MIKE VARICK

My picks are in bold.

1. Cain Velasquezvs Antonio Nogueria - Very tough fight to call.  I wouldn’t bet on either guy.  I’ll be rooting for Big Nog but I think Cain might just wrestle Big Nog to death.  3×5 minute rounds are not enough time for a Hail Mary submission off his back.  Haven’t had a chance to see the fight yet.  But apparently Cain put away his wrestling snuggie and brought out his war hammer.
2. Wanderlei Silvavs Michael Bisping - Wandy is better in almost all areas of the fight game.  That being said, it’s his fight to lose.  If he shows up old and slow then it will almost certainly go to Bisping by a decision.  If it turns into a stand and bang contest with Wandy throwing BOLOs then I expect a Hendo style KTFO of Bisping.  But just in case, I’m preparing my suicide pill if the KTFO goes the other way.  WAR WANDY my favorite fighter!  This fight was too close for comfort.  Wandy won and I’m happy but I was far from impressed.  He needs to fight some joker at 185 for a highlight reel.
3. Joe Stevensonvs George Sotiropoulos - Joe Daddy should be fine here.  I like George but I don’t think he’ll be able to hang with Joe Daddy’s wrestling and won’t be able to submit Joe off his back.  Wow, did George look good tonight.  His jiu-jitsu was awesome, he put on a clinic.  Very impressive.
4. Keith Jardine vs Ryan Bader- Another close fight.  I’m going to go with Bader because Jardine is on a downward slide and has never really done anything.  Time for Bader to establish himself as a contender.  Good thing Bader was working on the left hook backstage because he used it to crush Jardine.
5. Cro Copvs Anothy Perosh - Normally I wouldn’t be picking Cro Cop here but the other guy took the fight on like a days notice.  Cro Cop wins, but not impressively.  I’ll probably pick him to lose to his next opponent.
6. Stephan Bonnar vs K-Sos - Pretty equal fight by two guys who really haven’t ever done anything.  Most things being equal I’m going to with K-Sos’ jiu-jitsu to be the deal breaker here.
7. Chris Lytlevs Brian Foster - Lytle’s a local boy, so I have to pick him.
8. CB Dollaway vs Goran Reljic- Reljic puts the Doberman down!
9. Igor Pokrajacvs James Te Huna - I have an old KOTC dvd and it’s littered with garbage fighters with the last name Te Huna, so I’m picking Igor just for fun.

I literally had 100 spam comments waiting for me to moderate.  So I’m thinking I might be going back to requiring an account for posting comments.

The new year is getting off to a decent start.  I’m hoping it really picks up next month.  I’ve been budgeting and managing my money very closely.  I don’t really have much to update today and probably won’t have anything for awhile.  So until next time…  Keep it real, or just follow me on twitter.

I don’t want to blog about my training anymore.  It just seems pointless.  I’m not Brock Lesnar so why would you care about how many rounds of bag work I do, or how close I got to hitting an arm bar in jiu-jitsu class.  Out of the maybe 10 people that will ever read this most don’t have the slightest idea what I’m talking about anyway.

I am training though.  I’m training pretty hard too, and I like it.  I don’t feel like I’m where I used to be, and that upsets me.  But I know, that with time and every class, I take a step back in the right direction.  Just going to grind through the beginning weeks of training and then maybe I’ll be more willing to tell you about it.

My truck isn’t starting right now.  It’s something to do with the fuel line I think.  I’m going to diagnose it tomorrow and hopefully get it up and running again.  I do not need a major problem right now.  The truck doesn’t ever have a problem starting up in Alaska, but as soon as the first Indiana snow hits, it dies.  How embarassing.

Went down to the gym tonight for another work out.  It went great but I’m already laying in bed and really tired, so this will be short.  Tomorrow is grappling, which I am excited about.

Warm-Up

• 2×5 min round of jump rope

Technique / Sparring

• 3×5 min rounds of holding pads
• 3×5 min rounds of hitting pads
• 6×5 min rounds of bag work
• 2×5 min rounds working on live sparring using just a jab
• 4×5 min rounds of body work (wearing the body shield and trading body shots with my partner)

Notes

• I seem to be breathing really well.  I can always hear myself exhaling when I punch and kick.
• My left shoulder became sore mid work out.
• My hook kind of sucks, my foot work is all off.
• Felt good throwing body shots.
• Completely exhausted at the end of the work out, but still enthusiastic to be there.

