UR PODCAST #007: JUSTIN BUCHHOLZ, MMA COACH & OWNER OF MFI GYM

With over 10 years elite MMA coaching experience, including cornering Cody Garbrandt to UFC bantamweight gold, Justin Buchholz joins UR Podcast direct from his home in Sacramento, Cali to chat fighting in a Covid-19 world.

The world is changing, even moreso since last month's podcast with Pat Divilly. Where we once sat in the gym as a family, drinking coffee, swapping stories, we're now doing everything remotely - be it running our classes online, or chatting to our podcast guests.

This month, through the power of modern technology, we're joined on video call all the way from sunny Sacramento, California, by elite MMA coach @justinbuchholz_ .

Andy had the pleasure and privilege of experiencing Justin's coaching methods in person during a pre-BAMMA camp at Team Alpha Male a few years back. At the time, you had Urijah Faber there, Clay Guida, Andre Fili and soon to be UFC bantamweight champion, Cody Garbrandt. It was the summer of Team Alpha Male, until the fall.

At the centre of it, Justin Buccholz.

He's been involved in more UFC events than most fans will ever see. He's cornered more fights than most of us have had hot dinners. The Alaskan native holds a 16-11 record of his own, and over the course of an hour we get his story in terms of where he's at today.

As it turns out, the championship winning coach is just about to open the doors on a mammoth gym facility in MFI Gym. We'll talk about that, learn about his approach to coaching, training young fighters, rules and regiments, launching and running a business in the midst of a global pandemic, working in the community, the wild ride that was TAM and loads more besides.

Justin's a super nice guy, we're delighted to have him on board for this edition of the podcast and looking forward to hooking up down the line when fight life resumes.

Andy Murphy