MMA

“The only reason that I won that fight was because of CrossFit New England,” says Eric Cusson, a mixed-martial-arts champion and CrossFitter out of CrossFit New England. He says CrossFit gave him the endurance and mental fortitude to win an important tournament.

According to Cusson, CrossFit provides more than a physical benefit. It provides a mental edge. He says he became a fighter and a skydiver to conquer his fears, and he… Continue Reading

Jack Goodson examines the link between mixed martial arts and CrossFit.

Fight Gone Bad—famed mixed martial artist B.J. Penn named it. CrossFitters both love and fear it.

The workout, a benchmark in the CrossFit community, was designed to match the metabolic demands of an organized MMA fight. Five minutes on, 1 minute off for 3-5 rounds. Sounds simple enough.

Sure. Words such as “brutal” or “savage”—and assorted others—come to mind… Continue Reading

John Hackleman is best known as the man in the corner of former UFC champion Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell, but he’s also the trainer behind a host of other martial artists.

In this video shot at Hackleman’s MMA center, we meet the rest of the Pit Fight Team—including Antonio Banuelos, Michael Gahan, Gregg Baker Jr. and Veronica Castilleja—as they train under the Pitmaster.

Also on the team but not featured in this training session… Continue Reading

Pitmaster John Hackleman offers ideas on how athletes and trainers can measure the quality and quantity of martial-arts fitness training.

One of the core tenets of CrossFit is intensity as measured by average power. This is a pretty easy concept to evaluate in most of the CrossFit movements. However, in the world of mixed martial arts (MMA), coaches face some daunting tasks when it comes to measuring athletes’ workouts.

When I was first introduced to… Continue Reading

CrossFitter Kyle Maynard was born without hands and feet but has overcome all challenges to become one of CrossFit’s most inspirational athletes. In this video shot at Tony Blauer’s Tactical Training Center in Virginia, Maynard talks about his recent MMA debut on April 25, 2009.

Maynard has been wrestling for years, so he’s no stranger to one-on-one physical competition. Still, wrestling in high school and college is different from being locked in… Continue Reading

Episode 68 of CrossFit Radio was broadcast at 6:00 p.m. PDT on May 20, 2009.

01:55 Mike Minium from CrossFit Oakland was the first guest. His affiliate won The Affiliate Cup Challenge in 2008. Mike discussed how his team prepared for last year's competition. He explained how this year's competition will run and how the way he’s selecting his team has changed. Mike also talked about competitions CrossFit Oakland has for its… Continue Reading

You can read a book about the sea. You can look at a video about the sea. But if you never take the real plunge you don’t know what the sea is actually like! Well, I took the plunge in the CrossFit Sea at the Level 1 cert in San Diego, and this is my little story.

Let me first introduce myself. My name is Henk Verschuur; I am the president of the Dutch Martial Arts Federation (a… Continue Reading

The Muay Thai clinch is a dangerous position. It presents a variety of offensive opportunities in the form of punches, knees, and elbows, and it can quickly lead to a knockout. The clinch, sometimes also called the "plum," consists of one fighter controlling the head of his opponent, using weight and gravity against him, while delivering strikes to his head and body.

In previous articles I discussed… Continue Reading