Vitor Belfort trains with Gil Martinez at Xtreme Couture

This week here at Xtreme Couture Vitor Belfort who is headlining UFC 122 against Yushin Okami  has been spending the majority of his training camp thus far with Xtreme Couture Trainers mostly striking coach Gil Martinez.

Vitor is no stranger to Xtreme Couture, in the past he trained here with former head coach Shawn Thompkins, but is now back training with the Xtreme Couture Team.

Vitor has also been training this week here with kickboxing and mma great Ray Sefo and our strength and conditioning coach Jake Bonacci.

Every great fighter knows that diversification in training and keeping the training fresh is the key to success.

Akiyama to Train at Xtreme Couture

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Yoshihiro Akiyama will travel stateside in October to train with Shawn Tompkins and the Xtreme Couture MMA camp in Las Vegas.

Tompkins said the Japanese-Korean middleweight is expected to stay the entire month with the team and will focus on “refining his striking” with the coach and Vitor Belfort, who is slated to face UFC 185-pound champion Anderson Silva in January.

Tompkins said he first worked with the 2006 K-1 Hero’s tournament champion behind the scenes at UFC 97 last April in Montreal. Tompkins said he did not know who or when the former world-class judoka would be fighting in his next Octagon appearance.

“He is a great person and fighter and has a very slick aggressive style,” said Tompkins. “I would like to help him with his defense.”

Akiyama took a split decision over Alan Belcher at UFC 100 last July in Las Vegas. Akiyama was a star in the Japan-based Dream and K-1 Hero’s promotions.

Diaz-Hieron in jeopardy, Tompkins calls out Diaz

The Strikeforce welterweight championship bout between Nick Diaz and Jay Hieron could be nixed  from this Saturday’s  “Carano vs. Cyborg” card at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.

Diaz failed to appear for a pre-fight drug test Friday scheduled by the California State Athletic Commission to complete his re-licensing in the state, as first reported by http://www.f4wonline.com.

Cesar Gracie, Diaz’ mananger, said Diaz was caught off-guard by what he calls a change in drug testing policy.

Gracie said Diaz has a legal medical prescription for marijuana to treat a hyperactivity disorder. Gracie said Armando Garcia’s previous arrangement with the fighter allowed the state agency to recognize the fighter’s condition and gave Diaz a two-week window to flush the drug out of his system. Armando Garcia is no long with the CSAC, and the rule has been changed, unbeknownest to Diaz.

“Armando Garcia’s policies and agreements became null and void with his departure from CSAC in November 2008,” said CSAC Assistant Executive Officer Bill Douglas. “In terms of agreements, this CSAC administration does not make agreements or special policies with individuals that are in direct contradiction to our own rules.”

“They just changed the policy and gave us two days’ notice,” said Gracie. “We don’t have any options.”

Failure of a drug test could result in a one year suspension for Diaz.

Earlier today, Shawn Tompkins, Heiron’s coach from Xtreme Couture, called Diaz out on his facebook page.

“Don’t be an [expletive], do your drug test. We are coming for that title”.

Week in Review – Images From Xtreme Coutue MMA

Boxing Coach Ron Frazier takes a second to rest.

Shawn Thompkins and Sam Stout take a Kodak moment during pro-practice last week.

Jake Bonacci works with Vitor Belfort

Jay Hieron catches his breath after a killer strength and conditioning workout.

Latasha Marzolla works mits with Shawn Thompkins

Junie Browning with a little stand-up in the ring.

All female MMA Show provides plenty of questions and answers

Gabriella Lakoczky, right, gets taped up by trainer Shawn Tompkins before a recent practice at Xtreme Couture. The native of Sweden will be making her MMA debut tonight at Tuff-N-Uff’s first-ever all-female card at the Orleans.

Q: What do you think of amateur events like Tuff-N-Uff?

A: “It’s kind of a ‘love/hate’ relationship for me. Love: I think amateur shows are an awesome opportunity to help build the sport, in particular with women as it is much more difficult for women to get fights at a pro level and on the bigger shows. It also gives fighters a chance to get ring/cage experience at a much smaller level.

