Michael Bisping: Maybe we do train too hard

In the wake of a run of injury announcements that has never been seen before, UFC President Dana White voiced his opinion that his fighters are going too hard in training camps. White thinks that his very talented, top-level fighters are going head-to-head on a daily basis and setting themselves up for the injuries that have wrecked cards as of late. One of these fighters is Middleweight contender Michael Bisping, who was forced to withdraw from his scheduled UFC 149 bout with Tim Boetsch. Bisping commented on training and injuries lately:

“Maybe we do go too hard, but that’s the way you’ve got to train to get ready for a fight. You’ve got to train the way you fight. If you don’t train the way you fight, when you fight you’re going to be shocked.” – via MMAFighting.com

Bisping seems to think that there is no middle ground in training, that a fighter must go all-out or suffer the consequences in the ring. With the experience of many fights under his belt, he would be one to know the difference. Bisping was ready to fight Boestch regardless of his torn meniscus that will require minor surgery. He continued:

“I’ve never, ever once pulled out of a fight. Before the Ultimate Fighter final I was training with Georges St-Pierre, and I tore my posterior cruciate ligament, my PCL, several days before the fight, and I still went ahead and fought. I’ve done training camps with one hand. I’ve constantly fought injured, because that’s part of the game. That’s the way that it goes.”

Bisping seems to share in the sentiment that if you aren’t injured when you walk into the cage, you did not train hard enough. While this may or may not be true, the bottom line is that UFC cards are being announced early and wrecked later on by scheduling changes. Are fighters going too hard in training? Should they tone it down at the risk of fighting at a lower level? The answer is most likely in between, and injuries will always be an unfortunate by-product of MMA training.

Further Reading:Rua vs. Vera to headline UFC on Fox 4, Lombard vs. Boetsch at UFC 152