Unorthodox Training Methods: How Fighters Prepare for Battle in Unique Ways

MMA is one of the most challenging and unpredictable sports in the world, which is why many people like it. As it has been established in the cage, it takes one to possess endurance, efficiency, character, and versatility to be a champion. While most fighters have disciplined training schedules that include weightlifting, sparring, grappling, and cardiovascular exercises, some fighters go the extra mile and try out some extra-ordinary training methods.

Such strategies are not typical and can draw quite a lot of attention, but at the same time, they represent a search for novel possibilities to enhance the human body. Whether it means exposing oneself to extreme environmental conditions, utilizing mental endowment through other unconventional methods, or merely concentrating on minor, less known strategies, these fighters have discovered different ways of getting ready for fights. Here is a glimpse of the most interesting, bizarre, and practical unconventional training that MMA fighters apply to prepare for the fight of their lives.

Wanderlei Silva: The Use of Sledge Hammers and Tire Work

Wanderlei Silva, or as he is better known, “The Axe Murderer,” is a true Pride FC and UFC veteran with a very tough fighting style. One of the most brutal exercises that Silva used in his preparation for the war was a sledgehammer workout on a giant tractor tire.

Lifting a sledgehammer and bringing it down is not just a matter of strength but of coordination, core muscles, and accuracy. Thus, through beating the tire, Silva was developing his striking power, endurance, and conditioning besides mimicking the cyclical, power-based movements that are common in the cage. Tire work also helped in creating an imitation of the rotational force that is used in hooks, uppercuts, and body shots. This training enabled Silva to create the knockout power that later on turned him into one of the most dangerous strikers of his generation.

Tony Ferguson: Training on the Edge of Insanity

Tony “El Cucuy” Ferguson is one of the weirdest and most unpredictable MMA fighters of all time, and his training regimen is equally strange. Ferguson is well-known for his creativity, and he includes a wide variety of movements in his training, including gymnastics and parkour, Wing Chun, and even break-dancing. One of them is the use of yoga balls and other unstable objects during the throwing of strikes or even while practicing defensive movements, and he has to perform all these while standing on the balls.

The rationale for this is to create harmony, rhythmic movements, and body awareness, or what is referred to as proprioception. During scrambles, not getting taken down and regaining balance when both fighters fall down are essential during a fight. Ferguson’s balance drills are odd, but they help to extend the body’s ability to adapt to these positions and remain in control during fights inside the Octagon.

Ferguson has also been heard to have trained with the wooden Wing Chun dummies to improve his hand speed and elbowing techniques. Thanks to his special preparation, he can keep a very high work rate in the cage, thus constantly putting his opponents under pressure.

Conor McGregor: Movement Philosophy with Ido Portal

Former UFC two-division champion Conor McGregor revolutionized the fighting game not only with his striking and cocky attitude but with his rather unconventional mobility. Before his fight with José Aldo at UFC 194, McGregor introduced a specialist called Ido Portal to introduce a range of unconventional approaches to movement training, flexibility, and coordination.

Portal’s movement philosophy includes aspects of capoeira, gymnastics, and even animalistic movements. The purpose of such an approach is to train the muscles and help the body become as flexible as possible to enable it to twist in various directions. For McGregor, this was necessary in carving out the smooth, almost ballet-like movement in his feet that earned him the nickname ‘Mayweather’.

Portal has been instrumental in shaping the movement of the Irish fighter inside the cage, always circling his opponent, attacking from different angles, and slipping his opponent’s punches. This unusual concentration allowed McGregor to strike creatively and turn into the maestro of timing and range.

Diego Sanchez: The School of Self-Awareness

Diego ‘The Nightmare’ Sanchez, a fighter who is famed for his grit and exciting fights, is something of a rebel anyway, but his recent training regime has really upped the ante. In the training camp led by an unorthodox coach, Joshua Fabia, Sanchez performed one of the most bizarre training sessions that MMA fans have ever seen, called the “School of Self-Awareness.”

Part of Fabia’s training was for her to run blindfolded through obstacle courses and do balancing exercises as she was simulating being attacked by Fabia with a stick. One of the videos that caused a huge stir on the internet was when Sanchez was hanged upside down while Fabia was attacking him physically by slapping and punching him hard, allegedly to enhance his damage-taking capacity.

