MMA MECCA - Liam Resnekov

Glitz and glamour, lights and stars… This is Vegas, 24/7 party town. From the moment you arrive and notice the Tapout and Affliction T-shirts in the airport lobby, you know you’re also in the home town of the UFC. Every cab driver, without exception, will offer you their latest picks and opinions on the UFC’s budding stars. Occasionally an overexcited driver will pull over to offer you technique tips on the “tackle” and “armbreaker” that he wishes any number of past contenders would master. If you are lucky, your cab driver might even offer you odds on who would win between Jet Li and ‘Rampage’ Jackson, all while inhaling half a dozen ‘In and Out’ burgers and resembling a drug addled Jabba The Hut. Indeed, we certainly had arrived in the home of the UFC.

Having done a little research before we arrived, we had some idea of where we wanted to train. It was a pretty simple checklist: Wanderlei Silva, Randy Couture, BJJ world champ Robert Drysdale, former UFC and Pride fighter Kevin Randleman and renowned BJJ coach Marc Laimon. We discovered that staying on the middle of ‘the strip’ will place you within 10-to15-minutes’ drive of any of the gyms at a cost of 10-to-20 dollars, depending on the gym. Tapout and Wanderlei Silva’s gyms are the closest at less than fi ve minutes by cab. Our first destination was Team Wand, headed by the ‘Axe Murderer’ Wanderlei Silva. Within a minute of walking into the gym we were greeted by an enthusiastic Wanderlei, who grabbed our cameras and made sure we took pictures with him. For a man with some of the most brutal knockouts in MMA, he’s one of the nicest guys outside the cage. Coincidentally, my team’s old wrestling coach, Graham Cash, happened to be there coaching UFC fighter Demian Maia so we were afforded an inside look into his training. Like Wanderlei, you could not meet a nicer guy.

The great thing about Vegas for visitors is the lack of permanent residents there, so tourists are afforded great training and enthusiasm from the coaches. While sitting watching Maia train, one by one we were grabbed off the bench and chucked into his UFC preparation. A fan can ask for no less than being strangled semi-conscious while being asked to punch your hero in the face. Wanderlei’s gym was a great facility with a great pro shop and classes from morning ’til evening. It’s a must for any visitor to Vegas. Cobra Kai gym is more for the hardcore MMA enthusiast. The gym has produced a large number of grappling champions and head coach Marc Laimon has been a coach on The Ultimate Fighter reality show several times. Getting to Cobra Kai is a bit of a mission, as it’s outside central Las Vegas. Located just behind Cheetah’s strip club, the facility is what one might refer to as ‘ghetto’.

On our first visit, we misread the timetable and showed up on the only day they were closed. Being in the middle of the ghetto, we had a little trouble finding a taxi and decided to walk. We soon discovered this was a bad idea and decided to run instead, as we were chased down the road by stray dogs and then a crack addict with an umbrella who was wearing plastic bags for gloves. For those who have never been to Vegas, the weather usually sits around a dry 40 degrees and any sort of running is a bad idea, unless it’s indoors. The next day we returned and were greeted by Sim Go, one of the America’s top featherweight grapplers, and were taken through the facility. Impressed by the Spartan nature of the club, we were keen to train. We quickly discovered that, despite the lack of fancy facilities, Cobra Kai offered the best grappling in Vegas. Multiple Black-belts graced the mat, offering tips and hints, never once shunning a competitive roll. A lot of the members of the academy live around the area and train full-time, thus you may be overwhelmed by the strong odour of marijuana residue as you grapple with some of them. Connected to the facility is the Team Takedown wrestling room, which hosts fighters such as Shane Roller and Jake Rosholt, and displayed some athletic talent that we do not normally get to witness in Australia due to the shallow pool of Olympic wrestling talent.

