training

ESPN "First Take" brought Shaquille O'Neal's personal trainer on so he could talk about the Diesel's MMA training and mention the name of his gym and its website no less than a dozen times.  The interviewer here seems oddly amused by her own ignorance of MMA, and really presses this guy to give her odds on the possibility of a Shaq vs. Chuck Liddell fight in the UFC.  Let me put it to you this way, lady: there's about as much chance of that fight happening in the UFC as there is of you taking over for Larry King when he finally retires/dies.  Got it now?

(Props: these guys, who should really look into a less obnoxious watermark for their photos. Just saying.)

Well, Anderson Silva is officially dead to Wanderlei Silva now.  Here he is training Rich Franklin, who will fight “The Axe Murderer” at UFC 99 in Germany, and also presumably whispering to him about where to find the secret Brazilian “off-switch” to put Wanderlei’s lights out.  Hint: it’s located somewhere in the chin region.  In the past Brazilians have often balked at the idea of training a foreigner to fight one of their countrymen, but Anderson is like Bruce Lee: he teaches whoever wants to learn.  Especially if that person is about to fight someone he’s not particularly fond of at the moment.

(If you've somehow forgotten how awesome Renzo is, watch 0:16-0:22 of the above clip. Props to Kostakio.)

Though he hasn't competed since his DQ win over Frank Shamrock at EliteXC: Destiny in February 2007, don't assume that Renzo Gracie is retired from the ring. The 42-year-old MMA pioneer, who is currently helping train Matt Serra and Andre Gusmao for their fights at UFC 98, says that he plans to start preparing for his next fight at the end of this year, right after he opens two new Renzo Gracie Academies in Connecticut and New Jersey. As he told TriStateFighter, he would happily fight for "anyplace that [would] take me...they're willing to take an old man in, I will be there." Go here to listen to TSF's full interview with Renzo, in which he discusses Serra's preparation for Matt Hughes.

Bonus, after the jump: The trailer for Renzo Gracie Legacy, in which Renzo remembers Johnny Cash lyrics a little differently than we do.

JZ Cavalcante talks fight preparation, competing in Japan - Watch more Funny Videos

After spending a few days at American Top Team in Florida last week, I came away with a real appreciation for how hard Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante works in the gym.  From a grueling session with his strength and conditioning coach to his intense sparring matches with WEC champ Mike Brown and others from the ATT stable, JZ is putting in serious work to get ready for Tatsuya Kawajiri at Dream.9 later this month.  In this video he talks about the important psychological benefits of his training, whether he’d get in the ring with Fedor Emelianenko like Shinya Aoki did, and one of the stranger things that’s happened to him while fighting in Japan.

B.J. Penn shows us how he’s preparing to whip Kenny Florian’s text message-denying ass this summer – in some dude’s garage.  Okay, it doesn’t look all that impressive, but you should know that Marv Marinovich is the father of former USC quarterback and NFL washout Todd Marinovich, who just happened to be profiled in Esquire magazine last month (see, we read stuff).  In the article Marv is portrayed as a revolutionary in the field of sports training and also as a complete nutjob who tried to make his son into a football cyborg and wound up at least partially helping to make him into a drug addict.  Now he’s got his hands on B.J. Penn.  Look out, world.