Old habits are hard to break.
No matter how many people suffer from the adverse effects of weight reduction, regardless of how many published scientific studies proving it hurts more than it helps, combat sports athletes will still run out and dehydrate before competing in the most physically demanding sport on land.
Because? Because that’s how it’s always been done.
Undoubtedly, the idea of not sparring on the training ground will encounter equal resistance. In the case of former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway, he doesn’t have much of a choice. “Blessed” had an episode in the summer of 2018 that drew attention to the health of his brain and yes, he passed all the tests that were applied to him.
But he also ended up losing three of his next five fights.
Limiting head trauma to real fighting could help extend your career as an MMA fighter and save you from the effects related to CTE later in life. Retired UFC fighters have started to perform in recent years to share their stories of brain injuries.
Some cannot remember their children’s names. Others cannot walk in a straight line.
“I don’t have sparring, I kind of took it off. I believe I had a lot of total contact sparring. We’re going to move and stuff, but it’s not like fighting, ”Holloway told the South China Morning Post. “Save brain cells for the good of the old days. When you see the professional teams, the NFL teams, these guys don’t (use) full cushions and they’re not going to hit you anymore. They did enough of that. They go there, make the game plan and practice their skills. That’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve been practicing my skills a lot and I can’t wait to show you. “
He won’t have to wait much longer.
Holloway (21-6) returns to the Octagon for a five-round main event against Boston boxer Calvin Kattar. His 145 headliner leads the UFC Fight Island 7 event this Saturday. night (January 16, 2021) inside the Etihad Arena on “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi, part of an accumulated fight week that includes UFC Fight Island 8 and UFC 257 the following weekend.
The Hawaiian is not the first UFC fighter to abandon sparring. Longtime UFC veteran Donald Cerrone recently abandoned the boat and former welterweight champion Robbie Lawler once took six years out of sparring to deal with vertigo. In addition, boxer Sergio Martinez told me in 2011 that he never trained before the fights because they “took something from him”.
Whether or not this will become more prevalent in the UFC may depend on the success of the fighters who adhere to it. Nobody is going to jump from a train to nowhere and if the sparless fighters don’t win, it will be difficult to convince the athletes to put on gloves in training.
It doesn’t matter the cost.