Team UK Storm’s Pre-Fight Evaluation of Antonio Santorelli:

Antonio has come to prepare for his first Pro MMA fight at Stevie B’s gym. We assessed Antonio on substance, fitness and combat skills before any decision was made on Antonio’s training schedule.

Substance is what a man is (physically) at any given time. An assessment of mental substance can only be obtained after a period of time, in which mental condition can and does fluctuate. We do use positive mental ‘headology’ with all of our guys however mental conditioning is a responsibility for the individual. The payback for brainwashing always manifests itself much along the road.

So on assessing Antonio’s physical substance, we needed to work on mobile and static strength routines whilst coming down to his true fighting weight of 65kg. Antonio will be a much stronger 65kg fighter than he was at 70kg. At this point in time however Antonio is still unproven at 65kg so we will humbly decline to translate Antonio’s strength regime.

World Champion Braulio Estima coaches Antonio in BJJ, Sam who has produced Olympic class wrestlers coaches his wrestling. His boxing and Vale Tudo is overseen by Ande Roberts and has been sparring with quality such as Erik Paulson, Jeff Monson, Marc Goddard, Chris Rice, Ross Mason, Mick Broster, Roger Woodward, Paul Wilson, Paul Hopkins and many more quality guys.

Typical daily food intake:

My nutritional programmes are supplied by Jim Bolton FPF

Monday to Friday:

7.30am: Smoothie consisting of fruit, low fat natural yoghurt and protein powder

11.00am: Either grilled chicken sandwich on granary bread or chicken omelette

Turkey and potato salad and a banana.

1.15pm: Turkey stir fry with rice

3.15pm: Cottage Cheese with pineapple and vegetable salad

 

Training:

Between 8pm and 9pm: straight after training protein drink

10.30pm: Before bed. Another protein drink

Weekends: I let myself go a little and have 3 meals similar to above but do allow for meals out with my girlfriend or the odd takeaway.

 

Pre 5 week Run Up:

Just sitting here writing about my training and thinking ahead is giving me an adrenaline rush.

Training has gone really well up to this point thanks to some excellent coaching by all that who are involved in my team. I just can’t wait for my fight on the 18th of June. In fact I have been excited for quite some time now. My main instructors Ande Roberts and Mick Broster have pushed me to my limits in each session. I have had the hardest sessions ever having been on the receiving end of some nasty but nice ground and pound from Ross Mason and Paul Wilson. Training at Stevie B’s has stepped twenty gears recently. Not only have they brought in International coaches (Jeff Monson and Erik Paulson), I have had to endure running the streets of Acocks Green carrying a punch bag and run on the running machine strapped to a rucksack with a 20kg plate in it. It is killing me when I thought I was already dead! Talk about mental training!

Injury wise I have a slight strain in the hip/groin area that comes and goes. More recently though I have had bruised shins from Thai classes and kicking the heavy bags. These little niggles are nothing to shout about or stop me from training.

Come the beginning of June, I will start working part-time, which gives me more hours in the day to train and to have some chill time. My daily schedule is manic at the moment, running three times a week, sparring and technical work 4x week, full time job and I also teach Martial Arts four times a week. This schedule has left me worn out in the past, but now there is more time, to chill and to spend time doing absolutely nothing.

Can I wait for 1st of June? Hell no!

 

Week 5:

Week 5 started with an early forty minute run to set my week up. This was the first time that my mental training really came into it’s own as I felt tired and wanted to stop after only the four mile mark. Don’t know how I managed to carry on, I guess I owe it all to visualising entering the ring and leaving the ring victorious.

In the evening I did some weights and sparring with the club’s Thai fighters. A good little session was topped off when Paul Wilson and Roger Woodward turned up to put me through my grappling paces. I worked on clinch work, takedowns and the ground game with them.

Wednesday: saw me do a two and a half mile sprint. It took me around fifteen minutes, but my girlfriend said it was more like ten. To this day we still disagree as I think ten minutes is closer to professional athletics pace. I may be wrong, I may be right, but it was the fastest I have run.

In the evening I trained knees during my Thai class, which was followed by the MMA class. Stevie B put Chris Rice, Marc Goddard and myself through our paces in the evening’s training session. He put us in groups and all club members took their turn in pressuring us. The guys who were fighting had to stay in all the time. We must have done at least 8 x 5min rounds. I was physically knackered. Just when I thought it was home time, we had to do the farmers walk, a strongman exercise. My 20 lengths of the gym took me ages unlike Chris Rice, who legged it and finished in no time at all.

