UFC Tonight panel discusses veterans picking their fights and training too hard
On this week’s “UFC Tonight,” Ariel Helwani joined analyst Kenny Florian and guests former Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans, middleweight contender Michael Bisping and Welterweight Champion Dominick Cruz in a special “State of the UFC” edition. The panelists discussed some of the UFC’s hot topics. Check out some highlights below:
On should veteran fighters should be allowed to pick their fights:
Guest panelist Rashad Evans:
“Yes, I think so. What it comes down to is you have to look out for your career and what is best for you. No offense to the UFC, but every time they present a fight to you, it may not the best fight for your career because you want to keep moving forward and keep your career moving.”
Guest panelist Michael Bisping:
“I have asked for higher fights a couple times. I can kind of understand why Shogun Rua feels the way he does being a former champion. And Glover Teixeira is an amazing fighter, but he is not a household name like Shogun. Glover has everything to win in this situation, but Shogun has to look at what the gains are for him. I am not saying I would choose my fights, but I sympathize with them. We are not in the habit of choosing our fights, the UFC makes the fights. I have never turned down an opponent.”
On if fighters are training too hard?
Panelist Dominick Cruz:
“I think I absolutely train too hard, but if you turn it down you have to remember that are going to go fight in front of a million people. You have to go to sleep every night thinking about the fight and who you are going to fight and if you are going to win. It is so different to say that you are not going to over-train. You work hard and you tell your coaches to train you hard. That is what your coaching staff is for. My job is to go into practice and do what my staff tells me. I don’t know what I’m doing when I go in there. I do what I am told.”
“UFC Tonight” Analyst Kenny Florian:
“There is a bunch of things involved as a fighter. Dom is correct; you go in there and do what you’re told. We are like soldiers. The problem is that it is still a new sport; we are in a grey area. The coaches don’t know how to mainstream the practice. We go to all of our different practices and conditioning and we are at different places, the coach can’t be at all those places at the same time. So now I have a coach who is pushing me in boxing, sparring, conditioning, jiu jitsu. And neither one knows how hard the other is pushing me. Everyone’s ability to handle the volume of training is different and sometimes we push ourselves too far. We are still learning the scientific ways of training and then we will learn what is too far.”
Evans:
“Because there are so many facets of the sport and you have to perfect all aspects of it, it is hard to say. It is different with each fighter. You have to know when to pull yourself back. That is what it comes down to because no one is going to pat you on the back and say that today is your rest day. Because you become addicted to training and when you have a rest day you feel weird that you’re not working out. You train in gyms with a bunch of different fighters and freak accidents happen.”
Florian:
“But then we need to tweak our training. If this guy has a championship coming up, he shouldn’t be put in that situation where he could get hurt. We should be changing the way we are training.”
Cruz:
“The only way to get ready for a fight is to get in a fight during practice. And, in a fight you want to destroy the other guy. So no matter what you do, you are close to injury in every single practice. It doesn’t matter how light you go, it just happens.”
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