Lesnar’s Trainer Eyes Next Hurdle
Lutfi Sariahmed Nov 24, 2008
Heavyweight champion Brock
Lesnar has precious little time to bask in the glow of his UFC
91 victory over Randy
Couture.
A 2009 bout with the winner of the interim heavyweight title fight between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir at UFC 92 in December will serve as Lesnar’s next hurdle. The 31-year-old Minnesotan lost to Mir in his promotional debut at UFC 81, as he submitted to a kneebar from the crafty former champion. A showdown with Nogueira would pose different challenges altogether, according to Greg Nelson, Lesnar’s trainer and head of the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy.
“Obviously, Nogueira is a completely different animal,” Nelson told
Beatdown Radio on Nov. 17, less than 48 hours after Lesnar defeated
Couture by second-round technical knockout in Las Vegas. “Here’s a
guy that’s a very good striker. He can take a tremendous amount of
punishment. He’s a phenomenal ground fighter. There’s a lot of
homework we’re going to have to do as coaches to get him prepared
for this potential bout. [With] Nogueira, we’re going to have to
step it up another notch, pull in some other people.”
Nelson sees a rematch with Mir going differently than the first encounter. Lesnar dominated the early action between the two in February but tapped out to a kneebar 90 seconds into the fight.
No matter who Lesnar faces next, most expect him to be at a disadvantage on the ground, as Mir and Nogueira carry with them world-class jiu-jitsu games. Nelson believes Lesnar already has the hard part out of the way.
“When you have a really high level wrestler, you don’t have to worry about developing the ground sense anymore, and that’s the hardest thing to do as a grappler,” Nelson said. “For Brock, it’s learning new motions. He likes wrestling off his back. He works off his back a lot. To him, it’s another intriguing game to learn.”
Nelson has already taken the necessary steps towards improving Lesnar’s submission skills, including bringing Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Rodrigo Comprido into the fold.
“We’re bringing in a lot of guys that can help him out, [with] Comprido being the premier guy as far as the ground because he’s a five-time world champion in Brazilian jiu-jitsu,” Nelson said. “Brock loves to work with him. He just really enjoys the process, and it’s not a chore to get in the gym. The big thing is liking what you’re doing, then putting the time in, and he’s doing both of them.”
Lesnar (3-1) continues to improve by “leaps and bounds,” according to Nelson. He has won back-to-back fights over respected veterans Heath Herring and Couture since his loss to Mir at UFC 81, becoming one of the top five heavyweights in the world.
“He’s improved phenomenally,” Nelson said. “I think the biggest reason for that is he doesn’t think he’s anywhere near where he needs to be. He’s not a guy that’s resting on his laurels at all.”
Despite entering the Couture match with only three professional fights under his belt, Lesnar moved north, from the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy to Alexandria, Minn., in order to train for the 45-year-old three-time heavyweight champion. The switch did not impact his preparation much at all.
“He moved up to Alexandria to get closer to his daughter,” Nelson said. “That was the main reason behind it. He has a camp up there, and he has a good area to train in, where we have a great space with mats, weights and all the cardio equipment we need.”
Marty Morgan, Lesnar’s wrestling coach at the University of Minnesota, made the trip to Alexandria five days a week; Nelson went three days a week.
“He has his guys that are his training partners that will live up there,” Nelson said. “He basically has a house for them.”
During the training camp for Couture, Comprido and veteran trainer Erik Paulson were also brought in to work with Lesnar. Having Lesnar in Alexandria, away from the academy, allowed Nelson to focus his entire energy on the 2000 NCAA wrestling champion when the two came together.
“It worked out great because at my school I’ve got to work with all the different fighters,” Nelson said. “So sometimes I’d be pulled away to work with someone else, and I’d go back and forth. Here, I can devote 100 percent of my efforts to him, and that really made a huge difference.”
During his fight with Couture (16-9), Lesnar elected not to press the action much in the first round. The move fell in line with the game plan, according to Nelson. In the second, Lesnar connected with a right hand behind Couture’s ear, which dropped the champion and led to the end of the fight. Lesnar’s ability to handle himself standing did not come as a surprise to Nelson.
“Brock’s hands and his ability to hit aren’t going to be questioned too much anymore, obviously, with dropping Heath Herring and his shots dropping Randy Couture,” Nelson said. “He’s working on his boxing, his shoulders, and his ability to use his body behind his punches is increasingly improving.”
Couture admitted afterward that Lesnar’s reach caught him by surprise.
