DIRTY BOXING RULES! It May Well Be Frowned Upon in the Ring, but Dirty Boxing Can Be GUEST Devastating in the Cage
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Equipment, advice PERFORMANCE and development SPONSORED BY THIS MONTH : 10 THINGS ABOUT MATS // THE BARBELL SUPER CIRCUIT // EXTEND YOUR CAREER // FIGHT LIKE RANDY COUTURE // FIGHTING CLINICS // TOP 5 VETERAN FIGHTERS WWW.MAXIMUSCLE.COM DIRTY BOXING RULES! It may well be frowned upon in the ring, but dirty boxing can be GUEST devastating in the cage. Fighters Only provides the lowdown on a style synonymous with ‘Captain America’ WORDS / STEVE TALLANTYRE andy Couture is a Mixed Martial Arts legend. UFC champion in two weight divisions, joint holder of the highest number PRO of Octagon appearances and TIP star of Hollywood action movies like The Expendables, it’s hard to imagine him being an Live, collar-tie sparring unknown underdog. But back in 1997 at UFC is essential to learning 15 that’s exactly how he was considered. His the nuances of dirty opponent, a young Vitor Belfort, was on a hot boxing. Just as with streak of knockout victories and came into grappling, make time the cage widely predicted to walk straight to test your skills through Couture. against partners. Eight minutes later, Randy’s hand was raised and fans were talking about something relatively new in MMA – dirty boxing. Dirty boxing is basically hit-and-hold. Illegal in boxing but devastating in MMA, it is a loose term used to describe controlling the clinch, especially up against the cage, and landing punishing strikes. It would go on to become Couture’s signature style and bring him huge success in the Octagon, but what was it about Randy that made him so effective? Fighters Only spoke to Greg Nelson of The Academy in Minnesota for the inside track. Not only is Greg the author of the four-DVD series, Greg Nelson’s Clinch, but he also coached Brock Lesnar to his UFC heavyweight championship victory over Couture at UFC 91 and was faced with the task of analysing Randy’s fighting style. “Randy was such a great dirty boxer for three primary reasons,” explains Greg. “First, he was a world-class Greco-Roman wrestler and understood the dynamics of the clinch and controlling the shoulders and upper body. Second, with his wrestling background he could maintain proper pressure and dominate on the cage and in the clinch for the entire fight. Lastly, he had a boxing background from his days in the Army. “When we were training Brock to fight Randy, we knew that Randy favoured his left 118 GUEST PERFORMANCE Guest Perf_UK78.indd 1 2/6/11 11:11:09 .