Overtraining in MMA is Killing the Sport, and its Fighters
“Prizefighting is short. Get in, get rich, get out.”
– Conor Mcgregor
Go to any recent UFC event’s Wikipedia page and look under the section labeled ‘background.’ Within the first few lines you’ll find the phrase was expected, as in Fighter X was expected to fight Fighter Y before sustaining an injury. In three of the past four UFC major events (i.e. ones not designated as Fight Night), the original main event was changed due to a fighter pulling out as a result of an injury. Michael Bisping replaced Chris Weidman in UFC 199, Ovince Saint Preux replaced Daniel Cormier in UFC 197, and Nate Diaz replaced Rafael Dos Anjos in UFC 196. Note that UFC 196 was originally slated to be Fabricio Werdum against Cain Velasquez before BOTH fighters pulled out with injuries.
The craziest part of it all… the short notice fighters performed INCREDIBLY well.
No one gave Michael Bisping a shot. No one. He was a +540 underdog (i.e. you bet $100 on Bisping and win $540 if he does, huge odds in a fight). It wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when Luke Rockhold would knock him out just as he did in their first matchup. Low and behold, Bisping shocks us all by knocking out Rockhold after taking the fight on two weeks notice. With the week leading up to a fight consisting of media and the weight cut, two weeks is essentially no time at all to prepare.
Ovince Saint Preux didn’t defeat Jon Jones, but remarkably went the distance with him. It’s remarkable in the sense that most MMA pundits would dub Jones as the best fighter in the world and OSP was the 6th ranked light heavyweight fighter at the time, not exactly next in line after Cormier’s injury. Saint Preux never had Jones in any real danger, but it’s fair to say that his performance exceeded expectations.
The Nate Diaz story is well documented. He was literally drinking on a boat when he got the call to fight Conor McGregor, and then proceeded to choke him out in the second round. How is this possible? How can a guy with no active training beat a guy on a 15 fight win streak?
The answer is overtraining. Overtraining leads an athlete to not only be susceptible to injury, but illness as well. Often you’ll hear fighters say that they were sick leading up to a fight.
Mixed martial arts training is very unique. A fighter will have to devote considerable time to training in at least three different combat disciplines: striking, jiu jitsu, and wrestling. Essentially, you could say that they are training for three different sports during one training camp. On top of that, most are probably doing a few strength and conditioning sessions each week as well. It is not unusual for a fighter to train three times per day, five to six times per week. In the USADA era where steroids and blood doping are banned, it is impossible for the natural human body to handle such a taxing workload.
The argument that ‘MMA is a contact sport, injuries will happen’ holds some merit, but is generally overblown. Rarely are boxing cards altered due to injury. Concussions are a major issue in football, but will usually keep a player out for MAYBE a week. The most devastating injury is the ACL tear, which is often a non-contact injury (see Jordy Nelson and Victor Cruz).
My hope is that fighters will begin to realize the point of diminishing returns with their training. There comes a point where it is more important to be fresh and healthy as opposed to having crisp technique. Your technique is fine. You’ve been doing this your entire adult life and beyond. Skip the late night session and go to sleep.
