21.03.2006. Tuesday
17.00 – MMA Class
A few hours after I arrived in Gothenburg I went to MMA Class with the elite group. We warmed up with SW sparring and I rolled with David Ristic and August Wallén. August destroyed me on the ground and I tapped many times. The class then consisted of technical and conditioning training. I already knew that Shooters fighting system covers all situations in MMA combat but didn’t know that the conditioning was so intense and I didn’t feel very well afterwards. I’m still not in shape but I’ll soon get into the groove.
22.03.2006. Wednesday
10.00 – SW
Martin Janson and I scheduled a SW sparring session. I’m helping him prepare for his upcoming SW match against Bruno Carvalho and he is helping me with my ground game. After the fight I will be helping him with throws for BJJ. During sparring he tapped me out a few times and I managed to get a submission once. I threw him a couple of times but noticed that his takedown defense is good for a BJJ guy. His positioning is very good. Then we exchanged a few techniques and finished the morning session. This arrangement will be beneficial for both of us.
17.00 – Beginners Muay Thai
As a kid I always wanted to train Muay Thai and the day has finally come. This is my first class. The class was full of kids but I didn’t mind and I was happy to learn the basics. The instructor is Samingnum and he was a Muay Thai champion when he competed. I am very glad to have this opportunity to be trained by a coach from Thailand.
23.03.2006. Thursday
11.00 – Boxing
Boxing class with Stig Storm. I have been practicing boxing for little over a month before this and it paid off. I don’t consider myself a good boxer but that little experience I have enabled me to participate in the boxing class without problems. The training was very technical and I enjoyed it. I look forward to working with Mr. Storm.
17.00 – MMA Class
The same thing happened as in the previous MMA class. August again destroyed me on the ground and this time told me that I use too much power and that I should try to fell things more. That is probably because I’m trying to compensate the lack of technique with power. Then the class consisted of technical and conditioning training. Conditioning was brutal and we did five 3 minute rounds of different strength exercises. I thought it was over but it wasn’t. Then came 5 minutes of full power G’N’P to focus mitts. I presume that 5 minute rounds imitate rounds in MMA fight so I think that these are very good conditioning exercises for MMA.
24.03.2006. – Friday
11.00 – Muay Thai – Mixed group
This time there were not so many kids but mostly older guys and some of them even compete in Muay Thai. After the technical part was over we did some boxing and Muay Thai light sparring. I didn’t feel very comfortable sparring with some of the guys but that is to be expected since this is my second Muay Thai class.
17.00 – SW with Jesper Gunnarson
After the warm up we did some attacks from the side mount and some out of the ordinary attacks from the same position. I’m starving for knowledge and I’m trying to absorb as much of it as I can. The practice ended with sparring.
25.03.2006. – Saturday
Finally the day without training. My body really needed that. A few guys from Gladius and I went to Helsingborg for a competition. Martin Janson and Jens Östling competed in Fighter Extreme 5. Martin lost SW match to Bruno Carvalho by points and Jens won Amateur MMA fight with a rear naked choke. There were a few more interesting fights and a lot of boring ones, at least in my opinion. Taekwondo and Taido is not my cup of tea.
26.03.2006. – Sunday
17.00 – MMA
The rest is over and it’s time to start again. This time I disciplined myself not to use so much power and speed when rolling with people. August and I even did slow motion rolling so I could feel things more. I will continue to concentrate on technique and positioning in the future. After the warm up we did escapes from the bottom, side mount and mount. After the technical part was over we did those grueling three 5 minute rounds with 1.5 minute rest in between. When the ordeal was over we stretched and that was it for the day.
Information about Marc
Name: Mark Lajhner.
Date of birth: 21.03.1979.
Location: Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro.
Academy: Car Dusan Silni
I started doing judo in 1990. My father forced me to train judo and I didn’t like it. I got to see the beauty of judo after a year and that’s when I started training more seriously. My extended family consists of judo players : my mother, my father, my four uncles were judo players and a few of my cousins are too. My mother was the national champion twice(in the former Yugoslavia) and one of my uncles is multiple World and European champion for veterans. When I saw the first UFC’s in 1995 I fell in love with the sport. I started BJJ(for MMA purposes) in 2003 but did it very irregularly(one or two months of training per year) because judo took precedence. I finally completely switched to MMA in October 2005 and had my first fight in December. I finished junior college for sports(judo coach department) and I’m currently finishing studies at another department in the same college (conditioning and strenght coach).
Notable results :
Judo
1996 National Championship for cadets(-78kg) – 1.-st place
1997 National Championship for juniors(-81 kg) – 3.-rd place
1998 National championships for juniors(-81kg) – 2.-nd place
2000 National championship for seniors(-81kg) – 3.-rd place
2003 Belgrade championship for seniors(-90 kg) – 1.-st place
2005 Belgrade championship for seniors(-90kg) – 1.-st place
2006 Serbia and Montenegro open(-90kg) – 1.-st place
Submission Wrestling
2005 Zagreb open(-93 kg) – 2.-nd place
MMA
1-0 Win TKO (G’N’P)