Fulinkazan - MMA Fight Team/club

[Nate1481]

There are a other classes @ other locations under the Team banner, inc some sparring only, these are not included in this review as I don't go regularly.

Mark 'Spenna' Spencer is the Head Coach has a pro MMA record of 4-7-0 and a Brown belt in BJJ (I think from Helen Currie)

Several other guys help out with coaching, see the site: here

The Gym is a Thai Boxing place called King's, the space is a ok untill it gets busy (25+) then it gets a little close, there is a ring, weights tread-mill bikes etc and half a dozen bags of various types. The matted area is 1.5" jigsaw mats that are a little grippy for rolling (easy to mat burn) but good for stand-up, the is a bit of an issue that the steel poles that support the roof come through the mat in a couple of places, and they and the wall one side of the mat are unpadded and care needs to be taken when sparring near them. The ring is right next to the mat and used for extra space when busy unless guys are using it to prep for fights.

Officially the class runs 5:30-7pm, but there is often an open mat/sparring session for an hour before hand.
The warm up varies and is usually lead by Spenna, or one of the other experienced guys* if he's busy. General jogging & side steps then drills such as shrimping up the mat etc and or shadow boxing adding in other strikes & sprawls progressively, then form a circle & stretches.

The next thing is usually Kick-boxing sparing with shin pads & gloves, the club had a good few but some are old and people are encouraged to buy their own, most of the regulars have. The starts of with a '3-for-3' combos to warm up again for a round then 3 or 4 rounds with no clinch, the same focussing on clinching and some with no kicks but wrestling & dirty boxing. Depending on numbers there may also be a few doing takedowns.

New(er) guys are generally paired up with experienced people who can give them a few pointers as they go, or taken aside in a group if there are several to run though the basics.

Sometimes this is replaced with, or followed by pad work of various types, using focus mitts, thai pads, kick shields. This may relate to something spotted that lot of people are doing wrong, or be pre-planned to fit with a theme for the class.

Next up is 'wresting' technique, including stand-up positional bits & take downs. The technique is demonstrated a 3 or 4 times talking thought it then people pair of the practice, with Spenna and or others walking round giving pointers and answering questions for a few minuets. Back in to check everyone on is ok, then move on to the next part, or if people are having issues go back & run though the 1st one with some more pointers. This is repeated for 2 or 3 variations or related moves (e.g. options from one under hook)

The groundwork follows the same patten as the wrestling, sometimes splitting a more complicated technique in to sections instead of doing several. The techniques commonly follow a long term patten, e.g. look at guard passes for two weeks then look at attacking from side control, then escaping from side control...

The last 15-30 minuets is rolling sparring.

The sections are some what mix & match and one class will not include all of them. I have lowered the low rating on then sparring outside fight prep there is very little MMA sparring, largely due to the space required & the poles/walls that are unpadded. There are also frequently new people trying it out which combined with the lack of space restricts the level of sparring that is safe. The general instruction is good but the shortness of class means that there is no a huge amount of time to focus on one aspect.

*All have MMA fight experience and have been with the club a long time.

[Nate1481]

Fulinkazan has now moved to it's own Gym on the 2nd floor of the same building with a full cage wall, small cage & much more space. There are also classes most days now.

I really need to update this properly.