Yesterday was my first day as a substitute, well a substitute teacher’s aide.  I chose to be an aide to kind of ease me into the whole process.  I worked at the Youth Opportunity Center with children who have behavior problems and mild learning disabilities.  I actually had some fun working there.  The kids were really easy to get along with and help out.  I spent most the time helping them read or work out math problems.  I even got to play some kickball… which I totally dominated. lol

I went to the gym last night to get in my first training session in about 5 months.  I was looking forward to it, so I was quite disappointed when I got there and realized I missed it.  But I made sure to get in there today and showed up nice and early.  It was a striking class today, and to say it was fun or easy would be an understatement.

Pretty much, I warmed up with 2 rounds of jump rope then I was tossed into the bear pit.  I got into the cage with a guy who was bigger than me, and we went for 1 five minute round.  I thought we’d take it easy but there was none of that.  He hit me with more than a few punches that caused me to see stars.  When he would start to overwhelm me on the fence he wouldn’t let up.  I’m pretty sure he started to even throw harder.

I took a lot of shots from over hands and hooks.  I mean, I had my hands up and chin tucked so mostly my face came out intact.  But even though I was using semi decent boxing and protecting my head with my hands I was still eating a lot of shots and seeing a lot of stars.  My cardio also kind of sucked.  My arms felt better than I thought they would but it was still not impressive.

After 2 rounds with that guy, and a third much slower and technique focused round we got out the mits and worked technique.  That’s were I pretty much where I gassed.  I held the mits for another guy who was tired like me, so I don’t feel terrible about it.  Afterall, I’m just an amatuer striker whose been out of the gym for 5 months. 

After getting beat on for the first half of class the boxing coach wanted to work with me.  He put on the body shield and used his boxing gloves as mits (That way he could still blast me).  We did 4 five minute rounds of me throwing the majority of strikes.  He would counter occasionally but mostly it was just me getting my heart rate up.  The final two rounds I was tired and he turned it up a notch.  He started to come back at me a lot and was captalizing on my bad habit of covering up rather than ducking under or slipping a punch.

I got in there and like to think I showed some promise.  I keep my hands up pretty well and can throw decent punches, when I’m not dead tired.  I have a problem covering up instead of ducking and slipping, so I have to work on that.  But being the first time in a gym in so long, it was expected that I would get my ass handed to me.  And I’m terribly disappointed in Alex.

He said he was going to go.  Then he started making excuses about having too much homework.  Then, as I leaving to go work out, he was playing Madden and about to go over to his girlfriend’s.  But, I can understand how life and all that gets in the way of training.  I know what it’s like to rather spend time with your girlfriend or let schoolwork pile up.  So I’m not hating, but it’s just unfortunate for him.  I guess I’m fairly lucky to be single and out of school… when it comes to training anyway.

Here’s how the entire work out went tonight.

Warm-Up:

• 2 five minute rounds of jump rope

Sparring / Technique:

• 2 five minute rounds of full go boxing
• 1 five minute round more focused on boxing technique
• 1 two minute round of mitt work
• Lazy bag work to stay warm
• 4 five minute rounds working on my boxing with Coach wearing body shield

I’m working as a substitute teacher tomorrow.  Well, actually, a teacher’s aide.  I only had two assignments to choose from at the time and the other was a half day.  Plus, I’m nervous and figured it would be a nice ice breaker to have an actual teacher with me to kind of guide me through the first day.  Then after that I’ll be brave enough to run my own class.

The real thing I’m excited about is training after work.  Getting back in there and grapping and doing some jiu-jitsu is exactly what I’ve been missing lately.  I can’t tell you how stoked I am about tomorrow.  I’ll try to throw down an update tomorrow night to let you guys know how it went.  Wish me luck for tomorrow I take a step down the right path for once.

Tuesday is a big day.  It could be my first day as a substitute teacher and I’m getting back into training.  Alex and I found an mma gym right by our house.  We stopped in last Wednesday for a free class to see if we liked it.  It was a striking class and we, along with another new guy, worked some basic combos on the pads and bags.  The guy holding the mitts for me said I was ready for the pro class.  My technique was definitely there, but my cardio was not.  Even though I never really had cardio for striking.

For the most part my striking has been self-taught.  I’d say for about a month or two back in 2006, when I was training at Nemesis MMA, I had a striking coach.  Since then its pretty much been me doing bag work or sparring, learning technique the hard way.  And I’ve always been a ground fighter so clinching and takedowns were always more of the focus for me and thats why my striking has never really come along.

I’m hoping now that I’m at this new gym I’ll be able to improve upon my striking and overall cardio and fitness.  That’s why getting the job as a substitute teacher is exciting.  With working the standard 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. I’ll be free to attended every class I want at the gym.  I could go in early and work on the basics and help other guys come along and then stay for the more intense and specific pro class immediately following.  I’m looking forward to getting back in there and cracking some heads.  Tuesday is a grappling day too, and that’s my bread and butter.