Question for Ivan

[DIEZEL666]

Ivan,
How did you get involved in ultimate fighting? I live in Springfield, Va. and would like to get started. Any advice? What did your training look like? Thanks again bro.

 

[vitor]

DieZEL

You want to come to Maryland and train with me one day, we can do the old lift take some pics for the board. Let me know, I live in silver spring, near D.C

 

[DIEZEL666]

Vitor,
That would be really cool. I would like to shoot for sometime after the first of the year(work and family committments). Please PM me and we'll exchange info. Thanks again bro.

 

[tatmark1]

666 look up the HOOK AND SHOOT

 

[Ivan]

What's up man!

It all started when I was 19. I was always a scrappy kid and I was going to play football down in Cali most likely after HS...I had this girl though....and she wanted to stay in North Idaho and yes, I was whipped ao I sacrificed FB for wrestling, and moved in with the assitant coach. He was an alternate at Barcelona but also has so many acheivments etc etc it could make you cry! Anyway he really thought (after witnessing a few of my "incidents") that I could go with him to an NHB fight and be in his corner...he introduced me to this team that was fighiting amatuerly in the area. I began training with them, learning Jui-Jitsu and Mui thai Boxing....
As a wrestler I quickly adapted to the ground game, but also had a knack for striking. So soon I pretty much passed everybody on the team except for two others who advanced with me... Roger (my coach) and a really scrappy kid named Josh Thompson. <--------this guy fought at 155 but brang some serious pain! We would go out a lot and he got a lot of ladies, often men would get jealous and talk shit etc....big guys too, man I cannot tell you what he has done to some people. It was stupid I know, but one incident in particular made the news and papers ...of course the papers lied there ass's off!
Anyhow I fought my way through amateur ranks stomping everybody. Soon enough I had a shot at the World Belt (in amateur league----basically this is for the top guy in the amateurs) And I knocked the guy practically out of the ring! Good old uppercuts! So I won the belt in Portland, and then I had the option of staying amateur or going pro and fighiting in the big leagues...I decided to stop school for then and concentrate completely on fighting... Let me tell you the level of athleticism is much higher..You got guys with families that need the prixe money and bonuses etc, so they fight real hard.

My days began to look like this:
8:30am: Breakfast
9am: Run for 4 miles
11am: Do the errands for the day
Noon: Kickboxing training (hit bags, pads, do drills on accuracy speed bags, work on flexibility for kicking)
2pm: LUNCH!!!
4pm: Lift weights ---- I lift to be big and strong -- squats, cleans, benching) I say this because I do not want y'all to think I trained lightly and did lotsa reps etc..
5pm: Eat
6pm: Grappling --- this goes for hours, and 3 days out of the week we go live with slapping only... or we throw on some bigger gloves...I got the most fucked up in practices!!!
10pm and up until midnight: time for a woman or TV!


If you want I will post an article out of the newspaper when I was starting to come up a little!

PS --- Josh Thompson now fights for Team Shamrock in Santa Cruz, or San Jose, I can't remember one of those San's!
I fought on Franks Team for a fight in Pheonix it was awesome, then afterwards Tito Ortiz, Frank, and Mark Kerr along with Crazy Bob Cook and the rest of the team went out on the town! Some pretty gals in Pheonix also.

 

[DIEZEL666]

Ivan,
Thanks for the reply. That is all really impressive bro. PM me. I have a few more questions if you don't mind. Thanks again.

 

[Ivan]

I would also like to say this

I have met many men who (in the amatuers) thought that NHB fighting was for them, but when they get out there they choke or become so frightened they have tge corner throw in the towel the minute the bell rings!

Not to say anybody here is like this, but let me put this in perspective: There is nobody but your corner to help you, you can only blame yourself for what happens....You go out there, it is dark except for the ring, you get announced you are either bood or cheered, your music plays, you march out the the cage or ring. I prefer Cage. You see your opponent (I do not look at them) you focus on your triaining, you remind yourself of who you train with and why you are going to win. You look at the Referee, "are you ready?" he asks the other guy, Then he looks at you, I always nod enthusiasticly. Let's get it on! Be smart and cautious but not TOO cautious....
I like to wait for them to make a move, buyt sometimes if I smell fear I go for the kill, I like to badger them in the corner with jabs, then give em a big shove as they try to advance at you ( you might catch a punch here) as they fall back in the corner from the shove this is the time to light em up! Come with an offhand lead uppercut, strong cross, followed by another strong uppercut. Watch what he does....does he fall? Is he out? Or is he still standing bangin' with ya? Maybe he fell but did so to go to the ground? Time to dominate him with your strength/speed. KNOW YOU ARE BETTER, this why I HATE hearing about accomplishments of my opponents... ...
Go for a submission or continue to bang on him, using elbows primarily. If he still was standing with you and bangin', try stomping on his feet as a distraction --- you will have to smother him again to do this. As soon as you make contact with his foot he will either cringe in pain and bend slightly or you will miss and he might try to do it to you, or he is tough and it does not affect him. If he does cringe, BOOM!! Knee the fuck out of his face. If that does not finish him, pummel his ass to the ground and continue battering him!
If he takes everything you got and he is rarin to go, you got yourself a good long battle. The guy is tough...Break from him and take a few breaths unless he attacks. When the fight gets like this it is a chessmatch....

I had a fight like this in Miami, this tough Brazilian took an absolute BEATING, for 20 minutes the fight went! Afterwards he was taken to the hospital and all that jazz...I wen tot the lockeroom and thought I was gonna die! <------ended up I had 2 severely bruised ribs, one I think was cracked, and I had the worst headache of my life..I was also severely dehydrated.

 

[crackerjack414]

balls to the wall all the way, best of luck to you bro it sounds like you have what it takes to dominate the sport

 

[Ivan]

Cracker

I am taking a small leave, need a break from it all...it burns you out....I love fighting etc, but I also am young and have to make sure I am not ignoring any and all possibilities in my life....I still would like to have a college degree...

 

[dragonfire101]

hey bruther what up glad to see you around. keep in touch pm or e me. hey vitor we can get together train some time live on east about 4 hrs from ya. i not really a fighter though was a topped rank wrestle in new england and took some kenpo so i have some skills. Ivan if your ever in the east we all should hook up i need someone to teach me submission holds.

 

[crackerjack414]

yeah we all need a break every now and again this year is mine, Ive been playing sports since I was 8 years old, this is my first season where iam not doing anything except bodybuilding. Get your degrea even if it takes you a little extra time there are so many variables in life you can always fall back on a degrea if something else comes up.