Due to his recent success Vitor Belfort has his coach, Jayme Sandall, to credit.
In preparation for Vitor Belfort’s bout with Yoshihiro Akiyama UFC 133, Sandall has been helping the former UFC light heavyweight champion perfect a game plan for his opponent.
A Brazilian karate champion, Sandall has helped Belfort implement karate into his arsenal since returning to the organization three years ago. Sandall said he is confident that his teachings of karate will help Belfort pick up a victory.
“He’s a tough opponent, but they all are,” Sandall told TATAME on Belfort’s opponent, Akiyama.
“But I honestly can’t Picture Vitor losing this fight. In all ways I can picture it, I don’t see any way that Vitor would lose this one. It’s really unlikely.”
Belfort suffered his first knockout loss to UFC middleweight champion, Anderson Silva, at UFC 127. Silva ended the bout with a highlight reel front kick that instantly dropped the Brazilian. Sandall said he helped Belfort train and prepare for a variety of kicks Silva utilizes, but he said the front kick was unexpected.
Sandall also commented on Silva’s teammate, Lyoto Machida, who landed a similar kick that knocked out his opponent, Randy Couture, at UFC 129. Sandall praised the technique Machida used and said it’s a common technique used in karate.
“I used to give the guys that kick a lot, a frontal flying kick,” he said. “You give one extra step to bring your leg and kick harder. I use to knock people down with kicks on their stomach. I actually got a few knockdowns with a kick on my stomach, but not on the face.
However while it has proven to be effective for both Silva and Machida, Sandall said to not believe the mystique surrounding their friend, actor and martial artist, Steven Seagal.
“I was surprised, and even Lyoto said all that Steven Seagal stuff, but people have to know that it’s all propaganda, because it was not Steven Seagal the one who taught him that kick, he knows it from Karate,” he said.
“I talked to Lyoto’s father the day after the fight and he told me: ‘I told Lyoto to train a lot’.”
In spite of Seagal’s alleged teachings, Sandall said the use of karate has helped mixed martial arts grow as a sport and vice versa.
“It was up and rise from it’s beginning. It was good for me, all of it is good to me, and to Karate too. I’m having the chance to introduce people to Karate, I had the chance to explain a little bit about its rules,” he said.
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