Ray Longo has performed a hand in toppling a few of blended martial arts’ biggest pillars. Mythical champions Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva have been shockingly disenchanted via Longo-trained underdogs Matt Serra and Chris Weidman. The local Brandnew Yorker now aids Aljamain Sterling’s defiant quest to transform the best bantamweight in historical past in opposition to Sean O’Malley at UFC 292.

Longo leads his selected community with younger opulance, however he will have to settle for his condition as an elder statesman of the game. Next all, he entered MMA at the farmland flooring. Longo introduced his martial arts faculty 3 years sooner than UFC’s inception and has flanked opponents to UFC gold in 3 consecutive a long time.

Serra, who now coaches along Longo, was once a big underdog when he disenchanted St-Pierre by way of knockout to win the UFC welterweight name in 2007. Weidman closed as a making a bet underdog in 2013 for each middleweight name fits in opposition to Silva, regardless of getting into their 2nd battle as champ. Sterling overcame the meaty making a bet favourite Petr Yan of their rematch to cement himself because the rightful bantamweight titleholder. For the Serra-Longo Struggle Workforce, there’s no sweeter style than provoking the apple cart. Merely put, “It’s a Long Island thing.”

“Nothing motivates me more than beating a bigger gym,” Longo stated. “I love it.”

“We love being the underdogs,” Weidman stated. “That’s something that we really thrive in. Coming from a small gym, that’s kind of what’s expected. We love to prove people wrong. So any time we get to be an underdog, that’s fun.”

Take a look at the entire interview with Ray Longo underneath.

Larger isn’t at all times higher. That’s the ethos of Serra-Longo. The collective is crack into two sovereign gyms: Longo-Weidman MMA and Serra BJJ Academy. Longo’s gymnasium is minuscule in comparison to the dimensions of a few camps like Blast Cliff FC and American Manage Workforce. Within the month of sponsor-branded working towards amenities and tremendous gyms, a grassroots mentality continues to undergo fruit for the Lengthy Island misfits.

“I’ve got a 5,500-square-foot gym,” Longo stated. “I don’t know if I would change it. I think I would lose control. That loss of control would lead to a cookie-cutter approach. I never wanted to do that. You might have a big room of people sparring. Our guys spar in the cage one at a time, even if I got to sit there for three hours. It’s not a group sparring session. So they get really personal attention.”

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You’ll be hard-pressed to search out anyone who has a wicked factor to mention about Longo. That very same recognize isn’t at all times prolonged to his pupils. Pull Sterling as an example. “Funkmaster” holds the report for many UFC bantamweight name defenses in historical past, however cases have marred his name run within the visible of a few fanatics. He received the name by way of disqualification in opposition to Yan and beat an injured T.J. Dillashaw who by no means will have to have fought that evening. Listening to your community badmouthed is hard to survive. The similar is going for Longo and his opponents.

“Any time those guys lose, I feel like I lose and I go right back to the drawing board,” Longo stated. “What did I do? Is there something I could’ve done better? It never ends. Matt beat GSP, but then he lost in the rematch. So when Weidman beat Silva, it wasn’t good enough. 

“‘They’re one-shot wonders.’ The force, in the event you purchased into it, can be brutal. what I ruthless? However I do exactly the most productive I will. The fellows consider in themselves and we consider in every alternative. I believe that’s the place the witchcraft occurs.”

Take a look at the entire interview with Chris Weidman underneath.

Sterling was once stretchered out of the Octagon nearest consuming a crushing knee via Marlon Moraes in 2017. What will have modified Sterling’s occupation for the more serious in lieu bolstered his loyalty. 9 fights and 6 years have handed since Sterling was once rolled out of the Save Mart Middle in Fresno. He hasn’t misplaced since.

“A lot of people would have folded. They could have never been the same,” Longo stated. “He got better. He had the desire to get better… And the way he bounced back after the Yan fight. We had a great conversation about the first fight. He promised me the second fight that things would be different and he held to his word.”

“I wanted to be with a team that was trying to push the fighters to be the best versions of themselves. I found that with these guys,” Sterling advised “UFC Connected” terminating date.”It’s just that loud energy. It shows in those fights. It shows in between those rounds. It shows that they care.”

The commitment between trainer and fighter is a two-way side road at Serra-Longo.

