Din Thomas reveals the truth about MMA

About three weeks ago Tyron Woodley’s head coach Din Thomas took a short break from their UFC 235 world championship training camp to visit my academy, Foundation Chicago, and taught a great seminar on his Top Game System for MMA. Reflecting for the past few weeks on Thomas’ seminar instruction, conversations we had about past Woodley bouts, as well as his upcoming title defense against the dangerous young contender Kamaru Usman, has helped me appreciate even further a fact I’d already held true prior – that what Woodley and Thomas have done together is special and based more on technique and strategy than most of the world appreciates.

The cerebral nature of Woodley’s performances under Thomas’ coaching is mostly overshadowed in popular discussion by Woodley’s physicality. True enough, Woodley is fast, and strong – traits that he’s doubtless worked hard to develop on top of whatever possible innate talent came to him as a child.

Still, fast and strong doesn’t make a fighter unique, at least not at the elite level. That Woodley oftentimes finds himself as an underdog against opponents, even as champion, is evidence supporting the erroneous idea that he is just some unskilled, unthinking freak of nature that can and should be felled by supposedly more well-rounded opponents.

Yet, fight after fight, the reigning champion finds himself overcoming completely different challenges, with Thomas and his other excellent coaches in his corner.

Stephen Thompson was a more versatile and experienced striker, taller than Woodley and also capable of closing space with his feet as fast or faster than the champ. Woodley managed to beat Thompson.

Robbie Lawler matched Woodley’s one-punch KO power and added to it more fight experience, a granite chin, and excellent defensive wrestling. Woodley managed to knock out the then champion.

Demian Maia’s durability made him a tough man to stop on the feet, and his peerless finishing ability on the ground, even off of his back, made him a uniquely tricky puzzle for the wrestling-based Woodley, who had to – and did – find a way to both out-score and stay safe against Maia, who was certainly capable of winning on the ground should he have been taken down.

Woodley also managed to beat the much younger Kelvin Gastelum, who didn’t make weight for their contest and is now the number one contender 15 pounds up a class at middleweight. Josh Koscheck was the far more experienced MMA fighter and more accomplished amateur wrestler when they met and was felled by Woodley.

Darren Till certainly didn’t possess Woodley’s championship experience, and everyone expected his grappling to be a liability against the champ last fall, but the far larger, taller, and younger challenger had to stay away from Woodley for an entire round before paying for the one moment of assertiveness he made early in the second round, getting dropped by Woodley, battered on the floor, then choked out. Time and again, Woodley beats people he supposedly shouldn’t, as well as those he should, more than occasionally shocking us with new ways of finishing opponents.

Like anyone else, should Woodley continue to fight on, and continue to do so against larger and younger opposition, the now middle-aged warrior might eventually lose his belt. But what Woodley has done with his longtime teacher Thomas during their current four-and-a-half year title run and reign without defeat is remarkable.

It’s also not accidental. The way Thomas spent several hours during the seminar in one position from on top in the half guard going over the most minute but crucial details of connection, set-ups, and finishes, all tied up in a principled but versatile top-position philosophy.

This gave me new eyes as I re-watched Woodley’s submission wins over Till, Salvador Woods, and Rudy Bears.

Where there may be plenty of muscle and talent with Woodley as he dominates on top in bouts, there’s also a precision and attention to detail when it comes to controlling position on the ground, and setting up finishes with tactical strikes, all clearly taught to him by Thomas. Some of the finishes, control concepts, ground strike set-ups, and choke techniques, were so different than anything I’d ever been taught in now nearly 20 years of training and competition that I initially fooled myself into thinking I’d never seen them before.

In fact, I had. Going back and watching old Woodley bouts I realize that his grips, his angles, and his patterns for some of his most impressive wins and finishes over the past decade were precisely the types of things Thomas taught us. It’s understandably difficult for physical specimens like Woodley to get attention from the masses for the small but key notes of their games, when so much of their success hits big, major, and loud chords.

Thomas’ approach to coaching has clearly made a big impact on Woodley’s career, however, and very well could be a large reason why Woodley didn’t go the passing way of so many other former solid amateur athletes and physical beasts when it came time to transition to MMA. Many coaches would not attempt or be knowledgeable enough to put any fine points on an athlete the caliber of Woodley.

Instead, Thomas got picky and made his mark on the now champion who he says is remarkably hard-working and humble. To Thomas, as he told us during the seminar, everything matters, all the time.

The difference between a great fighter and a good one is often how technical they are at the most atomized level of movement.

In order for a football team to effectively execute a play there’s a lot of people who have to do their job. A lot of people, explained Thomas. You don’t see it because you just see Tom Brady throw a touchdown. Everybody had to do their job in order to make it work. The same thing applies in this. Everybody has a job to do. … We neglect it all the time because we’re just thinking about the one thing – the punch, the finish – but everybody part has a job to do.

True enough, how often have any of us gone back and actually re-watched footage of Woodley dropping or knocking someone out, or quickly changing levels, closing distance and blasting through a takedown, and then broken the sequences down to all their parts to really appreciate the little things done well to make it all come together? Opponents sometimes remark how they think Woodley just bull-rushes, or ducks down and throws a blind punch.

If fans really think that, they haven’t watched things back in slow-motion, or been to a Din Thomas seminar where he covers closing the distance on the feet with punches and reveals that everything Woodley has been doing well for so many years was planned out and practiced out long before.

If your foot’s not in the right place, you’re missing something. If your hand’s not in the right place, you’re missing something, he continued. So, we have to make sure that everything is in the right place. If you’re going up against someone who is bad, who’s terrible, with no experience, it might still work. But the higher the competition gets, the better the person you go against, everything has to be in the right place.

Thomas works with some of the very best athletes in the world as a coach at American Top Team. Still, his philosophy on improving as a fighter is a democratizing one, and one that harkens back to his early days training with fellow tough friends in garages after watching tapes, on his way to becoming an elite light and featherweight, and MMA legend.

It’s just information. It’s an information-based game, he ended. So, [if you] just started a couple weeks ago, but if you just do it right, it doesn’t matter if you started a couple weeks ago or a couple years ago, or a couple decades ago. It’s just a matter of doing it right and having all your body parts in the right place. It doesn’t take a long time to do it, you just has to be disciplined enough to do it right. So, just keep that in mind. Time doesn’t matter to me, as long as you do it right.

About the author:

Elias Cepeda writes a regular column for The UG Feed; you can find Elias on Twitter @EliasCepeda.