Yoshiyuki Yoshida's Secret Weapon: Greg Jackson
by Leland Roling on May 21, 2009 4:31 PM EDT
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MMAWeekly has a very interesting piece regarding Yoshiyuki Yoshida's progression as a fighter following his loss to Josh Koscheck at the UFC Fight for the Troops event in which Yoshida was knocked out. The article talks about the mistakes Yoshida feels he made, but it also mentions the fact that Yoshida is now training at Greg Jackson's camp:
"I think I thought about the opponent too much and basically forgot to fight my style of fight," Yoshida told MMAWeekly in an exclusive interview prior to his fight at UFC 98. "So this time, I want to go and just do what I do best and win."
What Yoshida did to get back to his winning ways was completely change his training routine, and that included adding himself into the mix at Greg Jackson's gym in New Mexico.
"I have been training at Greg Jackson's at almost two full months. For this fight I didn't wanted to train in Japan. If I train in Japan then coming to America and fight in the UFC, that itself would put everything into something extraordinarily and rare," Yoshida stated. "I wanted to approach this fight like any other fight I fought in Japan. So train in New Mexico for full two months, then take short flight out to Vegas to fight. It's about changing the environment to prepare for this fight in a different mindset."
I wasn't aware that Yoshida had traveled to New Mexico to train with Greg Jackson, but I must say... Kudos to Yoshiyuki Yoshida. Unlike some of his Japanese counterparts, he's taking his loss and turning it into a motivator to learn from his mistakes. While some of the other Japanese competition has probably done the same, they haven't gone out and found one of the best trainers in the world to help them achieve success in the UFC.
Hopefully, Jackson will get Yoshida back on track with his gameplan. Yoshida's powerful ground and pound and Judo style surely could use some tweaking from a camp that has the experience in the cage, the training partners to help Yoshida succeed, and the brilliant gameplanning that Jackson has implemented in the past.
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Brandon Wolff talks to winnipegfreepress.com about Ben Saunders:
"I got beat up pretty good. He got me good. I made the mistake of staying in a Muay Thai clinch a little too long and I paid the man…. I was more mentally distraught than anything. I was just unhappy about how I got destroyed in my debut. But I healed up good. And I just wanted to get back in there as soon as possible. . . . I was just happy to get a second chance. I didn’t think I was going to get one…. It was the first time ever that I’ve got my ass kicked. It was a good learning experience — something that’s never going to happen again…. It just didn’t go as planned…. I’m really fortunate to be fighting again in the UFC. And I feel like I owe myself and everybody else out there a war, an exciting fight. And that’s what I’ve been preparing myself for."
Yeah, I read that earlier this week. The problem is that Saunders has turned into a beast down there at ATT. He’s also huge for his weight class, so he’s going to be formidable, even for Swick. I can’t wait for that matchup.
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by Leland Roling on May 21, 2009 4:53 PM EDT up reply actions
I am waiting on that fight as well.
"My job is a decision-making job, and as a result, I make a lot of decisions." --George W. Bush, The Decider, Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007
by lovingmma25 on May 22, 2009 10:20 AM EDT up reply actions
Who has Yoshida trained with at Jackson’s? Alot of the better guys don’t train in New Mexico full-time.
I would still assume he’s getting some work in with some bigger name guys. It’s definitely a step up for him in terms of training.
Follow my analysis of all things MMA on BloodyElbow.com
by Leland Roling on May 21, 2009 5:07 PM EDT up reply actions
He also doesn’t fight 1-2 weightclasses above where he ought to be. That’s really the main hurdle I see for most Japanese fighters—- they come in, fight way above where they ought to be, get the shit kicked out of them, and then get cut. When they come in at the right weight class it seems to indicate they should be taken pretty seriously.
Nakamura being the prime example of picking the wrong weight class.
This is good news for him and MMA. More capable Asian fighters out there only better the chances for creating interest and revitalizing MMA/UFC overseas.
by toughaintenough on May 21, 2009 7:33 PM EDT reply actions
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