“Do you know what Aljo’s manager told him after the Moraes fight? ‘Get another striking coach,'” Longo stated. “Do you know what he did? He fired the manager because the guy was a moron. This is what you got to deal with. People don’t realize this. There’s always somebody trying to tell you what to do and who’s better than you. It’s really vicious.”

Longo confronted alike complaint within the date. Serra misplaced his UFC debut nearest consuming a spinning back-fist from Shoni Carter. Folk have been in Serra’s ear to discover a unused placing trainer. Serra resisted the ones whispers, mindful of the witchcraft they might conjure in combination.

“I stayed with Ray because I knew that Ray knew his stuff,” Serra advised “UFC Connected” terminating date. “I believed in Ray Longo and he believed in me. It led to incredible stuff.”

“I love the guy for that,” Longo stated. “I’m as loyal as I am to him, really, that’s one of the reasons why.”

Excellent good fortune looking to pressure a wedge between Longo and his opponents. It’s now not committing to occur. The staff didn’t crack when Sterling, Weidman and Merab Dvalishvil began cross-training basically with alternative gyms. It doesn’t essentially take a seat neatly with Longo, however he received’t let a bruised egotism tear his community aside.

“I don’t want my kids moving… I’d be just as upset with these guys,” Longo stated. “Maybe I have empty nest syndrome.”

Taking part with alternative coaches is a moderately unused science for Longo, but it surely’s obviously operating. Longo unearths condolense in a single easy reality: “We keep winning.”

“Even though I might not see Merab, I’m always going to be in his corner,” Longo stated. “It’s the same thing with Weidman.”

Longo worn to hesitate when his troupe was once dubbed a community. He has blood relations at house nearest all. However he sees extra parallels between his youngsters and scholars with every passing occasion. Longo, 65, now begrudgingly accepts his condition because the patriarch of the Serra-Longo Struggle Workforce.

“I am dealing with problems just like I deal with my kids’ problems,” Longo stated. “It might be a dysfunctional family, but it’s like a family. 

“Everyone’s at everyone’s events, lavish openings, communions, confirmations. Matt’s at all times pronouncing to me, ‘It’s a must to come to look my daughter, she’s wrestling.'”

Talk to anyone from the Serra-Longo camp long enough and the word “community” will paintings its manner into the dialog. It’s a spirit that Longo hopes his personnel and opponents will raise with them and utility as a guideline for moment generations.

“Family and camaraderie. You have to keep it together even if it’s at the expense of my emotions,” Longo stated. “You have to keep the family together, even your real family. I take a beating sometimes with my family, but it’s about my family. It’s not about me. I think that’s the biggest thing. You have to make it about your fighter. If you do and you’re successful, everything will fall into place.”

There could also be deny larger rugrat within the bunch than “Ragin'” Al Iaquinta. It was once an appropriate nickname at Iaquinta’s top. He had a mood at the mic and famously trashed a lodge room nearest defeating Joe Lauzon in 2015. At the moment, a extra subdued Iaquinta prioritizes training and promoting actual property over caving in faces and wrecking rooms.

“They let me be myself and discover who I was,” Iaquinta stated. “They definitely gave me good examples to look up to. You’re always evolving and maturing. They’re just great examples for everybody on the team on how to do things in life. They’re great coaches in the gym, but it’s more outside of the gym. How to treat people. How to work hard in anything in life. If you can succeed in fighting, you can succeed in whatever the next avenue is.”

The only elementary confidential to Longo’s luck as a trainer: self-awareness.

“The biggest thing as a coach is that I’m not the end-all to be all,” Longo stated. “You have to talk to people and understand where they’re coming from. I don’t run that type of gym where I’m a drill sergeant. 

“I believe I’m a just right listener. It’s now not about me. That’s the very first thing I inform any one that desires to be a trainer. ‘It ain’t about you. And if you need it to be about you, put the gloves on and battle.'”

There may be camps with swankier facilities, more champions on their roster or new-age methods, but Longo challenges other teams to match the longevity of his family business.

“There could be camps which can be doing just right now, however the place are they going to be 25 years from these days?” Longo asked. “That’s the section that even wigs me out. Even Matt would say, ‘Dude, that is incredible.’ We’re residing the dream. That is what we find irresistible to do, we’re creating wealth, and we’re having a laugh.”