Exclusive: Greg Nelson: Training Lesnar & Sherk
By Dave Carpinello
In a PunchDrunkGamer exclusive, Dave Carpinello had a chance to speak with legendary mixed martial arts trainer Greg Nelson about training Brock Lesnar, Sean Sherk and the history of Minnesota Mixed Arts.
PDG: Let's start with your career, how long have you been a trainer/coach and how did you get started?
Greg: I have been a trainer since about 1993 when we first started fighting in Thai boxing tournaments. Then when mixed martial arts came around I started training fighters and fighting in that.
PDG: Have you always been competing professionally?
Greg: I started out wrestling first. I wrestled as a kid, through high school and then for the University of Minnesota. Then I started getting into Thai boxing in the Philippines and then it was just a natural progression to the next stage. Shooto was the first kind of mixed martial arts fighting that I did and then I moved on to competitive Brazilian jui-jitsu. I competed in the Pan-American games in Brazilian jui-jitsu and then did the grappling tournaments in Los Angeles. I just gradually competed in everything I could; as far as the combat arts are concerned.
PDG: Okay, let's talk about some of the fighters that you are training. You most recently oversaw the training of UFC newcomer Brock Lesnar. What was the experience like training Brock?
Greg: We started training Brock about a year and a half ago. He came into the gym one day and told us that he wanted to get into mixed martial arts. He trained for almost a solid year before he had his first fight last summer in L.A. with the Korean.
PDG: You mean the K-1 Dynamite show?
Greg: Yes, and that fight went pretty fast. Then after that fight we continually trained Brock to get him ready for whatever fight was going to come. And as everyone knows he ended up doing some negotiating with the UFC, signed and then came the fight with Frank Mir.
PDG: How do you think the fight with Frank went?
Greg: Personally I thought the fight went well. Obviously, I thought the stop by the referee was premature and I personally thought that Brock had won the fight. The way that Mazzigotti had stopped the fight and then he put Brock's hand up in the air. So I thought that the fight was over and if you had looked at Brock's expression he was a little confused and thought that he had won the fight. When the point was taken away I was thinking what the heck is going on, that had never happened in the history of the UFC. I have never seen a fight stopped and a point immediately taken away without warning. It is kind of sad actually. Before the fight Mazzigotti was in the dressing room and he explained to us that he would be watching for punches to the back of the head. So I asked him a straight question “What if the fighter is turning his head into the punches and gets hit in the back of the head?”. He told us that if the fighter turns his head into the punch that is a different situation.
If you watch the fight that is exactly what happened, he turned his head into the punches and got hit in the back of the head. So I thought it was kind of ridiculous. I got more irritated about the situation after the fight was over and we were back home. The UFC had given us a copy of the fight to watch and when I was going through the fight, I thought I heard Mazzigotti say something and I couldn't believe it when I backed it up and I heard Mazzigotti say “Did you get hit in the back of the head? Did you get hit in the back of the head? Frank said yes and that is when he stood up both fighters. But you know what? Brock doesn't make any excuses and that is the kind of guy he is. He told us he thought the fight was over when it was stopped and when it was restarted, he caught me and that's it, what can I say?
PDG: How surprised were you that Frank was able to catch him?
Greg: I was a little bit worried when Brock was standing over him while Frank was on his back. Then when Frank locked onto his knee I was yelling for him to get out. Brock jumped and took Frank with him about 3 feet across the cage. When the knee didn't come out then I knew he had a good hold on it. Mir is not the type of fighter to let go of all hold if he thinks it is a good one. Brock knew how to get out of that hold because we drilled that a lot. The bottom line is he turned too late and the hold was sunk too deep. He knows that he got a little anxious and he was kind of caught in limbo about should I still stand up or should I go down. He made the error and he knows it, so it's back to the drawing board and get ready for the next fight.
PDG: What about the punches that Mir was taking from Brock; Do you think he could have taken many more before he was out?
Greg: No, he was already halfway out when it was stopped. He was cut and you could tell that he was almost out of it. He was getting nailed until the fight got stopped.
PDG: How was the atmosphere and experience for you when you guys were on your way to the cage?
Greg: It was unbelievable; the people in the crowd were going nuts. I have been to a lot of UFC's with some of my other fighters but this time was by far one of the most electric situations ever. The people were so loud; you could see that they were really amped for this fight. It is obviously great for the UFC, as I can see that Brock has potentially great drawing power and is a fan magnet. After the fight, Brock got up and was very respectful about his loss and he made no excuses. You could see that the fans appreciated that.
PDG: Alright, let's get to another one of your top tier fighters. You are also training Sean Sherk. What is your training schedule like right now with Sean?
Greg: Right now he's basically just drilling and rolling. Usually, he doesn't get too extreme with his training until about 12 weeks before a scheduled fight. It's just a matter of training with jui-jitsu guys, rolling around and getting more and more comfortable on the mat. Just general overall training right now. Like I said his fight camp usually starts about 12 weeks out from a fight and then we will concentrate on nothing else but that fight.
PDG: When you get to that point, 12 weeks out; How many workouts per day and how many hours per day do you schedule?
Greg: Usually two to three training sessions per day with a couple of hours for each session.
PDG: So what was your take on the whole steroid situation with Sean and the CSAC?
Greg: Sean is an extremely clean fighter. I mean the guy is a health nut, it's pure to the point of almost insanity. He eats oatmeal raw straight from the bag and then washes it down with a glass of water. All of his vegetables are eaten raw and he rarely cooks anything so as the food doesn't lose any of its nutrients. He is very serious about his diet and his training regiment is obviously very intense. The fact that a guy that would eat that clean and take care of his body as he does would take steroids is ridiculous. There were so many factors that were on Sean's side of this case that if this case was held in a real court it would have been thrown out. There were so many errors made by the commission that would not have happened in a real court. It is just too bad that a guy who has trained that hard for so many years and a person who really criticizes the use of steroids to be accused of using steroids; it is really just too much. It was really disheartening for him.
PDG: What do you think of Sean's choice not to fight in California anymore?
Greg: He definitely does not want to fight in California anymore but obviously he is going to have to fight where the UFC wants him to. If it was up to him he would never fight in California again.
PDG: Who are some of the fighters that you are currently training that are up and comers that may be some MMA fans have not heard of yet?
Greg: We have gotten Nick Lentz, Nat McIntyre (lightweight); he is a WKA and IKF and ISKA world lightweight champion. Of course we have Nick Thompson training at the school, who is the Bodog 170 pound champion and Jesse Midas and Jacob Volkman; who is the three-time All-American at the University of Minnesota.
PDG: Doesn't Thompson have a fight coming up pretty soon in the new World Victory Road promotion?
Greg: Yes you will be fighting March 5 in Japan for the new promotion.
PDG: Is there anything that you would like to add about the school or anything else?
Greg: We have been training champions since the days when Dave Menne came out of their and fans should look for a lot of good fighters to come from the school in the future. If anybody is interested in the school they can get the information at www.mmaacombatzone.com
