5 great MMA fighters who are brutal to train with
Most MMA fighters find themselves having to train all day every day to master their sport. Not only do they have to be exceptional in a variety of martial arts, they must also display top notch cardio, mobility and strength if they are to be the best they can be.
To tick all these boxes, a lot of fighters will spend hours striking, grappling, running, weightlifting and sparring in a single day, stopping only to refuel before going back at it.
To master so many physical disciplines at once, MMA fighters have been known to employ unconventional methods. Some take up a curious fitness hobby such as Georges St-Pierre with gymnastics or Conor McGregor with movement. Others simply ramp up the brutality of their sparring and conditioning work. While it can be a fruitful approach, the increased aggression of such hard-hitting training can land MMA fighters in hot water with their peers.
Getting a reputation for being difficult to train with is not something any MMA fighter wants if they need sparring partners in the future. From outright cruelty to recklessness and overtraining, there are plenty of reasons behind such notoriety.
Here are five great MMA fighters who, over the years, have proven to be notoriously tough to train with:
#5. Former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier
The freestyle wrestler turned MMA superstar had a bad run of luck on the injury front in 2016. Cormier was forced to pull out of UFC 197 on account of a training camp injury, putting his long-awaited rematch with Jon Jones on hold. He was then forced to do the same thing near the end of the year at UFC 206, canceling his rematch with Anthony Johnson.
Cormier’s string of physical setbacks led to a lot of questions about the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) and their rigorous approach to training. Cormier himself was infamous for the extensive full-on fighting he’d do in his training camps. While such an extreme level of sparring has its benefits, it is also far too hard on the body to safely perform most days of the week without incident.
DC’s wear and tear from training was just the tip of the iceberg at the AKA with fellow MMA warriors Khabib Nurmagomedov, Cain Velasquez, Jon Fitch, Luke Rockhold and Todd Duffee also succumbing to injury. With his immense size and strength, grappling with Cormier was a tough task for any and all AKA gym members to take on. Even 'The Eagle' recently acknowledged the difficulty of training with Cormier.