Zelg Galesic is one of Croatia's fastest up and coming MMA fighters. He comes from a Tae Kwon Do background, where he has undoubtedly reached the top of his game. Amongst his many achievements, he is three times European ITF Tae Kwon Do Champion, World ITF Tae Kwon Do Champion and twice ITC Full Contact Tae Kwon Do World Champion. Zelg has also competed successfully throughout Europe in Boxing and Full Contact Kickboxing, having had around three hundred matches in total.
After winning the ITC Full Contact Tae Kwon Do World Championships in Uraguay in 2001, Zelg was hungry for a new challenge and wanted to explore other fighting styles.Having always been a fan of the UFC and Pride fighting championships it seemed a natural progression for him to move in to MMA.
Zelg entered his first amateur MMA event at the Combat Sports Open Trials in 2003.He won both his bouts in less than a minute and it was a repeat performance at the next few Open Trials events.It wasn't long before he was approached to move into professional MMA and he made his debut at Ultimate Combat 11 in Bristol.Since then, Zelg has become a member of Cheltenham’s Trojan Gym and has become a regular feature at the “Urban Destruction” MMA events held in Bristol.
Zelg has formed many contacts in his native country of Croatia, as well as England. It's very lucky for Zelg, that his Wrestling coach, Enver Seperovic, (also from Zelg’s hometown of Pula) is a corner man for Europe's top ranked Mixed Martial Artist, Mirko Filipovic. Enver managed to arrange for Zelg to attend a session. Zelg was very excited at this prospect, as it's not everyday that you get a chance to train with the cream of the crop.
On the day that Zelg visited "Cro-Cop's" camp, the training session was pretty relaxed, and took the following form:
Warm Up The team played basketball for about 20 minutes, at which, Cro Cop, is apparently very good.Things then moved on and the guys all worked on striking techniques for themselves on the bags for about 15 minutes.
Body Work Drills Things were kept to pretty basic combinations, but, instead of using focus pads, the guys paired up and everything was practised on the body.Training like this is more realistic and it's great training for distance control.The guys also worked in the clinch.Team Cro Cop’s main instructor for striking is Boxing coach, Vlado Bozic, whose brother, Stijepan Bozic, is currently a Professional World Welterweight Boxing Champion.
Sparring The emphasis on this day was on stand-up sparring, and Zelg had the opportunity to spar with Igor Pokrajac and Pride veteran and BJJ Blackbelt, Fabricio Werdum. The sparring took place in an enclosed ring and each of them did 4 X 5 minutes rounds.The quality of sparring was of a very high standard.Zelg was very impressed with their take down skills.Unfortunately, Zelg didn't have the opportunity to spar Mirko, since he was involved in special preparation for his then approaching Pride World Title fight against Fedor Emelianenko.
At the end of the session, the guys worked on the ground for a few minutes, at a really low intensity and in a relaxed manner.
Zelg came away from his training session feeling pretty exhausted but very motivated.When asked of his impressions of Cro Cop, he commented, "Cro Cop is a great guy, with a good sense of humour.He is very inspirational and watching his training has completely opened my eyes to what explosiveness and toughness really is. Cro Cop really gives 110% when training."
Zelg's passion for MMA, has taken over his life.He has now taken up his training on a full time basis.He splits his sessions between Striking, Boxing, Gym based exercises, Wrestling and Judo.He trains at least twice a day.When asked of his ambitions, he says, ' I want to win a World Title in any one of the top rated organisations around.'
In order to achieve his ambitions, Zelg realises he needs to train and spar with the best.He finds that training with Trojan Free Fighters gives him everything he needs to constantly improve his MMA game.He will continue to visit them in England and has also been invited to train with the Cro Cop Team in the future.
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