UFC Fight Night: Adesanya vs. Pyfer and Getting Back to BJJ Training

UFC Figh Night: Adesanya vs. Pyfer happened, and it was quite honestly the best UFC fight card that I have seen this year. Six finishes, some extremely violent and one downright scary, no truly boring fights, and prospects and up-and-comers getting wins made this one of the most exciting and relevant cards of the year. Joe Pyfer defeated former UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya in the main event by TKO. It was a statement win for Pyfer and sets him up for big fights in the future. In the co-main event, former UFC Women’s Flyweight Champion Alexa Grasso defeated Maycee Barber by a KO punch/rear naked choke combination. The scene though was grim as Barber was just lying on the floor with her eyes open unresponsive for a while after the fight. She, thankfully, got up and walked out on her own power. Former Ultimate Fighter winner Michael Chiesa defeated Niko Price by submission, rear naked choke, in his retirement fight, where Price also retired. Lerryan Douglas, Yousri Belgaroui, Terrance McKinney, Tofiq Musayev, Lance Gibson Jr., Tyrell Fortune, Casey O’Neill, Navajo Stirling, and Alexia Thainara got wins in their bouts, with many getting finishes. Most of these fighters are prospects, and some of them look like they could really get up in the rankings in their respective weight divisions.

I also got back into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training this week after being gone from it for three weeks due to sickness. Getting back into after that long of a layoff brings a little anxiety, as cardio becomes an issue. Thankfully, I did not feel that out of shape, and my cardio held up. One thing that probably helped is that my wife and I changed our diet while we were sick. Admittedly, I have been feeling a lot less heavy since we have started eating healthier. During my time away though, I would occasionally think about BJJ, and one thing that I thought about was being more offensive. My coach, before the sickness, mentioned that I needed to work on my cardio, but I was skeptical that it was an issue with my physical fitness. After thinking about it and finding things out in practice (this was before I got sick), I realized that I allowed my sparring partners to establish grips or positions, and I would have to fight out of it. I fought really defensively, and if what I am doing is mainly defense and fighting opponents off, sometimes bigger and stronger than me, then I am using a lot of energy mainly to defend, sapping my cardio. Just because I am aware of it does not mean that I have already fixed my problems though. However, I have caught myself in positions where I rested when I should have moved.

Progress is an interesting thing. Seeing it in real-time in combat sports in the UFC is eye-opening as we watch progress happen at the highest levels. Personally, progress in my BJJ has been happening lately when the mental meets the physical. In the UFC, the ultimate upcoming are championships, and in BJJ, it will be a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt.