Article by Charttopper
Zaire born, and Swedish based welterweight, Papy ‘Makambo’ Abedi (8-1) is ready for his first win in the Octagon having lost his debut, and his first pro bout, to Thiago Alves last November at UFC 138. Abedi is set to meet James Head this coming weekend in Stockholm, Sweden on the preliminary card of UFC on FUEL TV 2.

Abedi has changed things up since the loss to Alves, coming to America to train joining the Alliance MMA gym in San Diego to work with fighters such as UFC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz, Phil Davis, Brandon Vera, and Alexander Gustafsson, among others.

Reflecting on his loss to Alves in an interview with UFC.com, Abedi feels things would have been very different if he had trained for the ‘Pitbull’ as he’s done now for Head, crediting the Alliance MMA gym with his vast improvement in wrestling since that loss.

“I wanted to test myself and I always want to fight the best,” Abedi, speaking Swedish, said courtesy of Michael’s English translation. “But it was early, in my first UFC fight, to fight one of the best in the weight division. I still feel that if I had the type of training, preparation and sparring that I have now – because I changed teams for this fight … the fight would have been completely different. So it was early for me, but it was a healthy experience that will help me grow and become a better MMA fighter. I needed to work with people that know how to bring the best out of me.”

“It was a good experience working with such good UFC athletes and a great champion like Dominick Cruz,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot for my wrestling and cagework game. If I had trained like this for Thiago Alves the outcome would have been a lot different. So it’s been an awesome camp that my head trainer, Andreas, put together. I’ve developed a lot as an MMA fighter working with the best.”

“There’s not a lot to say about him (Head) because everyone in the UFC is a good fighter,” Abedi said. “It’s going to be a good match. I’ve trained very hard and I hope James Head has trained hard as well because I want to put on a really good show for the fans in Sweden. The arena sold out in three hours. I’ve got the home advantage, the crowd, my family and friends behind me. It’s a friendly and familiar environment. At the same time, there’s a lot of stress and pressure because it is at home. But I’m honored and happy to be a part of this historic event. I’m honored to fight in my home country.”

The post Swedish Welterweight Papy Abedi Credits Dominick Cruz & Alliance MMA With Improved Skills Leading Up To UFC on FUEL TV 2 Bout appeared first on Alliance Training Center.

Today it’s back to training again. Morning session at Drysdale’s and evening at TapouT with the Alliance team.
Like I said before Drysdale is a great instructor and the training there is awesome. There’s always great sparring and lots of inspiration there.

Today we worked on defending and attacking on top in the deep half-guard. Some of it I’ve seen before and some of it was new to me. Robert breaks it down to a perfect level that makes it easy to follow and the time to drill plus the amount of techniques is well matched for me to keep up.
Evening class was wrestling, both attacking and defense, on the cage. Manny Rodriguez from Alliance coached us. He’s a great coach. He kept it on a fairly basic level, which is perfect for me at least, and he really managed to point out the different key points in every technique. Classes like that really helps a lot and I can work the teqnicues over and over for a long time since they are so basic and important.

The weekend was a nice one. We finished our training week on Saturday with conditioning and padwork with our coach Andreas Michael.

After that we ate some good food (we actually went hard on the same buffet as last time again..), later we hooked up with some friends and visited a club where Swedish House Mafia played. It’s funny how small the world seems some times.

On Sunday we went shooting at The Gun Store (www.thegunstorelasvegas.com) together with some other guys from team Cruz/Alliance. To me it’s usually not that special with guns and I’m not really into them that much, although I work as a SWAT police officer back home. But the guys instructing and helping us did a really good job and it was a fun experience.

Tomorrow we’re sparring early then it’s back to conditioning. This is the last week here so I’m doing my best to get as much as possible out of it.

About Kristian Lexell
Kristian Lexell will be blogging for www.MMAViking.com during his trip to Las Vegas. He is a veteran of fight sports, with MMA bouts going back to 2001, plus boxing and Muay thai experience. The Swede returned to the cage in 2011 after a four year absence, and has since collected two wins with one loss. Known as “Lex”, the powerful middleweight trains at Stockholm’s Nexus Fight Center. The Gothenburg native won MMA Viking’s KO of the Year in 2011 with his KO of Allan Love at Battle of Botnia 4. Lex most recently won a Muay Thai match at Söderslaget in December at Nexus Fightcenter, and will be announcing his next MMA bout soon.

For more information visit Sherdog’s FightFinder and www.kristianlexell.net. Lex is sponsored by OMPU (www.ompu.com) and Sthlm Shoot (www.nexusfightcenter.se).

The post Kristian Lexell’s Blog – Sparring, Eating, and The Gun Store appeared first on Alliance Training Center.

UFC Fighter Papy Abedi Update From Las Vegas Translation By Kristian Lexell
Training at Drysdale Jiu-Jitsu in Las Vegas.

The post UFC Fighter Papy Abedi Update From Las Vegas Translation By Kristian Lexell appeared first on Alliance Training Center.

Music Credit: Conan The Destroyer – Battle Song

Coach Andreas Micheal Working With UFC Fighter Alexander Gustafsson & UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz At Wanderlei Silva’s Gym in Las Vegas. Also in this video, Coach Eric Del Fierro working with UFC Fighter Papy Abedi.

The post Coach Andreas Micheal Working with UFC Fighters Alexander Gustafsson & Dominick Cruz at Wanderleis appeared first on Alliance Training Center.