How to Win a Tournament – Part II by Semmy Schilt

In part one of 'Becoming a Champion', two winners of Glory tournaments addressed the question of what skills and mentality a fighter needs to achive victory in what are the toughest competitions in martial arts.

World-ranked #1 lightweight Giorgio Petrosyan (78-1-1, 35 KO's) won the GLORY Lightweight Slam on November 3 while Japan’s Yuta Kubo (40-4-1, 18 KOs) won the recent GLORY Featherweight Slam in his homeland.

Here in part two, the most successful tournament fighter on the GLORY roster addresses those same questions.

Semmy Schilt (43-6-1, 20 KOs) has won numerous tournaments, most recently taking victory in the inaugural 16-man GLORY Heavyweight Grand Slam. Schilt (43-6-1, 20 KOs) beat four opponents in one night - two by stoppage - to scoop the $400,000 grand prize.

What differences, if any, are their in your preparations for tournaments and your preparations for one-off superfights?

“The physical preparation for a tournament or a single fight is basically the same for me,” he says.

“I have a lot of experience and together with my coach Dave Jonkers we prepare a game plan for the first fight. Of course we look at the brackets and try to predict our next opponent, but out of experience I know it is not good to assume you are right in these predictions.

“Mentally you have to prepare for any opponent - even maybe someone from the reserve matches, they can be important. So what we do is to make a simple profile about each fighter - short, tall, heavy, lighter, aggressive, smart. On these profiles we basee a strategy.

“Stamina is very important during a tournament, so you can not give everything in the first round. But necessity breaks laws. After the first fight it is important to recover by resting, drinking, eating and taking care of your injuries.

“To replicate the cardio demands of the tournament, in training we do some exercises. We train, rest for thirty minutes, train again, rest again and so on. Most of the time it is on the cross trainer, treadmill or the rowing machine. We make the pace as realistic as possible so you work your heart out.

“Fortunately I am in the heavyweight division and never need to cut weight. The food and supplements are the same as for a single fight. This last year I used extra weight-gainer, amino acids and vitamin pills.”

Tactically speaking, what are the main differences between a superfight and an eight- or sixteen-man tournament? Do you seek to avoid injury by being defensive or do you try and get the opponent out of their as quickly as possible to keep the fight to a minimum length?   “The tactics change depending on what type of fighter I am going to face. In a single fight, fighters will take more risks because after that fight the job is done.

“But it’s a question of who wants to get to the next round and what kind of injuries he is going to sustain as he does so. And of course you are also thinking about who you are going to face in the next round.

“There are not many fighters who can make a early KO without take the risk of being KO’d themselves. Like I said before, ‘Necessity breaks laws’. Do what you have to do to get into the next round.

“In my case I fight till I drop, better to win and give everything than lose and save something for the next fight. You won’t even get the next fight if you lose.

Between tournament stages, tell us what happens mentally. What are you doing to maintain your focus? Do you discuss plans with your trainers, think of your team or family, or just try to rest and think of nothing?

“Usually I know roughly how long the thing will take and what we have to do. But the last tournament, the GLORY Heavyweight Grand Slam, was different because it was 16 fighters instead eight. So fortunately I prepared for the worse case scenario.

“Like I tell my fighters when we fight for a organization or in a country we don’t know, the only thing what counts is what is happening in the ring. You concentrate on that. How we get you in the ring is not important.

“The mental training you do by visualizing. You see yourself stepping towards the ring, then in the ring touching gloves (or not), waiting for the referee to give the signal to fight, then you fight and follow the gameplan. Repeat this until you are confident.

“In a tournament you also take the time to visualize the next two or three opponents. You have to be aware of the changes in the fight card as the tournament progresses. So most of the time when I visualize, I visualize only the first fight. Then I think of the remaining fights as they come up. Of course after the first fight we check the other [potential] opponent’s fight and see how he is fighting and what kind of tactics he is using.”