There’s a lot of talk about grappling being an ego destroyer but for many people training it ends up being the absolute positive. We’ve all witnessed that more experienced guy who tries coaching when he’s trapped or refuses to submit.
With the rise in popularity of grappling, there’s always a question of how one should train. Red corner MMA recently caught up with UFC’s rising star Khamzat Chimaev and got him to answer some interesting questions including some that relate to training.
There’s a lot of lore regarding how Chimaev trains, considering his dominance in the cage. He debunked all of that sharing that he prefers to focus on grappling:
“I run three times a week.”
“Someone said that I made some kind of record.”
“The most important thing is mat time. You know, wrestling, grappling, sparring. That’s where you add up. Fight IQ. And, well, you work with different partners, gain experience. And running, crossfit is just to gain form.”
“I have wrestling. There are also guys who have switched from wrestling, and then continue to work on wrestling. You saw Justin Gaetthje was a wrestler.”
“Khabib made a bag out of him. Khabib is also a wrestler. And he always, I know for sure, he always works with grappling and wrestling. Because he does all the fights with grappling and wrestling.”
“And he was improving there. Some fighters switched to striking. And that’s why they are now winning, losing, winning. 50/50.”
Chimaev also went on to add:
“The most important thing for me is not sparring, not wrestling, not training. It’s the most important thing to win a fight. If you win everyone at sparring, then you are doing something wrong.”
John Davis is a dedicated practitioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, having first started training in the martial art in 2011. Despite facing significant knee issues that have sidelined him for a period, John remains passionate about the sport and continues to follow all the latest developments in the BJJ community.