Gracie Barra black belt Edwin Najmi was invited to train with former UFC champion Rafael dos Anjos ahead of his upcoming MMA fight.

Najmi -- a Pan champion and World silver medallist -- wrote this report of life inside a professional MMA fighter's training camp.

I was brought in by Philipe "Furao" Della Monica to help Rafael dos Anjos with his next fight. I had trained with Rafael a couple times before but never really got the chance to hang out with him much so I didn't know what to expect.

I started training with him about two months ago, two to three times a week. Since then we have became great friends and I look at him and his team as a part of my extended family.

Mammoth for the next 7 days! @RdosAnjosMMA @beneildariush training camp ----> ?: @philipefurao pic.twitter.com/Iiq3sdeXvO

— Edwin Najmi (@EdwinNajmi) October 19, 2016

Originally, we were just going to train until three weeks out from his fight with Tony Ferguson (UFC Fight Night 98 in Mexico City) when he would leave for high elevation. So when Rafael invited me to go to Mammoth, CA, and Mexico City with him I was stoked.

Also, Rafael actually told me yesterday that I'm going to be one of his cornerman for his fight! I'm super excited for that, especially with it being my first time working the corner for a UFC fight and it being such an important fight.

I get back from a quick trip New York from filming a DVD and a seminar and made the six-hour drive to Mammoth to start the three-week camp at 9,000-foot elevation.

Everyone including Rafael and Beneil Dariush (who was also doing his camp there) had warned me of the effects of high elevation on cardio and recovery, but I didn't think much of it. I came to realize it plays a HUGE factor.

As soon as I got to Mammoth, we headed to the gym to start our first training session there, an 8 PM grappling session which Furao and myself ran.

Training, Training... #UFC #DosAnjosVsFerguson #DariushVsMagomedov #Nov5 @RdosAnjosMMA @beneildariush @aestrazulasmma @EdwinNajmi #EduPachu pic.twitter.com/1vvQFpYtCn

— PHILIPE DELLA MONICA (@philipefurao) October 18, 2016

We started with some wrestling and jiu-jitsu drills to warm up, three five-minute rounds, and then the training started. Eight six-minute rounds with a fresh partner every three minutes. We pushed Rafael and Benny to their limits, but they kept coming back like zombies and still attacking until the last minute.

I was getting tired after three minutes because of the altitude, so the fact that these guys did eight six-minute rounds is very impressive. After the grappling, the guys did a couple rounds of ground-and-pound drills to cool down and finish the training.



We're blessed with an amazing facility called SnowCreek here in Mammoth, so after the training every day we would relax and recover in the hot tub and sauna.

After training everyday the routine was to eat at a local healthy restaurant called Food Cache. Recovery is especially important at high altitude where your weight drops quickly, and you're dehydrated all the time if you don't drink tons of water all day.

Sample Daily Training Schedule

9 AM: We go on a nice 30-40 minute run to keep the weight down and keep the cardio up. Also to warm up the body before the sparring at noon.

10:30 AM: Small breakfast time, some dates and coffee. Don't want to eat too much so we're not bloated.

12 PM: MMA sparring time. This isn't my area of expertise, but I'm there to support the guys and shout for takedowns and keep them motivated. This is where they do the last full contact hard sparring before the fight, so it's important to finish strong and focused. The guys warm up for a couple 5-min rounds and finish strong with five 5-min rounds of hard sparring, which at the pace and intensity these guys are going is basically a UFC main event.

Afternoon: We'll go over our same recovery routine here and go eat at Food Cache

8 PM: Grappling training and ground and pound.

 

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