Final stretch for new crop of MMA white collar trainees

Friday 01 December 2017

They have been training for the past 13 weeks in mixed martial arts (MMA) with one thing in mind: stepping into the ring at Fort Regent on Saturday. With only the weigh-ins separating them from their objective, the novice fighters are on their toes.

The White Collar fights are part of Rumble on the Rock's 15th event, named Avalanche, which will raise money for surfing charity Healing Waves and includes 11 fights with 14 local fighters.

Although some of the novices had previous experience in martial arts, they were all completely new to MMA. Learning the full-contact discipline, which draws techniques from different combat sports and martial arts and allows striking and grappling, both standing and on the ground, wasn't a walk in the park for any of them.

The training camp was straight-out nerve wracking for James L'Enfant. While he hated the '10s' - sequences of 10 sprawls, squats and press ups after every drill which the coaches incorporated in the training - trying to stay relaxed was the most challenging part. 

Managing the trainees' nerves proved challenging for the coaches. Miro, the head-coach at Brazilian Power Team, explained "Getting them to listen and trust our experience (was difficult). We have all done many fights and try to give them the best advice because there is nothing that will happen to them that we haven't each experienced dozens of times. But when people are nervous they can panic about small things, its normal!" For Eddie, BPT black belt and instructor, the hardest part was getting the pack to relax ... and getting them to pick their walk out music.

Pictured: The trainees with head coach Miro and some of BPT fighters.

Thomas Pearl and Ben France struggled with "taking lots of punches and kicks in sparring" and "leaving any ego at the door," respectively. Thomas said:"I learned not to hit the experienced guys hard in sparring and took a bit of a hiding off one of the female fighters - it was all fun though!" Ben commented: "It is a major reality check but so much fun and you learn so much if you have the right mindset."

Even if they hit some bumps on the way to the ring, the trainees also had a good time training. James Miller enjoyed "...how much of a laugh it was with the coaches and the other fighters, even the stick I got for puking in the first sparring session!" Roberto Pita said that the best part was learning new skills. He explained: "I am surprised at how much I learnt in just 13 weeks and we learnt from everyone. Each coach had different things to teach but also the experienced fighters who we looked up to were always giving us tips - we also got a visit from Stu and Topo who have coached some of our coaches - that was awesome!"

Pictured: After a surprise sparring session with Eddie and Michael.

The coaches enjoyed this second white-collar training camp as well and they were even wowed by some of the trainees. Miro said: "It was really good, we learnt a lot from the first time and we as coaches are always learning too. We want to make sure we provide the best camp possible - I am really impressed with how the guys have done and how they have carried themselves."

Michael Cañas, BPT Instructor and Head Coach at Pride Performance, added: "I think we found our coaching system for the white collars and it showed with how fast the lads were improving. This final week we had the guys drilling techniques with Rumble on the Rock headliners and the experienced fighters really had to work hard to keep the upper hand -this shows just how far the white collars have come - I am really impressed, but I can't tell them that!"

As for Eddie, will remember the fun times and the little accidents. "The lads were great, we had a great laugh training them and they all had their own banter. Pushing them out of their comfort zone really tested their character but they all stood up to the challenge, the pukers were a highlight for me! And introducing the white collars to the rugby team was a treat also!" 

With only over 24 hours separating the novices from their fight, some are already thinking about keeping up with their MMA training. While Thomas says he will wait and see how the Saturday fight goes to make a decision, Nathan has already asked how long he will need to train before he can have a proper amateur fight. Roberto has also made up his mind, he will definitely be back for more MMA in the new year. "I have lost over 20kg training MMA with BPT and Pride Performance and it is a passion of mine now," he confirmed.

Pictured: All the local fighters taking part in Saturday's night Rumble on the Rock event.

Before that, they will have to face each other on the ring. Roberto will fight against Ben, Nathan against James Miller and Thomas against James L'Enfant. Six other MMA fights with local fighters, Fabio Beko, Alan Wilk, Joao Sousa, Alice Hall, Aiden Ward and Matt de Gouveia facing opponents from the UK and Madeira, are also lined up. The Avalanche night will also include thai boxing bouts with Zac Ewens, Tom Flanagan, Max Long and Callum Jones.

There are only a few tickets lefts for the event which will raise funds for Healing Waves. The surfing charity announced this week they had purchased a wheelchair adapted board and Rumble spectators will have the opportunity to step into the ring in a padded sumo suit to help raise money. Proceeds from Rumble's fully licensed bar will also go towards the charity. Doors open at 17:00. Visitors can also attend the official weigh-ins from 19:00 at Rojo's today.