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UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev's coach, Javier Mendez, recently shared his perspective on hard sparring during training sessions. The former ISKA kickboxing champion believes fighters must work on their technique rather than risk brain damage via intense sparring.
On Mike Perry's Overdogs podcast, Mendez was questioned on his philosophy regarding hard sparring. Makhachev's coach asserted that a fighter doesn't have to spar vigorously if it is not for a fight camp. He said:
"If you don't have a fight, I would look at you and say, 'save yourself.' Don't be doing any sparring, you don't need it. You got a fight camp, there's your sparring in fight camp. Other than that, don't risk it. Work on the technique, work on other aspects of your game. You just stay in shape while you're maintaining, that's it."
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He continued:
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"I've never allowed my guys, when they've had a world title, or they've already had a fight and they're at the highest they can be? Now it's about maintenance. It's not about. 'let's keep sparring all the time.' Hell no!"
Check out Javier Mendez's comments below (44:35):
Javier Mendez weighs in on Belal Muhammad's performance at UFC 315
Former welterweight champion Belal Muhammad failed to retain his title against Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315. 'Remember the Name' was outstruck by his opponent and failed to secure takedowns throughout the fight.
UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev's coach, Javier Mendez, recently shared his perspective on Muhammad's performance this past weekend. In an interview with Submission Radio, he said:
"I was hoping Belal [Muhammad] would get it done. Jack played his game and Belal didn't wanna play his game. I didn't see too many takedown attempts from Belal when there was a lot of room available. He just didn't go for it. Maybe because he found some success on the stand-up. He didn't go for it like he needed to, I thought."
Check out Javier Mendez's comments below (0:30):
