Training at miletich martial arts, submission fighting UK article by Suley

TRAINING AT MILETICH MARTIAL ARTS.

by Suley (photos coming soon - so check back here)

I hope you guys and gals enjoy the following report, I tried to keep to the interesting stuff so you don’t get too bored reading this.

I will start with a little background on the Miletch gym. The gym itself is part of a new Golds gym complex in Bettendorf, Iowa. The Gold’s has all the machines and free weight you could want along with all the other trimmings that come with a gym/ health club these days. Pats gym has matted floors, heavy bags, Thai pads and medicine balls galore. The walls are also padded so the sparring can continue when bodies hit the wall ala the octagon.

The list of "name" fighters that train in the gym and the longer list of up and comers is extensive to say the least. With fighter like Pat Miletich, Jens Pulver, Jeremy Horn, Matt Hughes, Nate Schroeder, Ben Earwood and Joe Slick already in the limelight. Names to watch for very soon Tim Sylvia, Jason Black, Jason Medina and Robbie Lawler. Well you get the idea.

Initially when I first started thinking about going over to the states I posted on the Miletich martial arts forum on mixedmartialarts.com hoping for some snippets of information from someone who trained there. What I got was a lot better! Jens Pulver the UFC under 155lbs champ hooked me up. I must say that without Jens help and patience in answering e-mails from me I never would have been able to go. He took care of everything from informing Pat I was coming to getting me a place to stay. Thanks Jens!

During my stay I lived with a couple of the up and coming Miletich fighters. Tim "Grizzly bear" Sylvia and Jason Black. This was in Davenport and the same house that Jens and I think Jeremy had lived in previously. Initially I was a little apprehensive about what would go in the gym and would I come back with my teeth in a box and cauliflower ears that would make Rickson Gracie proud. They told me the sort of training that went on and put my mind at rest. Then we went to eat at a local restaurant with a few of the guys from the gym, the kind of place you could eat steak and chicken until your hearts content. Which coincidentally became a reoccurring theme during my stay.

My mission while in Iowa was to come and see how some of the best in the world train and then….survive it. After I had dished out some SFUK T-shirts (which everyone loved, well done SFUK ) in the hope of gaining some sympathy during sparring J, I managed to get hold of a training schedule. After my initial training session Pat said it would be ok for me to join in the fighters training so my two weeks training were looking like this:

Monday: 9am to 10am Kickboxing, 10am to 12/1pm fighters training, 6pm-7pm Kickboxing, 7pm-9pm Jiu-jitsu.

Tuesday: 9am to10am jiu-jitsu, 10am to 12/1pm fighters training, 7pm-8pm Kickboxing, 8pm-9pm Jiu-jitsu.

Wednesday: 9am to 10am Kickboxing, 10am to 12/1pm fighters training, 6pm-7pm Kickboxing, 7pm-8pm Jiu-jitsu, 8pm-9pm Striking Sparring

Thursday: 9am to10am jiu-jitsu, 10am to 12/1pm fighters training, 7pm-8pm Kickboxing, 8pm-9pm Jiu-jitsu.

Friday: 9am to 10am Kickboxing, 6pm-7pm basic striking sparring.

Saturday: 9am to 10am Kickboxing, 10am-11am Ju-jitsu, 11am-1pm Fighters training.

Then on the seventh day we rested. In between the morning and evening sessions we would lift weights and do cardio and most fun of all SLEEP. As you could probably guess lifting prowess was not at it’s best as you are tired from putting so much into the training but it was still an important part of the picture at the gym and everyone I knew there did it at least twice a week.

The classes were organized into beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. Plus it should be mentioned that these were not the only classes on offer at Miletich martial arts. Pat also taught several karate classes and there was also judo a bodyweight workout course and yoga (Pat didn’t teach those).

Kickboxing classes were really Thai boxing but without the spiritual aspect. Covering footwork, striking combinations using all of the "eight limbs", cardio and a grueling medicine ball workout.

Jiu-jitsu classes involved the no gi aspect of BJJ and freestyle wrestling in combination.

Fighter’s classes were also divided between the disciplines and involved more live rolling and sparring working on polishing certain aspects of the fighter’s arsenal.

You may be thinking that these guys have some secret training methods that make them the best like I did before I went. Well sorry, but the only real secret they have is they don’t waste time looking for any secret way to make them the best and instead invest their time in making each and every single technique they do the best they can. This leads to quality training every time they couple this with the determination that they want to be the best and that is what makes them great at what they do. So yes they train like all of the rest of us, they ALL lose in the gym during training, they take punches and kicks, tap out like the rest of us. You can remember that when you don’t have a good training session, I know I will. These guys had no ego, I think Jens summed it up best with " Go ahead you can experiment in here and tap if it goes wrong, in here you aren’t losing a paycheque" when talking to another one of the fighters.

After my first couple of sessions I thought this isn’t so bad, definitely not as hard as some of my training here in the U.K. However I neglected to add in the volume of training into the equation, and after my first three days of training I was wasted and realized why all the others went into hibernation for a couple of hours every afternoon instead of watching some of the quality American TV such as "The Peoples Court" and "Change of Heart".

After surviving a week of training (which I was happy about) it was time for Jason to compete in the Iowa Challenge 2. Held at Cedar Rapids about 2 hours from the gym. The show was held in the town hall of all places (MMA is a bit more accepted over there) and the fights were held in a square cage with the same dimensions as a boxing ring.

