The Sports Business Journal (subscription required) reports on a cross-training of UFC athletes and the NBA’s Detroit Pistons. The program between MMA and the NBA seeks to eliminate the number of pre-fight injuries that UFC fighters have suffered over the years.
Stipe Miocic, Jessica Eye, Aljamain Sterling, Ryan LaFlare and Kevin Lee spent four days in Detroit working with the Pistons training staff at its basketball facility. In exchange, Pistons will spend four days at an “MMA-style” training facility in Las Vegas. One of the reasons for the cross-training is to expose MMA fighters to other training methods.
The sessions for the MMA fighters will focus on explosive movements, injury prevention and general training structure that NBA teams follow. The fitness sessions for the basketball players will focus on the MMA disciplines of boxing, BJJ, wrestling and muay thai. The MMA sessions for basketball players are voluntary although the team expects at least half of the Pistons to show up for workouts.
The UFC effort is led by former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin who works with the athlete marketing and development program for the UFC.
We got plenty of pics of our @UFC guests in action. #DetroitGrind Take a look: http://t.co/jVer22p5Hf pic.twitter.com/h1VPmovnrK
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) August 4, 2015
Payout Perspective:
The Pistons are not the first NBA players to explore the sport of MMA for cross-training methods. Roy Hibbert trained in MMA as far back as December 2010. For the UFC, it’s a unique way to explore other methods to keep its contracted fighters healthy and prepared for fights. The bottom line is that it wants to prevent injuries to keep its events intact. For NBA players, it’s another way to keep off-season conditioning fresh and new. Thus, one would think that this exchange program should benefit the UFC more than NBA players.
wow this is news?? two entities that cant sell tickets to save their ass!! bahahahahahah
FINALLY..
Two national unions, UNITE and Teamsters, announced today they are going to try and organize the fighters of the UFC.
Culinary Union 226, an affiliated branch of UNITE HERE, have also made attempts to unionize the Fertitta’s Station Casinos.
Failure to legalize MMA in New York and websites critical of the UFC and Zuffa, including UFC = Unfit for Children and Zuffa Investors Alert are examples of some of the actions that have been credited to the Union.
They need publicity with popular leagues hahahahahaha…..union,,ali act hahahahahahahaha bye bye dw
Seems culinary union is going nonstop vs fertitas….good for ufc fighters….topple the dw dictatorship….they talk too much hype on ppv buys and rousey gets 50x less than money may…
You guys are such idiots. The only people with a legit gripe about fighter pay are the headliners and most of them aren’t complaining. The only complaint those lower level fighters have is the likeness and rigidity of the contract. Go check out what boxers make on those under cards. Most people don’t comment on them because no one ever posts the under card full purses. Also, I would say those “unions” don’t give a shit about the fighters at all, it is just a money grab.
Ronda said she needs 50 fights to equal mayweather….she sounds content hahahahahaha
Tops self destructing because of the huge success of back to back UFC ppvs. Both of which will beat Gayweather’s last ppv coming up.
Yea D knows what the fighter think bahahahahahahahah D doesn’t even know what he thinks, he is a google robot retard!!
Sal doesn’t even know where he is at. He has no idea about his surroundings. Just a nut job.