Again they were happy to offer some tips and advice for the up-and-coming fighters from our group. Our next visit was to the Tapout facility, which is easily the largest and best equipped gym in Vegas. A lot of the lower-level MMA fi ghters train and coach there, such as Tony Frykland and Kim Couture, and they’ve recently added kickboxing coach Shawn Tompkins to their lineup as well. We were very impressed with the facility as well as the coaching staff. Kevin ‘Monster’ Randleman and Vinny Magalhaes greeted us as we walked in and were in for a real treat. One of our party, Lawrence Lai, is a huge fan of Kevin Randleman and had been communicating back and forth with Kevin and his wife over the past few years. Surprisingly, nobody had ever requested a private lesson from him before and he showed up with unmatched enthusiasm. Despite being short, Randleman is a physical beast and an imposing force in person. Despite his nickname, he was a lovely guy and an enthusiastic wrestling coach. However, we only discovered this after he frightened Lawrence half to death with a prank that involved him being held back by his colleagues, while he threatened to kill the “home-wrecker” that had been communicating with his wife. After changing his underwear, Lawrence joined us for the session.

The training exceeded our expectations as the Monster extended our one-hour private class to over four hours just for his fans. We received some strange looks from Ultimate Fighter fi nalist Vinny Magalhaes as the Monster attempted to teach us a sequence of submissions from the guard before giving up and returning to wrestling. Lastly, nobody can visit Vegas without going to Xtreme Couture, the home of UFC legend Randy ‘The Natural’ Couture and a host of other famous fi ghters. Whenever a top fi ghter is in town, Extreme Couture is the place they drop into. We were fortunate enough to see a whole host of celebrity fi ghters training, including Randy Couture, Tyson Griffi n, Ray Sefo, Jay Heiron and Vitor Belfort. Watching these titans train together is breathtaking as a fan and a fi ghter. Ray Sefo and Vitor Belfort sparring, Randy Couture offering tips to Grey Maynard on his ground-and-pound and a complete open-door policy made Xtreme Couture one of the highlights of the trip.

One warning, however: if you want to try one of the pro sessions, do not eat burgers before. Not only is it merciless, but as a member of our crew discovered, the warm-up on its own is a nightmare for anybody out of shape. Thankfully the facility has a decent washroom to witness your burgers for a second time. Bring your camera, workout gear and a pen, because the pros are happy to take pictures and sign autographs. Talking celebrities, Vegas is not just about MMA. On any night any given club will host a bunch of celebrities. We got to meet Ice-T, Fernando Vargas and Chris Angel. Each casino is associated with one or more celebrities and unfortunately ours was ‘Carrot Top’, a five-foot-nothing, steroid-using, C-grade celebrity from the ’90s. On the flipside, our casino was host to numerous topless pool parties, — both fun and creepy to witness.

Most of the gyms in Vegas have classes running throughout the day with different instructors, often big names. Classes range from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Thai Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts to Pro Sessions. As a casual attendee, you will most likely encounter the US$20–25 day-pass, which will give you access to all of the classes. All of the gym’s receptionists were more than happy to inform us which celebrity fi ghters were training that day and a photo opportunity was never shunned. In fact, most of the fi ghters and trainers actually encourage a photo opportunity with a fan. It’s not unusual for someone like Wanderlei Silva, Randy Couture, Demian Maia or Robert Drysdale to be casually wandering about their gym carrying on with their business, then stop to welcome you to their gym and offer you some tips. Each gym has a unique environment but all of them offered a good experience. The style of the gym is usually based on the celebrity fi ghter/owner. For example, Wanderlei’s has more of a JiuJitsu and Muay Thai fl avour to the training, whereas Team Couture is very heavily focused on wrestling, conditioning and boxing. Cobra Kai is mainly focused on BJJ and wrestling and is easily the most Rockyesque gym in Vegas. Now for a dose of reality.

While Vegas is undoubtedly a UFC fan’s dream and the martial art hobbyist’s playground, there is a major hitch to the fantasy. It’s quite easy to fi t in two or three sessions or gym visits a day, but powering those sessions nutritionally is diffi cult. Australians are most likely unaware of the blissful culinary state in which we exist. Finding something as simple as a green salad and some lean meat can prove fruitless in Vegas, so expect to be eating at a lot of burger joints. There are plenty of junk food joints littered around the training sites and the food can leave you feeling a little sluggish or even unwell during training. Often you will bump into the same fi ghter twice in the same day at different gyms. In Vegas, it seems that everybody trains together. Having an Australian accent does seem to make you a little more welcome than your average American tourist and the accent may even elicit some imitation from UFC’s cream of the crop. Trainers are more than happy to show you their favourite techniques or put you through the ringers, just be aware, if you are not a pro, do not attend the pro sessions other than to watch. These people are full-timers and they take their sport vary seriously. If you are a pro, the sessions are quite safe and usually have a heavy emphasis on conditioning, so be sure that you are in shape when you arrive. For any UFC fan, Vegas is the mecca of mixed martial arts at the moment. There are numerous gyms, celebrities, fan and pro stores around and it really is a great experience for the MMA enthusiast.

