New tricks: I always like a coaching challenge. When jake shields came to NYC prior to his fight with Rousimar Palhares- the most feared lock locker in mma – he asked if I could help him defend the leg lock game. It seemed like a difficult assignment, as Mr Shields struggled in his initial sessions to defend moves that he had no training in. I told Mr Shields the only way to defend them is to learn the entire leg lock game. In a surprisingly short period of time he began making real progress. After a little training he went on to fight Mr Palhares in a controversial match where he successfully avoided the leg submissions of the Brazilian leg expert, only to get caught in an upper body submission. It did not matter – he saw the value in what he had seen. Soon he became a regular training partner with the squad. Mr Shields is a no-nonsense hard working sort of fellow who fit right in with the team. Very soon he started telling me of success in training rooms around the country with his new skills. Last night, Mr Shields fought a professional grappling bout against MMA legend Lyoto Machida at an event run by Musclepharm. Mr Machida has always shown fine grappling skills in MMA and has a win against grappling champion rafael lavato in submission grappling. Mr Shields was able to show his great improvements in lower body submissions by locking in a very finely applied heel hook to force a submission and show that new skills can indeed be built on to an established game and that change is always possible if a commitment is made. It was a great result for Mr Shields and a testament to his dedication to come such a long way to learn and in his confidence to use new weapons in a battle against such a skilled foe. Here you can clearly see the great pressure he imparts upon Mr Machida that forces a submission on a very tough opponent.
