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UFC athletes work with Wakefield College

Friday, 13 April, 2018

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Sport

Austrian fighter Aleksandar Rakic

Some of the top UFC fighters in the world are turning to Wakefield College staff and students for nutritional advice and physical testing, using state-of-the-art machinery and facilities at the Advanced Skills and Innovation Centre (ASIC).

Current UFC fighter Aleksandar Rakic flew over from Austria specifically to utilise the specialised equipment in ASIC.  Students studying on the BSc (Hons) Applied Sports Performance course pushed Alek to the limit before providing him with an in-depth analysis of his fitness and aerobic capacity.  Tests included the punishing VO2 Max assessment, which pushes the athletes to exhaustion to test their aerobic capacity, a Wingate Anaerobic Power assessment and a number of blood tests to determine how well Alex’s biological machinery was working. 

Today’s mixed martial artists are the ultimate all-round athletes, combining similar levels of fitness and strength to a professional rugby league, footballer and a boxer according to research carried out by students and staff at the University Centre Wakefield College. 

Mixed Martial Arts is the fastest growing sport in the world that combines the techniques of boxing, Muay Thai kickboxing, and various grappling disciplines such as Greco-Roman wrestling, freestyle wrestling, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.