The first few fights were not great and featured some fighters making their pro-mma debut, many seemed good on paper but usually one side was very dominant and would finish the fight in less than two minutes. After the first five or so fights the level increased and this one guy who stuck in my mind came out to some kind of voodoo music and his face was painted up like the guy from the Bond movie "Live and Let Die" cane and top hat included. I thought he would have to take his makeup off, but they didn’t seem to mind and allowed him to fight with it on. I initially thought looking at his opponent that he was overmatched, as his opponent seemed bigger and in much better shape than him. However as the voodoo man had 70+ matches to his record mainly wins as well, I guessed he was more than he looked and I was right. After an initial very aggressive flurry from his opponent, voodoo man pulled of an armbar from guard and tapped his opponent in less than 3 minutes.

A couple of more matches and it was Jason’s fight (fights at 175lbs) he was facing a bigger man at 185lbs who had plenty of matches, including a loss to Matt Hughes (so he was owed one from the Miletich camp), and was 3x world kickboxing champ. With no bias on my part this was imho the fight of the night and also one of the only fights of the night to make it the second round. There was an initial stand up exchange with no man coming off better. Jason an extremely experienced wrestler then changed the fight location and took him down, after a couple of minutes on the floor with Jason’s sub attempts foiled by his worthy opponent, the fight made it back to the feet with a body tie up against the cage exchanging shots until the five minute round had expired. The second round saw Jason use his better cardio to win the stand up exchange taking only one substantial headshot. The fight went to the ground but the opponent’s constant defense of subs and taking strikes had taken his toll and the pace was wearing him down. The ending came soon with what can only be described as a flashback of Frank Shamrock and Tito Ortiz fight ending. The tough kickboxer was on all fours with Jason standing, raining down unanswered blows to the head and body. The guy did not tap and the ref wisely stepped in to stop any more punishment. Jason took his pro record to 12 and 0 and looks forward to new things mainly his fight two weeks later in "Extreme Challenge 42."

Other notable fight included Nate Schroeder fight some huge guy who claimed he was 240 but was at least 265lbs. With Nate weighing 220 now this was a tough fight that Nate was dominating until there was a reversal and the big man landed on Nate while he was lying in a butterfly guard position and pushed his flexibility to new realms tearing his adductor and causing the fight to have to be stopped, with Nate's opponent declared the winner.

Dennis Reed was up next against a relative new pro (about 11-0) trying to take out a veteran and get a big win to his name. That is exactly what he did, very quickly with the armbar from guard. The main draw was a bout featuring Travis Fulton, his opponent however seemed a little apprehensive and decided to turn his back when the fight went to a striking exchange every punch thrown he would turn his back. This didn’t last long and Travis didn’t jump on his back as expected and kept striking, after about three right hands the opponent gave up and the ref declared Fulton the winner.

The second week of training followed suit to the first, hard work and lots of it. However for those of you who would like to train with Pat but would like to combine a bit of a holiday in with training and are worried that Iowa is full of cornfields and not a lot else you would be wrong.

There are plenty of restaurants and if you are used to the prices in the U.K then you will be pleasantly surprised that food and drink is cheap. Which it will need to be as you will find yourself eating twice as much as you usually do to make up for all the training and you will probably still lose weight as I lost 7lbs and I was eating a tremendous amount. For example half roast chicken, jacket potato and as much salad as you could eat from the salad bar price $7.00. Whole three course Mexican meal with drink $11.

Just as a side note those of you who take supplements they are approximately half the price they are here for protein bars about $1.50 and box of 42 Myoplex for $65 and the list goes on, for energy drinks like Gatorade and powerade they are even cheaper as some in the supermarket are 89c for half a gallon,

But I digress. There is a pretty busy club and pub scene around the area, with a few uhhhum strip clubs in Davenport and a lot of clubs, pubs and outdoor barbecues in near downtown Rock Island a short drive from the area. If you are into golf and fishing (I’m not) then you will also have stuff to do as lots of guys at the gym are into that stuff to help them relax and if you chew tobacco as well then the guys will adopt you as one of their own. There are also malls the cinema and other stuff to keep you occupied when not training so it isn’t all bad.

I also managed to get hold of a copy of Inside The Cage. Pat’s instructional tape released through dojoTV.com and it’s really good. It tries to cover all ranges in 90 minutes and succeeds in giving some nice tips in all areas, some stuff I’ve never seen before that was simple and effective. I may review it at a later date. The last thing I will mention is I spoke to Pat about giving a seminar in the U.K as you may have seen in a previous thread (on the SFUK Forum) so when the time is closer I will let everyone know what is going on regarding that.

The only thing that remains now is to give a shout out to all the people that helped me with this trip. I would like to thank Jony and Dom of SFUK for getting me some T-shirts in quick time. Dexter Casey for giving me some insider information before I went. Massive thanks to Jens ‘Little evil’ Pulver for all his help and generally being a cool guy during my whole stay. Big thanks to Pat for all the training and the cool T-shirt, Big Tim Sylvia and Jason Black for their hospitality. You are all cool guys and thanks for not beating me up too much. Also like to thank all the guys I met and rolled with as they were all top blokes and helped me get a lot from my trip.

Thanks for reading.

Suley - posted on SFUK 31 August 2001