Trevor Sherman: The Man Training James Toney for Randy Couture at UFC 118

Michael David Smith talks to Trevor Sherman, James Toney's MMA trainer:

"It's never been about submissions," Sherman said. "It's been about submission defense. I'm not going to waste time on teaching James to submit Randy -- if we had a year and a half or two years that would be a great luxury, but we don't have all the time in the world. If I were training a jiu jitsu specialist I wouldn't spend a lot of time trying to teach him to knock someone out, what I'd do is train him to avoid getting knocked out while he gets into position for a submission."

But Sherman insists that Toney is doing a great job of learning takedown defense, learning escapes on the ground and learning how to adjust his stance so that he won't be susceptible to leg kicks. He says that Toney has become enough of a mixed martial artist that his chances of winning go beyond just his ability to land one lucky punch.

Sherman also insists that Toney is in good cardiovascular shape, although he's been expressly forbidden from discussing Toney's weight. And finally, Sherman claims that "win, lose or draw" James Toney will be back in the UFC. 

I did a little research on Mr. Sherman and I have to say that this is another interesting career decision on the part of James Toney. 

Toney initially was training with former Oscar De La Hoya and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson trainer Juanito Ibarra. Ibarra was a logical choice as he had big time boxing experience and MMA training experience. Toney's long time boxing trainer Freddie Roach has trained multiple MMA fighters in boxing, but never been the head trainer for an MMA fight. It's interesting to me that Roach isn't involved in this camp. Toney's relationship with Ibarra lasted from March to May. 

More about Sherman and his karate mentor in the full entry including a video where they demo knife fighting techniques. It's not too far from a Three Stooges routine in its realism and applicability to MMA.

So about Trevor Sherman. Apparently he's the top student of one Jeff Speakman and together they have created "Kenpo 5.0":

Kenpo 5.0 is a highly effective Mixed Martial Art (MMA) combining American Kenpo Karate with elements of grappling and ground fighting into a formidable self defense system.

This system was developed by Mr Jeff Speakman (taught by Senior Grand Master Mr Ed Parker) and Mr Trevor Sherman (senior student of Mr Speakman and experienced ground fighter) in response to the changing style of street fighting. What Kenpo needed was an effective ground fighting module to be incorporated into the original art form. Kenpo 5.0 was born.

Sherman is also a behavioral psychologist and:

Under the direction of Mr. Speakman, Trever is a certified Defensive Tactics Instructor for the U.S. Government and Department of Justice teaching empty hand combat to the DEA, FBI and Border Patrol.

I'm a big admirer of Ed Parker and his Kenpo style, which played a huge role in popularizing Asian martial arts in the U.S., so it's interesting to me that Toney is training with a Kenpo guy. The most well known and successful Kenpo stylist in MMA history is long-time UFC champ Chuck Liddell. This is especially intriguing as Liddell's sprawl and brawl style proved to be Randy Couture's kryptonite in 2/3 of their legendary bouts. Of course, Liddell's background as a collegiate wrestler had more to do with that than his Kenpo and his trainer John Hackleman was much more of a competitive kickboxer than Jeff Speakman who appears to specialize in a rather silly brand of demonstrations.

I'd love to know where Sherman trained wrestling and grappling before bringing his expertise to Speakman to create Kenpo 5.0.  If anyone knows more about Sherman or Speakman please share in the comments. I'm also very curious about their connection to M-1 Global. 

I'd be much more confident in Toney's chances if he were training with a better known MMA camp or even Ibarra, but I just can't help myself -- I'm intrigued by this fight. And like B.J. Penn and probably Dana White, I'm rooting for James Toney.