weights and a squat rack - and it's a bit like a dance studio with all the mats and open space.

Classes usually begin with a thourough warm-up, which we also use to teach all the fundamental movements and agility needed for combat sports.

We usually teach some kicking drills and some punching drills often on the pads which is an awesome workout and great for developing co-ordination, timing and focus!

Usually we'll then work on some takedowns or submission-holds or escapes - Grappling skills are a big part of our Combat Sports system so we break down all the details and the kids find themselves doing some pretty slick moves in no time!

Almost every session finishes with some form of Sparring activity. For under 16s there is no head-contact so it's very safe, but working semi-competitivly with their team-mates allows them to really get to grips with Timing, Tactics & Technique selection. It's a lot of fun!

In our Grappling only sessions, it's the same sort of structure, but without the Striking stuff and a big focus on the best Systems for Guard passing, Pinning, Guard retention, and Submission-holds. Our kids have won quite a lot of medals at local tournaments recently which is always a massive boost to their confidence!!

To get your child booked in for a Free Intro Session just reply to this email - or if you have any questions, just let me know and I'll try to give you some good answers! - I look forward to training with you soon! - Coach John.

Here's some pics of our kids club members hard at work!...

💪Our adult team from the last week. Medals were won, lessons were learned and most importantly great fun was had. Congratulations to all our competitors!

🎉 Congratulations to Daniel and Skylar who received their grey belts this week after their performances in last week's Grappling tournament. They worked hard, listened to their coach and showed excellent sportsmanship. We are very proud to have them in our club. Keep up the good work! 💪

I guess we'll be working on our butterfly guard sweeps in class next week then...

I am very happy to announce the release of my latest instructional video MASTER THE MOVE: THE BUTTERFLY GUARD SWEEP SUMI GAESHI. When began Jiu jitsu one of my main mentors, Rodrigo Gracie, had a great butterfly sweep. I was greatly impressed by its effectiveness. At that early time in the US BJJ scene, guard play was mostly closed guard. Seeing someone initiate attacks very effectively from a seated open guard rather than passively waiting for opportunities from closed guard made a big impression on me. Moreover, sumi gaeshi is based upon inside position as such it combine extremely well with many aspects of the leg lock game. Every defensive reaction to it involves extending and posting limbs - which leads directly to submission attacks. As such I made it a centerpiece of my coaching. It creates a powerful dilemma between positional threats via sweeps and submission threats when they defend those sweeps. You will often see my students start with sumi gaeshi and then build their attacks from there as their opponents are forced into predictable defensive reaction to that strong initial threat. It is equally effective on the ground and standing, gi and no gi. All of my students had great success with it, as did many other outstanding athletes over the history of Jiu Jitsu. If you want a powerful attack from guard position that takes the attacking momentum in your favor every time - you can’t do better than learning sumi gaeshi the butterfly sweep in depth!!

https://bjjfanatics.com/products/master-the-move-the-butterfly-guard-sweep-sumi-gaeshi-by-john-danaher/?rfsn=1293887.53efb

It take work. Commit to the lifestyle and put in the hours. There is no alternative!

This one hurt some feelings first time around so let me just say this….you can train and compete at any age. Although there is a window that is best to start training and competing at. And time is valuable and it is limited. You may also peak early thirty’s….but starting then is going to be tough. This post is meant to inspire urgency in the young and the old.

If you want to have that fight or try fighting as a sport. For example boxing, Muay Thai or MMA. You don’t have time to talk about it. You will eventually run out of time like all sports 15-30 is really the window of peak health where you have the best chance of maximising performance and uptake of skills. For this example I will use MMA because I feel peoples expectations are maybe a little off at the beginning.

If you wish to fight MMA you first need to learn how to grapple and strike everyday. Just to build up to this volume from nothing could take someone 3-6months. The next 6-12 months should be spent really fine tuning your skills making sure you have answers for everything, defences and counters for the fundamental attacks and some simple strategic sets of combinations. Make sure you consistently turn up for your coaches required training. If he/she/they don’t have any that’s a massive red flag. You could now start doing No Gi Bjj comps as your first form of competition. Do them as much as you possibly can. It is almost wilful ignorance now ignoring the easily accessible local bjj tournaments as a place to test your grappling skills. 🤼‍♂️

Now the next 12 months try and do as many padded comps as possible (amatuer boxing and Muay Thai ) and move towards the correct weight for your height and power. You should probably now be training morning and night. Your coaches can help you identify your weight class and help you with doing the right type of conditioning. You don’t need camps just be fit and ready and don’t waste opportunities within a few kgs up or down is fine at this point for same day weigh ins (3-4kg same day weigh ins shouldn’t be a big deal) . You should have by now adopted a lifestyle to be within fight weight in 1-4 weeks. ⚖️

From here you are most likely ready to start nominating for amatuer MMA. I wish I had someone lay out a clear path for me to fight in 4oz gloves. I just kind of did it because there was no jiu jitsu tournaments in Townsville and it was expensive with a young family at home to fly away. I was not super financially wise or secure at this time in my life… so someone paying my flights to fight was a good way to test my training. I now genuinely pay it forward and if my fighters need it I sponsor flights away. 🛫🛬

To reach the pro ranks might take another 1-3 years. To make the international fights maybe another 2-3 years. Anyone without a serious athletic or combat sports exp shouldn’t be thinking they make the UFC under 5-10+ years of commitment. Same could be said really about most sports….

Stop telling people you want to fight if you can’t be bothered setting up your life to make the training. This is an essential part of making sure you go home safe. Your opponents don’t care if you don’t like getting up in the morning or don’t find running fun. And you really need to respect the opinion of your coaches and mentors if not find a new centre or gym who’s standards match yours. (Scary thought😐🫣😂)

There is many benefits to learning to fight because the routine and commitment required is difficult. But without commitment to the process any victories are hollow and probably not good for your ego 😂🤷‍♂️

1-3 years just to start being an MMA competitor and fights in boxing, Muay Thai and jiu jitsu should be standard practice in my opinion take it or leave it. 🤣🫣

If you commit to the process you can get so much more out of competing in combat sports then just medals and fight contracts. This is the real victory.

Thoughts?

Ian Bone Martial Arts Coach
Courage Training Centre