Opinion: Good Coach vs. Bad Coach

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I’ve been watching old-school MMA again recently. It is a subject I dearly love and a subject about which I’ve written many articles. In viewing UFC 19 and UFC 20 back-to-back, I noticed an incredible contrast. On the one hand, there was the Lion’s Den, the first major team in mixed martial arts. I’ve addressed the camp previously and touched on how it ruined the careers of countless talents who should have been remembered as legends. So bad was the Lion’s Den that when one of its less talented charges, Frank Shamrock, left the gym and got some decent training, he went from a failure—he was told by adoptive older brother Ken to retire and stick to managing his gyms—to the greatest fighter of all-time in two years.

Then there was the first major team in MMA that was actually good: Miletich Fighting Systems. I’m not exaggerating when I say it was the exact opposite of the Lion’s Den in every way. The contrast was so stark that I realized one could make a hilarious good coach-bad coach argument comparing the actions of Pat Miletich to those of Ken Shamrock. Let’s begin …

HANDLING THE SPOTLIGHT

Bad Coach: When Shamrock was interviewed at UFC 19 about pupil Pete Williams’ victory over Jason Godsey, he reacted similarly to when he was interviewed at SuperBrawl 3, where Williams had won the heavyweight tournament. Namely, he lapped up the attention and made it all about himself. Williams didn’t win because he was a talented fighter but because of what the great Ken Shamrock had taught him at the Lion’s Den. Williams was just applying what a brilliant coach taught him, nothing more. Shamrock then rambled on about how amazing the Lion’s Den was and how he teaches his guys everything they need to know. Williams was an afterthought, and Shamrock was the real king.

Good Coach: After LaVerne Clark quickly stopped Fabiono Iha at UFC 20 and improved to 3-0 inside the Octagon, Miletich, the promotion’s welterweight champion at the time, was asked about his charge. Miletich laughed and demurred, stating that “Fists of Fury” had trained him as much as he had trained Clark. Miletich further stated that his student’s knockout was no surprise to him, because when they sparred together, Clark had beaten him up, too. Miletich then praised Clark even more, as he talked about his excellent standup, raved about his athleticism and beamed about how he considered him a natural fighter. There was nothing said about Miletich or his training methods. All credit and focus was given to the fighter.

CONDITIONING

Bad Coach: Shamrock’s fighters were notorious for gassing. There are so many fights in which Guy Mezger, Tra Telligman and even Shamrock himself were dominating early, only to gas out and get stopped. Mezger was utterly destroying Chuck Liddell in Pride Fighting Championships before his cardio betrayed him. Telligman was beating up Pedro Rizzo in their rematch at UFC 43 before he tired and got taken down and pounded out. Shamrock looked the best he ever had while abusing Kazuyuki Fujita on the feet at Pride 10 before having to call it quits due to what he thought was a heart attack; in truth, it was just a horrible shortness of breath. If Mikey Burnett had slightly better cardio, he would have more clearly beaten Miletich for the inaugural 170-pound championship, which would have changed his life.

Good Coach: Miletich’s fighters were famous for having excellent cardio and finishing fights strong. Matt Hughes and Jens Pulver were cardio machines. Pulver talks about a hill that was located close to their gym in Iowa and how they had developed a training system for running up and down it for endurance. Miletich was so good at training cardio that he could even take guys with poor conditioning and vastly improve them. A perfect example: Mark Coleman, the first heavyweight champion in UFC history. Coleman had lost two fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship—the biggest upset in MMA history to Maurice Smith and a head kick knockout to the recurring Williams—due to lack of cardio, as he was easily winning both fights before fading late. However, Coleman joined Miletich prior to 2000 Pride Openweight Grand Prix and show huge improvement in that area. Despite Pride’s brutal 10-minute first round, Coleman stayed strong and battered his opponents late with his legendary ground-and-pound, beating the great Igor Vovchanchyn in the final to resurrect his career.

ADVICE IN THE HEAT OF BATTLE

Bad Coach: The UFC 19 main event was a rematch between Mezger and Tito Ortiz. It ended with the famous video of Shamrock yelling and pointing at Ortiz from the Octagon cage. Shamrock had wise words for Mezger, of course. He would continually exclaim “Fight smart, Guy!” at the top of his lungs, no matter the situation. Brilliant stuff, and I have no idea why it didn’t help Mezger in the fight. Mezger also kept going for, with Shamrock’s encouragement, a kimura from his back, with Ortiz in his closed full guard. While this move can admittedly work with tremendous physical strength—as was the case when Mikhail Iluokhine submitted Randy Couture with it in Rings—it’s a low-percentage submission that was certainly not going to work with Ortiz’s short, powerful arms and Mezger’s longer limbs, which were also more exhausted at that point in the contest. The kimura from the back would be used as a transition and sweep for years to come, but that was not how Shamrock wanted Mezger to use it. Instead, the closed full guard kept Mezger on his back.

Good Coach: Miletich was always calm and gave clear, helpful advice to his fighters. He told them exactly what to do in either the grappling or striking phase. He also made sure they were well-prepared. For instance, against Iha, Miletich made sure to tell Clark to take advantage when the Brazilian would throw kicks, which he used to land several big punches that opened up a massive cut. He also had Clark drill his submission defense against heel hooks, which Iha went for before the fight was stopped. Obviously, Miletich was not perfect, especially as the sport continued to evolve and improve. However, he was certainly good at his job and the best for that era of MMA.

OVERACHIEVING VS. UNDERACHIEVING

Bad Coach: As I said, I’ve written entire articles about the talent that Shamrock ruined. Jerry Bohlander should have been a great early light heavyweight instead of a fighter who flamed out quickly before taking a normal civilian job as a police officer. Mezger should be remembered as one of the greatest light heavyweights of all-time, someone who had a real chance to surpass Ortiz, Liddell and maybe even Wanderlei Silva. Burnett, in my opinion, could have gone down as the greatest fighter ever, with a Georges St. Pierre-type career. He had an insane amount of talent and skill for that era of MMA. Instead, he was just another early burnout.

Good Coach: It says a lot when champions like Pulver, Hughes and Tim Sylvia proclaim they owe everything to Miletich and put forth their belief that their careers wouldn’t have been remotely as successful otherwise. From my own observations, while all three were certainly talented, they also possessed clear flaws that Miletich was able to mask or partially improve. All three legends are examples of overachievers in the sport of MMA for me. That is really the most any fighter can hope for.

Hopefully, I’ve made the difference between Shamrock/Lion’s Den and Miletich/Miletich Fighting Systems crystal clear. One did everything a coach is supposed to do, and the other was a poor excuse for the title who damaged and ruined what should have been all-time great careers. There is truly no understating the difference that a good coach can make.