Contracts, Training & The Future

Sitting In With The ACF

by Jason Martinez

- Special Thanks go out to Jason Martinez for the following article:

To give a little insight on “The Vision of Rico [Vecc]” for the world of MMA, I had the wonderful opportunity

to sit in on a meeting with Rico [CEO of the ACF] and a few fighters in October of 2005 to discuss a general

setup of what a contract should consist of. We of course are talking about all ready established MMA

fighters that have great potential, and will be able to produce the ticket sales to be profitable to the company.

At that time, I was very skeptical of the direction (the just forming ACF) Rico wanted to take MMA. Rico self

admits he was not an avid watcher of the sport, but envisioned it to rival WWE with the right marketing. The

soap opera type drama associated with “Pro Wrestling,” the eye candy, fireworks and the like. My

immediate response was that this is what MMA has been working to get away from - being a spectacle or a

human cockfight, not to mention the fights being worked in Pro Wrestling. Nonetheless, a man that became

a Multi-Millionaire of his own mind and will power obviously has the intelligence and marketing tools to

produce a great show.

First up was to give fighters a real chance at making this a career - A contract that gives them enough to pay

their bills. The contractor should pay for a fighters gym/training fees, a nutritionist, supplements, traveling

expense Etc. Etc. Etc... An amazing aspect of Rico is that these contracts are set up strictly for the fighter -

They do not exclude ACF fighters from fighting in other organizations; instead, they encourage their fighters

to fight in as many shows as possible (pimped in ACF gear of course). You have to spend money to make

money and that’s one thing Rico knows. He has made the investment in a handful of fighters that can now

train like professionals, stay fit like professionals, and have a heavy weight lifted off their shoulders when

they prepare for a fight.

With that said, I turned the conversation to these words of wisdom that I tell all my friends that fight -

"Nutrition over Cardio is a must!" You cannot maintain a cardio workout without being nutritional fit. This also

goes for EWD (Extreme Weight Dropping); fasting or any other dumb ass thing fighters do to make weight.

If you need an IV to hydrate yourself before the fight, you should not be in the fight.

Also, contracted fighters need a nutritionist. If they’re already an established fighter, they should be in

decent physical shape. However, the fighters we envision are not the caliber athlete a contracted fighter

should be. Most of our fighters in MMA are struggling to make ends meat with a normal 9-5 job, while

squeezing in training and fast food as often as possible. Contracted fighters will be dedicated to a full training

schedule and need to work with the nutritionist to ensure appropriate dieting and weight loss methods.

Next, CROSSTRAIN!!! It’s finally becoming a staple of a good MMA fighter. It took Kazushi Sakuraba Three

devastating losses at the hands of, “The Axe Murder” Wanderlei Silva, to finally convince Saku he

needed to go train with Chute Boxe Academy in Brazil - Silva’s home stable! You will need to keep an open

mind and adapt to the teachings at your alternate schools. A big problem is the brainwashing of students by

their Sensei that there is only one way to execute a move or get out of submissions and so forth. My point is

that you must learn and take value in certain things from each school you are to visit, and to respect each

stable as a competing force in your profession.

Moreover, "You must avenge your losses to overcome your fears and become a champion." Fear is a very

strong word in any sport, but especially in our world of fighting. There are very few fighters that show

emotion, but ones that have (Jens Pulver, BJ Penn) go on to achieve greatness - lose it, (Jens to Ludwig /

BJ to St. Pierre) and come back to fight another day. Remember, as previously mentioned, Cross Train! You

need to train with other teams, watch instructional videos, pay for seminars, anything to make you a truly

hybrid fighter. I don’t care about how accomplished your Sensei is, or how much respect you have for your

stable, Cross Training is a MUST!!!

Avenging losses is something that will haunt anyone until their deathbed. The only way to get rid of those

ghosts is to face them. Now there are certain problems that arise in going about avenging losses - fighters

retire, or they make it to the big show (UFC, PrideFC, etc). There are the one’s that will duck you because

they know you will most likely win, and one’s that think a rematch would be detrimental to there career. I

think you get the idea; No matter what you say, these are the things that will always be with you, so do

everything possible to make the score even, and then immediately ask for a rubber match to prove you are

the better fighter.

I hope that my advice will slowly become reality, as ACF fighters start to travel to schools around the world

in a student exchange type program. These exchanges should be for at least a month, with the hope of

spreading ACF fighters out among some of the up and coming fight organizations in the world. This will also

bring in big name fighters from some of the best stables in the world. ACF has established bonds with

Hammer House, Team Quest, and Mark Kerr just to name a few - and I can’t think of a fighter that would

not enjoy the opportunity to train with any of the above mentioned stables/people.

Any questions, comments, or ish you wanna spit, hit me up… jason4mma@yahoo.com. See you at Exodus

May 6th.

- From Jason Martinez with a little editing from us (color, highlights, etc..)

(4/26/06)