After his training with the 2 Dutch champions in standup fighting (kickboxing), Mirko invited us in his "trainingcamp".
- Mirko: You guys should see how we fight down here. Uh, I can't even lift my arms anymore.
And it's true. Mirko's sparring (training) partners are good, because of all the fights they had already. His trainingcamp consist of Dutch guys Bonjasky and Yvel, American Lister and Czech Hron. Last week, Mirko's cage arrived from the United States. - Mirko: in my basement there's no room for an original cage, so they installed this one with a diameter of 6 meters.
The cage is worth 25.000 $, and Mirko got it as a gift from Throwdown. The guys who installed the cage in Mirko's basement were Brent Stuchlik and Ari Hagen. They installed the same cage for the likes of Quinton Jackson, Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture. But, nobody from these fighters has it in their basement. We like how Mirko fights, and that's why we decided to give Mirko this cage as a gift, said Stuchlik.
Yvel: I've been in Russia and some other East-European countries, and I have to say that I thought that Croatia would be the same. But you guys are very diffirent, more European-like than the Russians. We were surprised how many people recognized Remy here.
And Remy is a very nice guy, you wouldn't say that if you don't know him and you only see him kick. He kicked Mirko really hard, really fast and alot of times and it wasn't nice to look at. On a sidenote, the guy is a 2 times K-1 champion.
Because of the many trainings Mirko had on the ground, he lost alot of his standup. I would say even 50 %. Besides, in the last year Mirko trained on his own, and he said to me that he wants that I yell at him, that I have to talk alot to him during his training so that he gets familiar with commands again, says his trainer Ivan Hyppolite.
Remy is impressed with Mirko's "trainingscenter". It's great to have a gym in your basement. If you want to train you just have to go to your basement and you can start the training. And if you're done, you just go upstairs and you're in your livingroom.
