MMA Fighter Wins: Systems Training Center Fighter

After a long hiatus in Southern California, MMA promotions are able to put on shows again. This is exciting because for almost 18-months, young fighters have not had the opportunity to practice, hone and test their skills. Local, amateur MMA cards are key for the development of the next generation professional fighters. The problem with not being able to step into the cage or ring for competition for young fighters is that it doesn’t allow them to test and train one of the most vital aspects of competition and fighting: The Mental Game. All sports present the possibility for performance anxiety. Performance anxiety is a strong reaction to our Fight or Flight response. When it comes to most sports, or even public speaking for that matter, performance anxiety is mostly a perceived threat; chances of real pain or injury is often very low. However, no other sport will raise that performance anxiety higher than combat sports and fighting, since chances for pain and injury are very real. And there’s only one way to improve it: by actually experiencing it; exposure therapy. There’s a common term in fighting called “ring rust”. You might have heard the term when fight celebrities such as Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather step back into the spotlight again after long hiatuses and it’s referring to the mental game.

Another aspect of the mental game which has been difficult to handle for many fighters is motivation. If COVID and the pandemic has affected the motivation of basically the whole world, imagine having to continue to stay on top of your training but without having an actual target to work towards. Any motivational coach will tell you that goals and goal setting is key for long-term motivation and performance.   

One such young fighter, Joseph Rodriguez, finally got to fight MMA again back in LA, for the first time since the COVID outbreak.

And what a fight it was! Joseph fought a tough opponent who wanted the win as badly as Joseph did but Joseph’s wrestling skills showed to be a big part of the deciding factor.

Joseph, 23 years old, wrestled for North Torrance Highschool. North Torrance High has a highly respected wrestling program and the work ethics that is notorious for wrestling programs is definitely one of Joseph’s strengths. Wrestling is often an underrated quality in MMA fights but it’s a crucial key to success. Having even foundational knowledge of wrestling is not only preferred but an absolute minimum for a fighter. Wrestling dictates if the fight will be standing (striking) or on the ground (grappling). However, wrestling offers so much more than just the actual sport aspect but as any wrestler will tell you, an understanding of what it takes to become good. Wrestling is very underrated when it comes to the great skills of discipline and work ethic. Wrestlers come into the sport of MMA with years of hard work and an understanding of a structured training regiment for the best results. 

Those key fundamentals, work ethic and discipline, will benefit you, whether it is for MMA, grappling, BJJ or Kickboxing and Joseph has truly shown that over the past year. The journey on becoming a fighter is often a long and difficult one. 

What most people don’t realize is that MMA fighters have to train harder than almost any other athletes out there, since MMA is basically made up of four different sports: Boxing, Kickboxing/Muay Thai, Wrestling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. 

On top of honing their skills in all of those aspects, they also have to work on their general physical fitness and athleticism, such as doing cardio, weight lifting for strength, stretching for flexibility, etc that all athletes have to do. The chances of over training are great, especially with the physical and gruesome practices fighters have. All this whilst often being on strict diets for fast weight losses to make weight. Additional struggles are that there’s no school programs when it comes to Mixed Martial Arts or any of the combat sports. 

There’s no scholarships and there aren’t any MMA clubs per se, which means that amateur fighters have to sacrifice all that time without getting paid for it; they have to pay for it. When you have a fight coming up, you are in what’s called training camp for a good 6-8 weeks of hard dedication and weight cut. For fighters who had upcoming fights back in March of 2020, it must have been devastating to have their fights cancelled and not have a clue when they would be allowed to fight again. Many MMA careers have been postponed by at least 15 months. However, the hard workers that stayed on their grind will certainly see dividend payoff!

So what does it take to become an MMA fighter?” There are many factors that make for a great fighter. However, as far as the martial arts skillset necessary, you have to become proficient in wrestling, boxing, BJJ and Kickboxing. You have to hone in on these skills and learn how to mix them together (Mixed Martial Arts with emphasis on the first M: Mixed.) You have to work on your overall conditioning and athleticism. You have to make weight so you have to eat clean. And in addition to all these things, you have to have an unwavering intrinsic drive to work through pain and injuries, day in and day out. 

COVID has been especially hard for young amateur fighters, since all the MMA and kickboxing shows were shut down completely in the whole state. For Pro MMA fighters, especially UFC fighters, it wasn’t as bad, as there were fights in other states and countries.

Joseph, however, has improved tremendously during this by improving his kickboxing, Muay Thai, BJJ and overall grappling. He has stayed on top of his training, not missing track day at all and very few training sessions. We are happy that he was finally able to put all his new skills on display in front of his friends and family. Last Saturday, Joseph looked like a complete MMA fighter. He combined his striking with his grappling very well. Joseph hit some beautiful takedowns and did a great job controlling his opponent on the ground.

Both Joseph and the coaches loved all the support from all our members who came out to watch. They could all hear all the support from Team Systems in the crowd!

Sparstar MMA promotion threw their first event this past Saturday and it was great to see so many of our members at the Commerce Casino, supporting Joseph!

There are no shortcuts. Systems often gets called “The best fight gym” but we aren’t just an MMA gym. We are a martial arts gym that is great for anyone who wants to learn how to fight but it’s also just as great for someone who just wants to learn how to fight for self defense purposes; or lose fat to get into shape; or just to find a cool team to be a part of!

Congratulations Joseph, we are excited to see what the future holds for you!

We are Systems!