…AND IN THIS CORNER… An Interview with Pro MMA Fighter Brice Ritani-Coe Part 1

If any of you know me personally, you know that I’m always talking about “living your dream” and “doing what you love, your passion.” Well, a little over a year ago, as part of my dream and passion, I took a trip to New Zealand to do some sight-seeing and training. One of my stops took me to Queenstown, New Zealand, a picturesque party/adventure town surrounded rugged mountains, majestic lakes and crystal clear air. I was lucky enough to find a gym right next to my hostel and paid them a visit. There I meet and had to chance to spar one of the biggest men I ever met in my life. He had quick hands, lightening fast head movement and big dreams. Unfortunitly, all good things must come to an end and I had to head back home.

Shortly after arriving home, I get a message asking about MMA gym in the States. Shortly after that I get another message stating that “I’m training at Exterme Couture.” Talk about making BIG moves. I’ll let him tell you his story.

Rahsaan: Tell us a bit about yourself.

Brice: I’m Brice Ritani-Coe. Im originally from Queenstown New Zealand. I moved to Las Vegas in February of 2008 to pursue a carrier in Mixed Martial Arts. I showed up at Xtreme Couture with a background in Boxing and Muay Thai and took it from there!

Rahsaan: How is your weekly training schedule set up?

Brice: I train 2 times a day 4 times per week. On Wednesday and Saturday I train once on those days. On the mornings of Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, I do conditioning at 8am involving different types of strength exercises, plyometrics and conditioning sort of exercises and cardio and stuff. At 10 am I do BJJ or pad work or something else depending on what i need to work on.
4pm I go into Xtreme Coutrue again and do the pro practice which is 2 hours of drills, sparring and grappling, working from positions and other such things that are involved in MMA On Wednesday, I just go into pro training and on Saturdays, I normally work on my striking and BJJ.

Rahsaan: What is a typical day like for you? And what do you do for money?

Brice: I wake up at 7am drink water then go and prepare my food for the day. I leave for the gym at 7:45am, get to the gym around 8:00-8:15am train with a few of the Hawaiian boys and go though strength and conditioning drills for about a half hour to an hour. I’ll stretch at 10am or 11am depending on when we have the BJJ class. I’ll do the BJJ class cause my ground game still needs alot of work. I’ll go home at 12pm eat chicken and salad or a sandwich and have a power nap, watch fights and stuff on youtube, go on facebook and chat with people from back home, and then at 3pm i head on back into the gym to train till 6pm.Then I’ll come home and watch tv and relax. I’ll do that most days of the week!

For money, I sometimes teach boxing or muay thai at the gym and help out with the kids class.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our interview.

“If there is no passion in your life, then have you really lived? Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it, and let it become you and you will find great things happen FOR you, TO you and BECAUSE of you.” ~ T. Alan Armstrong

A few things to learn from the Olympians.

By Neil Patel

1. Be dedicated and passionate – if you don’t love what you are doing, there will not be much to keep you going. Not everything in life is simple, so make sure you are passionate and dedicated about whatever you are currently doing. If you aren’t you may want to consider a new career path.

2. Keep your goals in mind – some things could take years before they are obtained, so make sure whatever you are doing now helps you get one step closer to your goal.

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