Hate: I get frustrated going to amateur shows and seeing fighters getting in the ring/cage at too early of a stage of their training. Especially as women are still trying to establish themselves as legit fighters in the MMA world, I’d like for women fighters to represent us well.

I think MMA is a popular sport right now and everyone is a fighter so people often times take a fight when they are not at all prepared or ready yet. For the spectators that may be seeing MMA for the first time live, this represents our sport poorly.”

Q: WAMMA just released rankings, what do you think of them?

A: “I think rankings are somewhat difficult and I’m sure everyone has a particular opinion regarding them. No one’s going to be happy.”

Q: Did you expect MMA to grow in popularity the way it has?

A: “Absolutely, the timing was perfect for MMA as a growing sport. Boxing was beginning to lose its luster and kickboxing/Muay Thai (while it’s one of my favorites!) never made it as well as it had in Europe and Asia. I think the U.S. as well as the world was very intrigued when MMA entered the scene and to see the way it has developed over the years is amazing. Fighters are now more well-versed in their skills; stand-up, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, etc.”

Q: What would you say to critics that say MMA is too violent?

A: “I think the critics that consider MMA too violent are also the ones who don’t understand the sport. The sanctioning organizations have done a great job of keeping the sport safe and well controlled.”

Q: What is the best way to get involved?

A: “There are millions of ways to be involved. On fightergirls.com alone, we’ve got thousands on our forum discussing women’s MMA and how to improve the sport and we’ve got writers covering events and conducting interviews.”

Q: Are women fighters supposed to be masculine or are they supposed to show their feminine side?

A: “Women fighters are who they are. In my personal opinion, it is much easier to market a fighter that also has a feminine side to balance out the ‘toughness,’ but skill takes precedence over all of this of course.”

— Jennifer Miller, LV Sun correspondent

Posted By Scott Haney

Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort – Training For Jorge Santiago

Here are a few images we took today of Vitor training here at Xtreme Couture with our team coach Shawn Thompkins.

The Return of Kevin “The Monster” Randleman

The first bout of the televised portion of this highly anticipated Strikeforce card that is scheduled in St. Louis on June 6th, Saturday. This marks  Kevin “The Monster” Randleman’s return to MMA after a one year hiatus.Kevin has been training hard in preparation for Mike Whitehead who at one point was part of the Couture Team and has since moved on to another camp.

Shawn Thompkins was holding mits today for Randleman’s morning workout.

posted by Scott Haney

Shawn Tompkins – Interview with Raw Vegas

Shawn Tompkins takes time to discuss  the future of  fighters at Xtreme Couture. ie Sam Stout, Randy Couture, Junie Browning and much more.

Train with Shawn Tompkins

Make your plans now to support Xtreme Couture’s trainer Shawn Tompkins when he joins other top trainers March 13-15 in Dana Point, California for a 3 day MMA Seminar.

Seminar Prices:

Three day seminar (for early birds) $400.00 Three Day Seminar + Trainer Program $600.00 One day seminar $150.00 Spectator Fees $30.00 Special Rates for families and groups!! Call *Deposit of $200.00 is required at the time of reservation.

Visit Paradise Warrior Retreat Center for more information.

Posted By: Scott Haney

Xtreme Couture Soccer! Fighters take the pitch.

Xtreme Couture’s Muay Thai instructor, Joey Varner, led his troops into battle last night for the first match of the season for the Xtreme Couture indoor soccer team. Amongst the fighters on the team are Randy “The Natural” Couture, his son Ryan Couture and JJ Mix to name a few. The guys picked up a 5 to 4 win their first time on the pitch this season and will have a 2 week break untill their next match.

Goals were scored by Randy (2 goals, assisted by Ryan), Joey (1 goal), Stephen (1 goal, and JJ (1 goal). Armando defended the net well against the skilled attacks set up by the opposing team. The guys played great together even though they were unable to practice as a team before their first match and many players had not played soccer in several years. It was exciting to hear the buzz of team practices being scheduled after the match to help improve the team.

Congratulations to our team and we look forward to seeing them on the pitch in the new year. Check out the photos below of some of the action from last nights match.

by: Eddie Miles