Former lightweight world champion and current top welterweight title contender Rafael Dos Anjos (28-9) has seen just about everything when it comes to fight training over the course of his nearly 14-year career. When he witnessed, first-hand, coach Jason Parillo’s approach at his private RVCA Training Center in Costa Mesa, CA, Dos Anjos liked what he saw enough to eventually decide to make Parillo his head coach.
Still, the Brazilian didn’t rush into the seismic decision of changing head coaches and gyms. A friend brought Rafa down and he worked with me for a bit, Parillo recounts to us in an exclusive conversation days before dos Anjos’ interim welterweight championship contest against Colby Covington (13-1) June 10, in Chicago, IL.
I think he’s the type of guy who likes to test things out, first, to see what’s what.
Evidently, dos Anjos took to Parillo’s individualized and technical training. The 33-year-old has won three-straight fights since moving up to welterweight in 2017, and appears to be sharpened and rejuvenated.
There’s no question that dos Anjos has received great coaching in past years as a part of other gyms and teams, becoming a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and an MMA world champion. Still, at this point in his career, he tells us that Parillo’s athlete-centered coaching is greatly appreciated.
For sure, the individual attention makes a difference, he says.
At other places, you’re going to a group class. So, every day you work on whatever is being taught in that group class, whether or not it’s something that fits your game or is what you need to be doing for your next fight.
Parillo, standing at RDA’s right side, elaborates on his approach, which he’s used to help others like BJ Penn, Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino, and Michael Bisping win world title fights.
There are places that have big rooms full of guys, great guys, and you just kind of go around and spar with whoever is around, he begins.
For our guys and gals, because we’re private I get to focus each session for every fighter on that fighter. I bring in specific people to spar with them. So, when it’s sparring day, it’s Raphael’s day. He isn’t trying to get in work with whomever is around. I’m there, the sparring partners we’ve selected are there, and it’s all about those two people in the cage at that moment, just like it is during the fight.
Dos Anjos also enjoys the equipment available at Parillo’s private RVCA gym. Also, having a cage to train in makes a big difference, he continues, before Parillo adds on.
You feel the fence, you get used to working off of it.
Dos Anjos then reminds of the footwork benefits of working inside the same environment one competes in on fight night. You get to practice cutting off the cage and getting out of the corner, he goes on.
In a big, open room, when you’re not working in a cage, you can just run away (laughs).
Dos Anjos improved a great deal in his Muay Thai kickboxing skills in recent years, but also enjoys the fistic details he gets from the former professional boxer Parillo, now. I think working only on my Muay Thai for so long, it made my hands suffer, he reasons.
With Jason, I’ve been able to work on my hands more and start improving them.
Still, the fighter is careful to explain what Parillo’s longtime charges know to be true – that the coach is a true and full head MMA trainer.
Jason is an MMA coach, not just a boxing coach, he explains.
He understands the whole game.
The pair have an apparent easy comradery, adding onto one another’s sentences, joking and sharing inside jokes throughout the conversation. According to the coach, their connection came pretty quickly and for simple reasons.
We got along pretty quickly, he says.
He’s a real fighter. He’s a real, gritty fighter. He works hard. Plus, and when you coach for a living you shouldn’t be too picky and work only with people you get along with because you might starve that way, but we got along well from the start. He’s got a great personality, he’s always cracking me up. We put in a lot of work, and the days would be pretty long if you can’t talk with a guy, if there were no smiles or laughs along the way.
Parillo and Dos Anjos certainly seem to have plenty of those, as well as some big wins under their belt already, with another one hopefully on the way. After chatting with them, Parillo introduces us to dos Anjos’ Muay Thai coach, Eduardo Pamplona de Oliveira.
Dos Anjos is so well-rounded that at this point it’s tough to typecast him, stylistically. He does, however, have an especially nasty clinch game – an area that his Muay Thai coach expresses a great deal of confidence in as we discuss the upcoming fight.
Still, getting close enough to clinch can be a risky gamble in a fight against a wrestler of Covington’s caliber, who so far has been capable of getting underneath the hips of every opponent he’s faced in the UFC.
Pamplona de Oliveira seems certain that RDA can and will use his clinch striking effectively and without being an easy takedown target for Covington.
His hips are very strong, the coach says of Dos Anjos.
For a Muay Thai fighter going against a wrestler, strong hips help a lot. Of course, Rafael also works with a great wrestling coach, but when we’re in the clinch, striking, his hips, along with his attacks help with dangerous wrestlers.
Dos Anjos’ team is also encouraged by the fighter’s improved energy, mood, and strength since moving up to welterweight. He’s happier, healthier, stronger, Pamplona de Oliveira says, looking to his right over at Dos Anjos with a smile.
Before, he’d have to worry, training hard without eating much. Now, look at him. He feels good, he looks good.
About the author:
Elias Cepeda is a host of Sports Illustrated’s Extra Rounds Podcast, a staff writer at FloCombat, and has a regular column for The UG Blog.
•Follow RDA on Twitter…
•Follow Jason Parillo on Instagram…
•Follow Eduardo Pamplona on Instagram…
•Follow Elias onTwitter…