Thursday: morning, I woke up sore. My hip felt bruised, my elbow was visibly bruised and I had lots of little cuts all over my face.

Now it’s Sunday and my face is still showing some signs of Wednesday’s session and my hip is easing. Still it didn’t stop me training with Mick Broster for a couple of hours where we worked stand up techniques and then had a free-for-all roll.

Got home exhausted and had a little sleep. I think my weekend activity of driving home late to Gloucester to visit my Dad, who is in hospital, was taking it’s toll. After a little sleep I felt refreshed and ready for the evening’s session.

I wonder what is in store for me tonight?

 

Week 4:

The evening sessions start with a quick jump on the scales. All is good, I am 66kg, bang on and feel good. Ande put us through our paces this evening. Only Ahad and myself were around so we were both in for a tough work out. We started with some pummelling, followed by pummel to takedowns. If that was not hard enough on the old lungs we did many rounds of stand up to take downs. My fitness levels were well tuned to this regimental beat down by Ande.

Then, a silly move by myself led to my first major injury. I did not realise until after we finished training, when the normal aches and pains started to kick in. It must have happened when one of my kicks got blocked by someone’s elbow, because my foot had swollen and I had bruising around my toes.

Monday: I woke for my early morning jog but I was in so much pain that I thought I would give it a miss. The pain subsided slightly during the day and thought I would go to the Tap Out Academy to do some grappling. This only made the matter worse. I managed to struggle through the technical part of the session but had difficulties in any actions that involved pushing off with my legs. I gave the sparring side a miss to rest my foot and aggravate the injury more.

I blew my roadwork out for the rest of the week, so I could rest my foot.

Wednesday: Did some weights instead of my usual Thai class. I worked on chest, triceps and finished of with some shoulder exercises. I had a break and joined in with the MMA class that followed the Thai class. Once again we drilled takedowns and their defences. Paul Wilson (a blue belt in BJJ and a top class Thai fighter) made me work extremely hard.

Apart from teaching my classes, I gave the rest of the week a miss so that my foot could heal fully. Weekend arrives and I ease myself back into training with a light roll with my good friend and Kickboxing World Champion Ricky Dubidat.

Sunday: morning arrives with the usual session I have with Mick Broster. As I did not do any fitness work during the week, we went through a lot of work from Team Quest’s conditioning DVD, that included weights and cardio. No training Sunday night, as it was a Bank Holiday weekend. This was so welcome, as it gave me more time to relax with my girlfriend and rest my aching body.

 

Week 3:

Feel nice and refreshed after the long weekend off. Foot all healed up and I’m raring to go.

This was the week I went part-time with work. So how do I fill all this extra time on my hands? I speak to all coaches who decide I can utilise my time best by relaxing and going to do weights twice a week. My program for weights is designed for the all over body work out without building me up too much at the same time. A great thirty minute work out is followed by relaxation in the sauna and steam rooms.

Wednesday: night was the final ‘hard beat them down’ session before the fight. This was basically where the non-fighters just beat the hell out of the fighters. Wearing head guards for our own protection we subjected to many rounds of being pummelled. I was hit so hard on so many occasions that the room started spinning. I just wished there were more students my own size rather all the welterweights and above. After a while they all seemed to weigh the same – shit loads!

If that was not enough, I was informed that my original opponent has pulled out due to a fractured cheekbone, ouch that’s gotta hurt!

My new opponent now is Kyle Davis, the guy a fought and beat at House of Pain 2 under Semi Pro rules. Kyle is in my opinion a tough opponent. Even though I hold a previous win over him, I still am not taking this fight lightly nor am I going to underestimate him.

 

Week 2:

Things have just hit the lowest point in the whole build up of my fight. After Sunday night’s session, consisting mainly of chokes, things started to spin – literally. Originally I thought this was due to fatigue and lack of oxygen in my system so as soon as I got home, I went to bed. I did not think anything more of it.

Monday: Morning came along and I was still experiencing dizzy spells and felt lethargic throughout the day. My next thought was that it must be due to low sugar levels. Had a chocolate bar (great excuse to eat junk food!) and began to get it together a bit.

During the afternoon, I had my Thai session with Ben. We worked hard on knees. All was well until we decided to have a little roll. Just lying on my back and going for an armbar made the room start to spin again. 

Sensing something was up, I spoke to my team who advised me to go to the Doctors. I had a check up. Blood Pressure OK, Ears OK, Chest OK, in fact my GP said I was fine, but if the dizziness persists, I should go back. I mentioned that I would be fighting in a few days, to which she said, “It’s your call.”

So, no more training until Sunday night. I will let my body mend a little and then I will see how that session goes. Hope everything keeps together.

