Jets’ Calvin Pace plans to spend four-game suspension training with MMA star Randy Couture
The Jets are going to Houston next weekend to start the Rex Ryan era. Calvin Pace is going to Las Vegas.
And he’s hoping that whatever happens in Vegas doesn’t stay there.
Starting Friday, the Jets outside linebacker began serving a four-game suspension, handed down before training camp for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing supplements. Instead of passing the time in New Jersey or at his home in Atlanta, Pace will spend the next two weeks working out with Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) guru Randy Couture.
Pace hopes to accomplish enough in Vegas to ensure that he’s football-ready when he returns Oct. 5, when the Jets begin preparations for a Monday night game in Miami.
“The reason why I’m doing MMA is it’s probably the closest thing you can find to football as far as conditioning, cardiovascular and the physical aspect,” Pace said after the Jets’ 38-27 win over the Eagles Thursday night in their final preseason game. “I’m not going to be fighting and I’m not going to be getting hit. I’m just going to be training my behind off.”
Pace will have company. He will be training with Saints defensive linemen Will Smith and Charles Grant, both of whom are serving league suspensions for similar violations. MMA is a growing sport, if you can call it that, and professional athletes are starting to use the MMA training regimen for conditioning purposes.
“I want to come back the way I left – in shape and focused,” said Pace, who concluded a terrific preseason with extra playing time against the Eagles.
Defensive end Shaun Ellis, too, is leaving the team, as he will serve a one-game league suspension, stemming from his marijuana bust last November. Ellis, who has missed only four games in nine seasons, will stay at his Long Island home, working out on his own.
Without Ellis and Pace, the Jets’ top two sackers last season, the pass rush loses a lot of its bite. That could be trouble against a Houston offense that features emerging quarterback Matt Schaub and stud receiver Andre Johnson. Ellis’ backup, Mike DeVito, is nursing a pulled hamstring, adding more concern.
“It’s huge,” linebacker Bart Scott said of the Pace and Ellis absences. “You can’t replace them. Everybody just has to take a little more on their shoulders.”
Pace will be replaced by the much-maligned Vernon Gholston, who ended a disappointing preseason Thursday with his first NFL sack.