The UFC Experience

While in the USA, Resnekov and his Aussie crew couldn’t miss a chance to see the UFC live and fl ew out to Portland, Oregon, to catch UFC 102 with a backstage pass… We don’t even have to arrive at the arena to see that the UFC has certainly arrived. At the hotel, mobs of Tapout-wearing fans hassle the fighters for photos and autographs. Some well-organized groups utilize walkie-talkies to track the more famous and elusive fighters like Randy Couture. Despite his best disguise, Randy stands out as a behemoth in the Portland populace and falls easy prey to the fans. Most of the fighters seem green to this newfound popularity and each responds differently. Jens Pulver, although a vet, puts his newborn baby down to pose with the fans. Thiago Silva’s conditioning coach has to stop him enthusiastically signing autographs while he cuts weight on the treadmill. Some other fighters are less than enthusiastic about the fans — no doubt they’re a distraction from the coming battle. The weigh-in is a colorful experience. The ring girls stand on display as the fighters lock eyes and strike Spartan-esque poses. The crowd roars as Dana White announces the weights and riles up the audience. Couture, a Portland native, is met with deafening cheers. He calmly smiles and gets on with business. As Minotauro walks out, the Brazilian legend is met with abuse befitting a heel in pro wrestling. Both profanities and physical objects are thrown at him, but backstage couldn’t be more of a contrast. Fighters lounge around, opposing camps chat to one another and various press media fi nd time to interview the camps on their upcoming plans. There is no animosity there, just professionals doing their job. The night before the fights is a surreal experience. It is impossible to dine around the hotel without bumping into your favorite fighters. The weight cutting is over, the face-offs are done and the fighters are at the point of no return. It can be seen in their faces as they sit eating their favorite dishes with a Zen-like look, almost as if they have forgotten that the next day holds the battle. When walking into the arena, the first thing I notice is all of the empty seats for the preliminary fights. This is aptly covered by smart editing and camera work on TV. However, even with the dwindled crowd, the atmosphere is palpable. Despite the increased popularity, the UFC fans really know and love their sport. Although some still boo when the fight hits the ground, it’s nothing like it used to be, when fighters were routinely abused for ground fighting. Unbeknownst to the television audience, by the time the PPV show starts, the audience has already seen over three hours of preliminary fights. This adds to the growing restlessness and the boos become more frequent as the night goes on. Sitting cage-side and watching through the fence is very different to seeing UFC on TV. You hear the dull thud of fists on flesh, see the sweat flying and notice the size differences between the opponents. Also more obvious is how seriously they take safety. During the Russo-McCully fight, in the first round break the doctor comes close to stopping the fight, testing McCully’s equilibrium. He begs to continue and the doctor conducts another test, ignoring the fighter’s pleas. After a few seconds the doctor agrees, but with a stern word of warning. Later, another fighter is struck illegally to the back of the head and the referee immediately intervenes, giving the fighter a short recovery period and the offending fighter a warning. This is not barroom brawling; this is statistically the safest combat sport in the world and it takes a lot of effort to keep it that way. Lastly, the fights. Watching one fighter’s career take off and another’s end, as in the Simpson vs Herman fight, one cannot help but get emotionally caught up in it. The knockouts come quickly and unexpectedly and the submissions happen in the blink of an eye, leaving you wishing you hadn’t let your eyes wander from the cage to the ring girls for even a second. Backstage after the fight, former contenders, ex-combatants and future opponents shake hands and offer praise for one another. Together they make their way to the sports bar where drinks are had, laughs are shared and the fights relived. As the night wears on, they begin to go home one by one to start the process all over again. As for us Aussies, we head home anticipating 21 February, when the UFC finally hits our shores. □

Blitz Martial Arts Magazine, JANUARY 2010 VOL. 24 ISSUE 01