My only concern now is my weight. I have not done as much cardio as I should have and I am now 67kg. I should be OK, so long as I don’t get any heavier. I will able to get back down to 65.8kg before fight night.

I am still really looking forward to the fight, as I have got quite a few supporters coming to see me make my debut.

 

Week 1:

The final countdown has begun!

Only seven days left and I can’t wait for my fight. I can’t wait to get in there and do my thing.

Sunday night was a technique and cardio workout. We did a little running and 3 ten-minute rounds split evenly between kicks and punches. However the team received a blow with the news that Mick Broster would not be fighting due to an injured knee. I felt pretty bad for him, as I know how hard he trained for this fight.

Team UK Storm’s management made the decision of not risking Mick’s knee, as he wouldn’t be effective for shooting or utilising his ground game.

I am still getting my dizzy spells but not as bad as before. I get a little extra rest and it goes away slightly. Maybe it was due to over training or even stress. Who knows, but I can’t let that worry me. All I look forward to now is fighting and getting the win.

For the remainder of the week I just did a little jogging. I went for a run on Monday and one on Wednesday. I am so happy with my fitness levels, they have come on so much since joining team UK Storm. Team UK Storm have done a great job with me. I just hope I can repay all their efforts with a win on my debut.

All was going so well until I received a call on Thursday afternoon.

I learned that Kyle had tonsillitis. How gutted and low did I feel? Ande said he was trying to find me another opponent but it looked unlikely to find one at just two days notice. I was gutted for several reasons:

• I had been on a very strict diet to make weight and become leaner.
• All my friends had bought tickets for the event, just to see me fight. It felt like I let them down in some way and they would not be happy with the situation.
• I had trained so hard! The early morning jogs, the constant drilling and ‘beat downs’ by all who train at Stevie B’s gym, all this and for what?

I was so upset that I couldn’t even keep a positive frame of mind. Even though I couldn’t, just in case they found a fighter for me, I just wanted to eat so much junk food and have a ‘drink’ or two. Yes it doesn’t sound like how a professional fighter should act but being so close to a fight and then being told you are not fighting was like having a low blow without a groin guard on.

Four hours later I got a call, they had found a guy who was willing to fight me. I asked who, and they said Jordan Miller. When I hear this I was so excited that I snapped up the offer. For two reasons, I have trained so hard that I just wanted to fight and secondly, two of my friends have fought him, so I knew a little about him. One of my friends lost an amateur fight to him and my other friend fought him and knocked him out in K-1 Rules match, held at Full Contact Fight Night. He has had one pro fight which he lost, but I know nothing about that particular fight. He trains at Poole Jiu Jitsu so I am assuming he will want to take it to the ground, but I have seen him bang a little as well.

I can’t wait to fight and I’m so glad I did not binge out on crap food. Weigh in on Saturday rather than Friday night. Oh well, at least I have Friday off work to chill out and do nothing.

 

June 18th - Fight Day:

After a good night sleep the morning begins with a light breakfast.

Nerves have yet to set in. I watch some Pride DVD’s to put me in the mood. Weigh in is at 2pm, so I can not have too much to eat yet. Had a light breakfast consisting of honey loops. I can then look forwards to my bowl of spaghetti Bolognese once I have weighed in.

The nerves begin to set in when I arrive at the venue. I should probably go for a walk in the car park, rather than risking walking through the streets of Aston.

I am going to, as far as possible, try and lead a normal day. I decide to go to Asda to get some lemonade and cola, so that me and my buddies can have a few drinks after my fight. Oh am I so looking forward to having a drink afterwards!

Even though I am trying to keep to a normal routine, my mind keeps on drifting to the fight. Will my fighter stay standing or will he shoot and take it to the ground? Either way I feel comfortable. I have worked hard and I am sure it will all pay dividends in eight hours time. 

I arrived back at the venue by 2pm. I weighed in at a massive 64kg. I haven’t been so light in quite some time. I felt good and extremely relaxed. I said a few hellos to the promoters and the supporters who arrived early. I then went home for some food.

I got a taxi back to the venue to arrive in time for the first Thai Boxing bout. I was waiting around for quite some time, pacing up and down.

For once I didn’t get the sickly gut butterfly feelings. Maybe I was getting used to the fight environment or maybe I was just completely relaxed. Is this normal, who knows? I was walking around cracking jokes, watching fights and drinking water. Now I was bored, all I wanted to do was get on and fight. My fight was not scheduled until 8.30pm. I had to kill time but didn’t know how.

I tried sleeping but couldn’t.

