Contributor: Josh Hall
In all sports, good coaching can be the difference between an athlete reaching his/her true potential and merely being another talent that doesn’t quite make it. MMA is no exception, as many fighters have bounced around teams looking for the right fit, while some have stayed in the same location throughout the duration of their career. There is no exact formula for what makes a good coach in MMA, but when a fighter is working with the right people the differences can still be clear as day.
When I was watching the UFC on Fox 8 fights for a second time I realized that this card had a microcosm of the good and bad in coaching, and it got me thinking a little more on the topic. What makes a good coach, and really how much of a difference does that oft understated part of the game make for a fighter inside the cage? I don’t think there is one static answer that will cover everyone by any means, so I will look at a few fighters from this past card individually and see what we find.
First off, the obvious: Demetrious Johnson looked like one of the true elite P4P fighters on the card, and he did so with a finish that came in large part by a great piece of advice from his corner in between the fourth and fifth rounds. Matt Hume 
coaches DJ and is the head and founder of AMC Pankration in Kirkland, WA. He told his fighter after the fourth round that he should continue to look for the kimura he had nearly finished earlier, but instead to use it to bait John Moraga into giving up his arm for a straight armbar.
Johnson’s fight IQ is among the best in the game, and he was able to follow the instructions of Hume to a T, securing his first finish as the UFC Flyweight Champion by using the exact tactic his coach had called for. It was a moment where you could see that Johnson was completely in sync with Hume, and that both men had total trust in the abilities of the other.
On the flip side, let’s look at the corner of John Moraga, Johnson’s title challenger. Moraga trains out of The MMA Lab (in Arizona), the same camp as former UFC LW Champion Ben “Smooth” Henderson. The Lab has a number of solid trainers and good cornermen. I don’t want to make it sound otherwise, but in comparison to the very specific instructions from Hume there was a different tone coming from the corner of Moraga. At the end of a first round that Moraga clearly lost, he heard these final words from his corner: “You’re perfect, everything is perfect. Stay off the fence.”
I understand wanting to keep the confidence of a fighter high, but I don’t see the benefit of telling a fighter how well they are doing after losing a round beyond a shadow of a doubt. Even in the corner of DJ he was being given a number of small of small details to focus on in the second round after a very successful first. He is a shining example of the possible success when a top fighter is working with the right coach. Not just having a good coach, but also one that can help them to get the most out of their specific game in the cage.
An even more glaring example of this, albeit less entertaining, is the Ellenberger/MacDonald fight. Rory used a jab and pretty much only a jab to totally neutralize one of the best power punchers in the division. How does this happen? First it was Greg Jackson shouldering blame for “boring” fighters, and now it is Firas Zahabi taking the same criticisms. What is funny though is that while Zahabi is judged harshly for the style Rory is this fight, but that Ellenberger’s corner is somehow escaping all blame.
It was very clear during the fight that Ellenberger had one plan and no idea what to do if it wouldn’t work. He wanted to sit back and counter punch, but that strategy was contingent on Rory fighting a certain way (coming forward aggressively after Jake). As Rory started peppering him with the jab from the get go, Ellenberger totally froze. He only came forward on a few occasions, and when he did Rory used far superior footwork to keep himself from any danger.
In between rounds, the corner of Ellenberger didn’t have any specific adjustments for their fighter, which he desperately needed. In the Rory corner Zahabi was talking about specific angles to cut in the event that Jake came forward, fully prepping Rory for the next round. It was crystal clear that one fighter was far better prepared for this fight, and that the superior strategic planning from his coach was highly beneficial.
I don’t have enough information to say that Ellenberger needs a move 100%, but I will say he needs to work with someone different on his striking. It was not surprising at all to see Rory use a jab based attack (although we all expected him to open up more), and yet Ellenberger looked stunned by what he was seeing. This is unacceptable for a top 5 fighter in the world. Good preparation with the right people is paramount to fighter success, especially at the highest levels of the sport.
That brings me to the other piece of the UFC on Fox 8 puzzle, the two fighters who looked like new men in the cage after they made recent training camp changes, Melvin “The Young Assassin” Guillard and “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler.
Guillard has a long history of training camp problems and drama stemming back to his early days in the sport as an up and comer in Louisiana. He had a falling out with his original trainer, Rich Clementi, which led to a nasty war of words and the two men fighting at UFC 79 (with Clementi winning by submission). This caused Guillard to move to Jackson’s MMA in Albuquerque, NM. He immediately went on a tear, destroying guys on the feet and moving into title contention.
As soon as he had made his ascent, a trip to Imperial Athletics (AKA “Blackzillians”) proceeded to kill off all of the momentum. This is not a Guillard only scenario, as that specific camp has become a bit of a running joke in MMA, killing off all the momentum for almost every fighter that has had the misfortune of training there. I am not privy to the specifics of the training camp as to the exact problems, but anyone paying attention can see how the problems have manifested themselves in the cage for Imperial’s fighters. Guillard went on a 1-4 skid as a member of that camp, totally regressing from everything he had established at Jackson’s.
Before the Danzig fight this past Saturday Guillard moved again, finding his new home at Jackson affiliate Grudge MMA in 
Denver. The Mike Winklejohn run camp proved to be just the change Melvin needed as he once again looked like the world beater so many expected him to be only a few short years ago. His vintage KO of Danzig after displaying a much improved fight IQ showed that with the right camp “The Young Assassin” is still one of the most dangerous guys at LW.
And finally, we get to Robbie Lawler, who looks like he has found the mythical Fountain of Youth after his move to American Top Team from the H.I.T. Squad, which he was a part of founding with Matt Hughes in 2007 after they both left Miletich Fighting Systems. It was clear that as a H.I.T. Squad member that Lawler did not have the necessary motivation for training as he labored at MW in Strikeforce, often looking rather out of shape for his fights.
The once dynamic striker still had his moments, but without anyone there to give him the extra push they were few and far between. The wonderful comeback KO against Melvin Manhoef was promptly offset by an equally terrible loss to the shell of Renato “Babalu” Sobral in which Lawler was thoroughly outworked on the feet by the noted grappler. Lawler finally hit his rock bottom in his final SF fight against Lorenz Larkin in which it was pretty clear that Robbie just didn’t have his heart in it any more.
When I heard that Lawler was going to make his UFC return at WW, my first thought was that he would probably miss weight. I am glad to see I was VERY wrong. With the move to ATT, his new training camp has unlocked the passion within Lawler again, and for someone with his level of talent sometimes that is all it takes. A number of people wrote off his upset of Josh Koscheck as a fluke, but it was clear that “Ruthless” had rededicated himself to his fitness. Watching his fight against Bobby Voelker, Lawler displayed movement and variety of techniques that no one had seen from him since first UFC run nearly a decade ago.
The new Lawler 2.0 is a scary opponent for anyone at WW, and he gives all credit for the turn around to his new training camp at ATT. A confident and hungry Lawler is one of the most entertaining fighters to watch, and simply connecting with the right people for his game has taken him from an average Strikeforce MW to a contender in the mega stacked UFC WW division.
There is clearly not one method of training/coaching/cornering fighters that works above all else, but it is very clear that the wrong environment can be just as toxic to a fighter’s career as a great one can enhance it. Fighters that get stuck in a rut will not find success, but making arbitrary camp moves just to change things up can cause similar problems. One thing I am certain of: Until a fighter finds the right camp for their personality and skill set they will never be the fighter they are capable of becoming.
-Josh can be reached at [email protected] or @jhall282.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
