When fighters at a 麻豆社国产martial arts studio clapped their hands and began their training session last week, it started like any other day, but with one exception 鈥� there was a UFC fighter in the room.
Jeremy Kennedy, a Surrey native, made the trip to The Sound Martial Arts to show students some of the techniques that helped him secure an undefeated streak of 11 matches in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which is widely regarded as the premier league for mixed martial arts.
Watching Kennedy fight can be a clinic in grappling and conditioning.
For example, in his March 2017 fight against Rony Jason, Kennedy appears to maintain his composure regardless of whether he鈥檚 in guard position 鈥撀� where his back is on the floor with his legs controlling the aggressor鈥檚 waist 鈥� or on top of his opponent.
鈥淢y style in and of itself is so high-paced that it tires a lot of guys out,鈥� Kennedy told The Chief.
During the match, which he won via unanimous decision, he also highlighted some his proficiency wrestling against a wall 鈥� a crucial skill in cage fighting where combatants often find themselves backed against the chainlink barricade.
A sampling of some of these skills were demonstrated to 麻豆社国产fighters last Thursday.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to come up and show what I鈥檝e learned down in the mainland,鈥� Kennedy said. 鈥淚鈥檓 sure I鈥檒l pick up some things from them, too.鈥�
It was the second time Kennedy was in town demonstrate ground fighting tactics, borrowing moves from Brazilian Jiu Jitsiu, which, along with wrestling, is considered the blueprint for winning grappling fights.
鈥淚鈥檓 going to build off the stuff I taught last time,鈥� he said. 鈥淟ast time I was doing half-guard escapes.... Now I鈥檝e learned more routes to go. I just have more entries and exits.鈥�
Half guard refers to a grappling position where the person on the bottom has control of one of legs of the person on top. The idea is that this will stop an aggressor from fully mounting the defender 鈥� a position from which maximum damage can be done.
Crouched on all fours, Kennedy demonstrated several moves that helped him gain body control over Mike Nasu, one of the coaches at The Sound.
The journey from a UFC cage to the 麻豆社国产gym all began years ago when Kennedy became acquainted with local fighter Cole Smith, who鈥檚 made headlines as an undefeated 3-0 fighter in the local Battlefield Fight League, or BFL.
Smith met Kennedy at a BFL match where they were competing in separate matches.
鈥淗e was in the cage and he was warming up,鈥� recalled Smith. 鈥淲hile we were warming up together I was like, 鈥楬ey Jeremy, I heard you were training in Thailand 鈥� I鈥檓 planning on coming out and meeting you and training.鈥� I was just joking. It was 100 percent just a joke.鈥�
Apparently it was the type of joke that Kennedy could appreciate, as he contacted Smith the next day and offered to hook him up with a sponsorship for a trip to Thailand.
Once they arrived in the country, both of them trained with Team Quest, a muay thai school that has rubbed shoulders with UFC greats such as Randy Couture.
After becoming fast friends, the pair stayed in touch, with Kennedy making the occasional trip to Smith鈥檚 home gym, The Sound.
It seems like both of them will continue to train together, as they鈥檙e expected to be hitting the state-of-art UFC gym in Las Vegas in the near future.
Both have matches to prepare for.
Smith will be getting ready to defend his bantamweight BFL title against Tyler Dolby on Nov. 18.
Kennedy will be fighting that same day in Sydney 鈥� in Australian time 鈥� in the UFC against Alexander Volkanovski.