I started to warm up around 7.30pm after the first interval. It was extremely hot and I was dripping in sweat after just 30 seconds of shadow boxing. The heat was terrible but I had a job to do, so had to put with it. I started with a very light warm up as, there were still four fights to go before I was on. I did some pad work, did some ground work followed by some stretching. All was going well. As each fight took place, I got more and more focused. The time was approaching for me to make my mark!

Going over side control attacks with Mick Broster, I clashed heads with him. My cheek and eye swelled up and my exclamation of "F**K!!!!" reverberated around the changing rooms. I was a bit concerned because I was on in one minute. One guy ran out to get some ice but it was too late. My music was on, the crowd went wild, and I could see Jordan waiting for me in the ring.

Eminem’s ‘Close Your Eyes’ echoed around the arena, my blood was pumping, my bruised eye didn’t matter any more. I was focused on my opponent and no one else. We were both introduced, called out to the middle and we touched gloves.

Back to our corner, some final words from Stevie B and my cornermen. The bell rings. We once again touch gloves. Now this is probably not how the fight happened, but this is what I remember.

I start with a flurry of punches. Jordan didn’t like this and he covered up well. I know I should have taken a step back but my over eagerness kept me moving forward. Jordan took me down with no problems at all.

I was happy being on my back. It is a little draining having someone on top of you throwing punches at your head. I was defending his ground and pound quite well. Jordan then based up to lay some more big bombs. I didn’t fancy any more of that, so I moved and managed to reverse position. Now I am in his guard, (roles reversed), and my turn to lay off some shots.

I got a little too punch happy, over extended and got caught in a Triangle. I reversed the first Triangle only to end up in another Triangle with Jordan in mount. Not a great position.

I survived that but before I had time to clear my head and stop the room spinning Jordan slapped on an arm bar. I couldn’t defend it in time, and had no choice but to tap.

After the fight Jordan was quality. We stood in the middle of the ring, shaking hands and saying well done to each other. He asked what was I having to drink?

I was gutted that I lost, I was so disappointed, and I felt like I let everyone down. I expected to win and didn’t. My supporters still cheered for me but I felt  bad for them travelling all that way only to see me lose.  Mick Broster said I fought well, and only one error had cost me the match.

I got back to the changing rooms... I am so so dissapointed!

My girlfriend came backstage to give me a kiss and cuddle which made things slightly better. That night, I saw Steve, Ande and Sarah and apologised to them, as I felt bad that their efforts went unrewarded. Each in turn told me to stop being stupid. In fact Ande’s answer was in the lines of ‘shut the f**k up’.

I’m taking nothing away from Jordan Miller. It was a good fight, I enjoyed the experience even if the result didn’t go my way. We both met up after we got changed. We had a drink and spoke about the fight. It was full of action from start to finish, we had both worked hard in the hot arena.

The fight left me with no injuries to mention, except for the big shiner I gave myself before the fight. Looking back, it was a good experience and one to learn from. I am sure I am going to be told what went wrong and where to improve. Personally I am going to get my butt to the gym and do more weights so I am physically stronger.

 

I would like to thank the following for all their help and support:

Ande Roberts: For putting me through my paces. If it was not for your suicidal training routines, I would not even have made it as far as I did.

Mick Broster: For all his work he has done in developing me as an MMA fighter. Not only has he been my grappling instructor for the past three years, he has been my corner-man and also a true friend who has guided me to where I am now.

Stevie B: Not only has he got excellent facilities at Acocks Green he is also my sponsor. He must have faith in my abilities even if this result didn’t go our way.

Sarah Brindle: A big thanks for all the advice you have given me about injuries and cramps. 

The education in my nutrition was down to combination of a number of people, mainly Stevie B, Sarah Brindle and also Jim Bolton of FPF.

My Thai Boxing Coach, Ben Bennet, your hard work got rid of my stand up cobwebs and added extra weapons to my arsenal.

Everyone at Stevie B’s gym, the girls behind the desk for being as mad as they are, all my sparring partners, thanks for pushing me hard as you have done.

My girlfriend Sam for being there and putting up with me training non stop and understanding how much I love this sport.

If I have missed anyone out then I apologise.

 

Images:

1,2,3 + 4. Antonio training hard at Stevie B's Gym.
5. Antonio with Erik Paulson.
6. Antonio moments before his Pro debut, with Mick Broster in his corner.
7. The Referee gives last minute orders.
8. Antonio takes Jordan Miller down.
9. Jordan locks on the Triangle.
10. Antonio Santorelli Sportsman to the end.

All images © MMA Universe + Antonio Santorelli

 

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