5 great MMA fighters who are brutal to train with

#2. Former UFC superfight champion Ken Shamrock

Shamrock (left) doing battle in the cage

The Lion’s Den, a notorious MMA training ground, more than lived up to its name back in the day. Founded by the legendary Ken Shamrock, the Lion’s Den turned out a host of exceptional fighters in the ‘90s including Frank Shamrock, Guy Mezger, Jerry Bohlander and Vernon White.

According to those who trained under Shamrock, his approach to MMA tutelage was hellish. Before one even began learning MMA, a grueling tryout had to be completed. Shamrock himself likened it to a particularly extreme marine boot camp, comparing the world of fighting to being at war.

The tryouts included performing 500 squats, 200 push-ups, 200 sit-ups, long-distance running, stair runs, bear crawls, weighted carries and one set of pull-ups done to failure.

For the painfully few who made it through all of that, the actual MMA training then began. New recruits were reportedly made to be on guard at all times as veteran fighters could slap a rear-naked choke on them at any given moment. Those caught sleeping would also get menaced by Shamrock himself. 'The World's Most Dangerous Man' was known to threaten pitiless violence on those running low on energy during the day.

Regardless of how vicious his approach was, one can’t deny that Shamrock’s training strategies got results in the long run.

#1. MMA veteran Alistair Overeem

UFC Fight Night: Overeem v Volkov

Where does one start with the MMA and kickboxing superstar? Not even Jon Jones was safe from the ruthless might of ‘The Demolition Man’. The former Strikeforce heavyweight champ infamously injured ‘Bones’ during his training camp for the UFC 178 fight with Daniel Cormier.

Jones wasn’t the only major fighter to incur the reckless wrath of the Dutchman either. Speaking on the Jones injury, former UFC heavyweight champ Andrei Arlovski revealed that a round of sparring with Overeem left him high-tailing it to the emergency room:

“Couple of days ago I sparred with Overeem and learned such outcome by my own experience. Usually sparring partners don’t try to inflict a real damage to each other. But Overeem at one moment kneed me really hard in the stomach. In a real fight I could have been KO’ed after that. I rushed to a hospital to make sure that my ribs are not broken.”

Overeem himself has admitted more than once to frequently injuring sparring partners during his training camps. It appears the big man is as dangerous preparing for a fight as he is when the bell finally rings.