I recently had the chance to speak to Joel Jamieson, author of Ultimate MMA Conditioning and former Strength & Conditioning Coach for PrideFC. Joel coaches world champions and is heavily involved with the MMA world on many levels, and I’ve been thoroughly impressed with his level of expertise, so I thought I’d let him break down three fights from Strikeforce Challengers 9 from an S+C viewpoint.
Caros Fodor is out of AMC Pankration and trains at Joel’s gym frequently, so I started out by asking him about his thoughts on Fodor vs. Diagne.
Caros is a powerful fighter. He did a great job of pushing the pace which is an important part of the game and constantly coming forward and pressuring the other guy, pressure pressure pressure. The big thing about being able to maintain that pace is that a lot of guys can’t and they’re going to gas themselves out but he’s been trained well by us and that’s been his style since the beginning. His opponent is a Sanshou fighter and that kind of guy needs space to work his striking. Caros really had the perfect game plan in closing the distance, always pressuring him, staying on the inside, beating him up in the clinch and then taking him to the ground and working submissions. He just didn’t have the distance and wasn’t able to work his game. He was frustrated and was taken completely out of his game; he was letting Caros dictate the pace and dictate where he was going and he got beat as a result of it.
Although many people thought Roxanne Modafferi was controlling the 1st and 3rd rounds of her bout against the champion, Sarah Kaufman, Joel did not seem to think this was the case. Here’s his take:
The main thing that I saw was that Kaufman was much stronger. Even though Modafferi had solid technique and those long arms, Kaufman just overpowered her and was able to control the inside game and when Modafferi took her to the ground she was able to just tie her up and get up. She was hard to get to the ground but when Modafferi did get her there it looked like she was just worn down by Kaufman’s strength. And at the end, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a girl pull a slam like that, it definitely takes a good amount of strength to pull off.
There were a couple of exchanges where Kaufman landed some solid shots, she did a good job of rocking her, she looked like she was okay but Kaufman definitely landed some solid shots. I would say she was winning the fight honestly; she did a better job of controlling the pace and was landing more solid shots than Modafferi, controlling the game with her pace and not letting her get anything on the ground. Definitely a good fight. Crazy ending.
Joel’s thoughts on the main event?
Del Rosario looked good. I was impressed. He was way quicker and far more athletic than Mahe. His footwork was better; he was working in and out, he was working angles, he was throwing kicks and knees. He really dominated. He was even winning the inside clinch game and you’d expect the other guy who had twenty pounds on him to win the inside war, but he was losing even the clinch war. Del Rosario was much more athletic and better all around.
Thanks again to Joel for the analysis. Make sure to check out his website, 8 Weeks Out, for some of the best MMA strength and conditioning information on the planet.