“One thing that we’ve really been working on is being able to allow him to use his reach to his advantage and, at the same, time being able to get his body behind each one of his shots,” Nelson said. “So building up that footwork and keeping those shoulders loose to allow him to use the length of those huge arms is the goal.”
A 2009 bout with the winner of the interim heavyweight title fight between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir at UFC 92 in December will serve as Lesnar’s next hurdle. The 31-year-old Minnesotan lost to Mir in his promotional debut at UFC 81, as he submitted to a kneebar from the crafty former champion. A showdown with Nogueira would pose different challenges altogether, according to Greg Nelson, Lesnar’s trainer and head of the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy.
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Nelson sees a rematch with Mir going differently than the first encounter. Lesnar dominated the early action between the two in February but tapped out to a kneebar 90 seconds into the fight.
“I think this will obviously be a different fight than before,”
Nelson said. “He’s a bit more composed in the ring now than before.
He understands what he did against Frank. I think if we faced
Frank
Mir again it would definitely be a different fight. We’ve
trained for Frank before, so that’s something we believe we can
prepare for.”
No matter who Lesnar faces next, most expect him to be at a disadvantage on the ground, as Mir and Nogueira carry with them world-class jiu-jitsu games. Nelson believes Lesnar already has the hard part out of the way.
“When you have a really high level wrestler, you don’t have to worry about developing the ground sense anymore, and that’s the hardest thing to do as a grappler,” Nelson said. “For Brock, it’s learning new motions. He likes wrestling off his back. He works off his back a lot. To him, it’s another intriguing game to learn.”
Nelson has already taken the necessary steps towards improving Lesnar’s submission skills, including bringing Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Rodrigo Comprido into the fold.
“We’re bringing in a lot of guys that can help him out, [with] Comprido being the premier guy as far as the ground because he’s a five-time world champion in Brazilian jiu-jitsu,” Nelson said. “Brock loves to work with him. He just really enjoys the process, and it’s not a chore to get in the gym. The big thing is liking what you’re doing, then putting the time in, and he’s doing both of them.”
Lesnar (3-1) continues to improve by “leaps and bounds,” according to Nelson. He has won back-to-back fights over respected veterans Heath Herring and Couture since his loss to Mir at UFC 81, becoming one of the top five heavyweights in the world.
“He’s improved phenomenally,” Nelson said. “I think the biggest reason for that is he doesn’t think he’s anywhere near where he needs to be. He’s not a guy that’s resting on his laurels at all.”
Despite entering the Couture match with only three professional fights under his belt, Lesnar moved north, from the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy to Alexandria, Minn., in order to train for the 45-year-old three-time heavyweight champion. The switch did not impact his preparation much at all.
“He moved up to Alexandria to get closer to his daughter,” Nelson said. “That was the main reason behind it. He has a camp up there, and he has a good area to train in, where we have a great space with mats, weights and all the cardio equipment we need.”
Marty Morgan, Lesnar’s wrestling coach at the University of Minnesota, made the trip to Alexandria five days a week; Nelson went three days a week.
“He has his guys that are his training partners that will live up there,” Nelson said. “He basically has a house for them.”
During the training camp for Couture, Comprido and veteran trainer Erik Paulson were also brought in to work with Lesnar. Having Lesnar in Alexandria, away from the academy, allowed Nelson to focus his entire energy on the 2000 NCAA wrestling champion when the two came together.
“It worked out great because at my school I’ve got to work with all the different fighters,” Nelson said. “So sometimes I’d be pulled away to work with someone else, and I’d go back and forth. Here, I can devote 100 percent of my efforts to him, and that really made a huge difference.”
During his fight with Couture (16-9), Lesnar elected not to press the action much in the first round. The move fell in line with the game plan, according to Nelson. In the second, Lesnar connected with a right hand behind Couture’s ear, which dropped the champion and led to the end of the fight. Lesnar’s ability to handle himself standing did not come as a surprise to Nelson.
“Brock’s hands and his ability to hit aren’t going to be questioned too much anymore, obviously, with dropping Heath Herring and his shots dropping Randy Couture,” Nelson said. “He’s working on his boxing, his shoulders, and his ability to use his body behind his punches is increasingly improving.”
Couture admitted afterward that Lesnar’s reach caught him by surprise.
“One thing that we’ve really been working on is being able to allow him to use his reach to his advantage and, at the same, time being able to get his body behind each one of his shots,” Nelson said. “So building up that footwork and keeping those shoulders loose to allow him to use the length of those huge arms is the goal.”
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