As much as this training program was heavily criticized by both the fans and fighters, Sanchez had no qualms with Fabia’s outlandish approach, attributing his mental toughness and readiness to fight to the training that he received from this program. Despite the fact that many people regarded the School of Self-Awareness as something close to quackery, it is an example of a fighter’s desire to try something that is outside the mainstream in order to gain an advantage—be it a physical or a mental one.

Lyoto Machida: Drinking His Own Urine

The biggest shock for MMA fans was Lyoto Machida, the former UFC light heavyweight champion, who used to base his fighting style on karate, but it turned out that he was also a believer in a rather questionable healing method called urine therapy. Machida himself confessed that he drinks his own urine in the morning every day asserting that his father used to do the same.

Machida felt that taking urine had some benefits in purging his system and boosting his immune system, which he felt were essential factors in his well-being as a fighter. Unfortunately, there is no scientific evidence to support the use of urine therapy, but the fact that Machida was extremely rigid when it came to this practice drew the public’s attention and became a topic of discussion throughout his career.

Machida, therefore, proves that some fighters are willing to go to any length to achieve the best form and performance on the ring, no matter the unreasonableness of the procedures involved.

Fedor Emelianenko: The Training in the Frozen Wilderness

The legendary and one of the most successful heavyweight MMA fighters, Fedor Emelianenko, trained for his fights in some of the toughest and most unconventional methods possible. That is why Fedor would go back to the cold Russian winter and practice in the Siberian cold, as it prepared him for the worst. They include chopping wood, running in deep snow, and even wrestling on frozen lakes.

This no-nonsense, Spartan style of training is reminiscent of those stereotypical Russian strongman training regimes where the weather is used to toughen up the person, build strength, and increase endurance. Fedor supposed that training in nature and in conditions as close to the war as it was possible made him wiser and ready for the storm that was waiting for him in the cage.

Some of the harshest exercises on Fedor are said to have been done in the wilderness, and this is perhaps the reason why he is known to keep his cool in the face of adversity. Through challenging himself to such an extent in such conditions, Fedor created the necessary mental strength and physical toughness, which enabled him to reign over the heavyweight for years.

BJ Penn: The Licking of Blood off His Gloves

BJ Penn, the Hawaiian-born fighter who held the UFC lightweight and welterweight titles, was renowned for his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and his reckless abandon when confronting an opponent. Penn also had this weird habit that came as a shock to many of his fans during his fights; he used to lick the blood on his gloves after a good work on his opponents.

This was not just for the benefit of the audience, but for Penn, it was part of his mentality towards the fight. It depicted his commitment to the war and his need to get down and dirty with the war machine. Therefore, in Penn’s view, the licking of the blood was an act of a glutton who is ready to go to any extent to taste the sweetness of victory.

It is not exactly a ‘training method’ that Penn used to fight, but it was psychological warfare, and this ritual helped him to get the warrior spirit, which made him one of the most dangerous fighters in his era.

Ikuhisa Minowa: To Battle Giants So He Could Train His Mind

One of the most popular Japanese fighters is Ikuhisa Minowa, also known as Minowaman, who managed to fight with significantly larger rivals in Pride and Dream promotions. Widely recognized for his “David vs. Goliath” bouts, Minowa consciously chose to face much larger and heavier opponents because he thought facing giants would make him mentally stronger.

Minowa’s strategy was premised on the fact that if he could be able to fight and win against men twice his size, then he would have the confidence and courage to face anyone. It was this concentration on the mental side of things that enabled him to keep his head when playing against such monsters as Bob Sapp or Hong-Man Choi.

While Minowa’s strategy was unconventional, it was very helpful when it came to preparation of the mind. Minowa decided to place himself in what can be considered hopeless positions, and in doing so, he rose to fame as a courageous fighter in the MMA.

Conclusion

MMA fighters are always on the lookout for an extra trick that will help them gain a winning edge, and while most have their training regimens, there are those who have gone the extra mile to seek for the ‘extraordinary’. From swinging sledgehammers like Silva to embracing some out there movement principles like McGregor or drinking urine like Machida, these fighters show that the road to cage success can be as unconventional as the sport itself.

To most, these forms of training are not only about preparing the body for combat and the reality of warfare; it is about the mind, about testing the limits of the body and the ability to think outside the square. Some of the above methods may not be scientifically endorsed, but they portray the ingenuity and the never-ending determination that characterize the best fighters in the world.