All posts by Absolute MMA

Last Friday, doors opened at 6 pm at The Ukrainian Hall on Russell Street in Essendon, and the VAMAA Fight Night for February was underway! We had two of our amateur team members competing on the card, organized by the Melbourne Fight Club. Duy took out a win via first-round stoppage, and Cindy Huynh (CBD) sustained a loss via decision in her debut match, against an experienced opponent with three fights experience. We are supremely proud of both our students, who looked composed and strong in the ring and displayed great technique! Well done team! Read More

Legion 11 saw our very own Chris Wase step into the octagon against opponent Shaun Etchell in a match for the Legion Bantamweight title down south in Tasmania. It is always great to get the wins in your fights but sometimes a loss can be just as impressive. Chris stepped up to take on a really tough opponent. He broke his hand early in the first round and still kept fighting hard to the 4th round and it was a really back and forward contest all the way through. He utilized his legs kicks really well and would have stopped most people with the damage it did to his opponents lead leg, it was impressive display of toughness from his opponent to keep fighting. There will be a few lessons to take from the fight and know that it is not the result you were after Chris, but you should be really proud of the effort your put in and you displayed a lot of great qualities that are unteachable.

Overseas in sunny Thailand, Julia Nyman from our team in Phuket took on her second Muay Thai fight, after getting a feel for the ring in her recent debut match. Julia has now been training with us for about three and a half months, and we would like to congratulate her on her second win via KO in the second round! Another stellar performance for Julia, who has now won with back to back knockouts in both her matches! We are looking forward to seeing Julia get back in there for her next bout soon.

Photography: Dogs of War Photography, Absolute MMA Thailand. 

Last weekend on Sunday the Abu Dhabi National Pro 2020 took place at Monash University, Clayton. While several of our athletes competed on the day, and we are proud of all of their efforts, we would like to highlight a few standout performances. Brown belt and Coach Vince Rogato took out gold by dominating in points in the final against his opponent and Juliette Brillet took out a double medal with bronze in her division for women’s blue belt in the gi, and a gold in no-gi. The recently promoted purple belt Hugh Boyd followed up his mother’s recent win at No-Gi Worlds (Lisa Boyd), taking out gold in no-gi after two matches. What a family of champions, great work team!  Read More

Welcome to 2020! Our grappling team kicked off the competitive season of the New Year this weekend at Grappling Industries, held at Coburg Basketball Stadium. Grappling Industries is a great competition to be a part of, and we are proud of all of our students and staff from all three of our locations (Collingwood, St Kilda and Melbourne CBD) who competed on the day. We would like to say a huge thank you to all the friends and family who came down to support the Absolute MMA team this month, your presence is greatly appreciated by those competing. Irrespective of whether you took away a medal or not, we would like to congratulate you on furthering your grappling game in competition, and taking away an invaluable experience that will only move you forward in your martial arts journey! Read More

Ah, January. The first month of a fresh New Year. A time for beginnings, to set goals, and evaluate where you want to be in the future. While we are big fans of goal setting and aiming for your dreams, we want to make sure our members are setting achievable, realistic goals that will put them on the path to long term success, and not just that of the short term! Read on for our three top tips and tricks on how to achieve long term success.

1. Consistency over intensity

Settle, petal! We’re all for an intense workout, at the right time though. If you’re returning from a couple of years off, and not in the best physical shape, you may do yourself more harm than good by throwing yourself head first into five classes a week. Let’s aim to find a sustainable routine, and whether that for you means starting slow and building up gradually from one class a week, that’s great.

Even if you have been training consistently, remember to listen to your body. Finding a volume and intensity that will keep you on the mats for months and years is preferable to burning the candle at both ends and doubling your costs on physio!

2. Get that R&R…Rest and Recovery. 

Gains also can happen off the mats, in the kitchen and on the couch. If you are training like a beast, you have to rest like a beast. Effective nutrition, sleep, hydration and rest days all allow you to give it 100% when you are at training. Perfect practice makes perfect and you can only apply yourself effectively if you have done the work when you aren’t at the gym.

3. Get involved in the community

If you ask our members why they love training at Absolute MMA, one of the most common answers is “the people”. We are extremely proud of the warm, supportive community that we have built at our gym and love welcoming new members. There is strength in numbers, and our community is definitely a resource that you can call upon for strength when you are in need of motivation. Reach out to your fellow students! Plan a drilling session together outside class hours, or organise to lift weights with a buddy to spot you.

Feeling shy, or a little uncertain? Take it from our members themselves!

“Everyone is super supportive and always happy to jump in and lend a hand if I’m struggling with anything. I’ve made so many lifelong friends at Absolute, I couldn’t imagine training anywhere else!” – Stephanie Scipione

“Absolute MMA has bought some amazing people into my life. I’m very grateful for that.”- Adrian Mannix

“You can literally walk into any class and immediately connect with your training partners, everyone is always so helpful to one another and the comradery between the coaches and students is very special to be a part of. You can set yourself any short or long term goals and know that you have the support of the coaches and your training mates.” – Anica Wajswelner

Photography: W.L Fight Photography, Apryl Eppinger, Emilie Yap. 

Written by Matt D’Arcy and Emilie Yap.

Matt and Emilie have a combined amount of over 15 years of experience in the fitness industry and wish all of our members, new and old, all the best with their fight and fitness goals in 2020.