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Category Archives: Denis’s Blog

Denis Kelly is the head Jiu-Jitsu coach at ACSA.

Why MMA fighters should stay fight ready all year round

This article was written with the help of Wayne Goldsmith who I have been worked with in the past. Wayne is a sports coaching expert who has worked extensively with sports teams and organisations all over the world including Swimming Australia, the US Olympic Committee and numerous Football and Rugby clubs. Stay Fight Ready I […]

Mental Training and Fighting

“How do I stop pre-fight nerves affecting my performance and ruining all the weeks of hard training and preparation before a fight?” This is a question that I often get asked by students before a fight or competition. Everyone gets Pre-Fight Nerves The first thing to remember is that everyone gets nervous before fights. The […]

Competition vs Training

‘You sink to the level of your training, you don’t rise to the occasion’   A big factor which holds people back in their training is putting too much emphasis on what they can do in training and performance in the gym with their training partners. They mistakenly believe that how they perform in this […]

The risks in mixed martial arts

I’ve been watching MMA since 1994, I had my first fight in 2000 and I’m now a full-time coach of professional fighters. What first interested me in MMA was the idea of testing different fighting styles against each other. Due to the evolution of the sport, it has become less about style versus style and […]

How important is your Team for MMA success?

Boxing Vs MMA : Teams One of the major differences between professional Boxing and MMA is the emphasis on teams rather than on the individual fighters. In boxing everyone knows all about Mayweather and Pacquiao but not too much about their training partners. It’s usually the opposite in MMA. If there is one successful fighter from a […]

Why Fighters Lose MMA Fights

Here are some of the most common ways in which fighters sabotage their potential success in the sport of MMA. 1. Training with coaches who don’t understand the sport of MMA. The coach may be skilled in individual areas such as striking or BJJ but lack the ability and experience to prepare fighters properly for […]

What is mental toughness for fighters?

Here is a short interview which I recently did with one of my clients who is completing a sports science degree regarding mental toughness and mental preparation in combat sports. How do you define “mental toughness”?  I would define mental toughness in sports as ability to reproduce an athletes best performance under adverse & unfavourable […]