Combat & UFC
Top MMA Coach Admits He Only Fought to Gain Coaching Experience
The Ariel Helwani Show
Coach John Wood Believes Gina Carano Will Fight Again, Explains Why Fighters Should Never Retire
What was said
"I fought just to have experience to be more like totally honest. I fought just to have the experience pretty much to go, hey, I've done this. I never wanted to be a world champion. I never thought I was going to be a world champion. I always knew I wanted to be part of the sport."
John Wood, the reigning MMA Coach of the Year, revealed he competed as a professional fighter solely to gain credibility as a coach rather than championship aspirations. Despite reaching The Ultimate Fighter and getting signed by Strikeforce, Wood admitted he was "scared shitless" before every fight and knew early on that coaching was his true calling. He described his fighting career as "on the job training" for his coaching profession.
Verification status
Attributed speaker claim
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Source and context
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- Programme
- The Ariel Helwani Show
- Episode
- Coach John Wood Believes Gina Carano Will Fight Again, Explains Why Fighters Should Never Retire
- Clip time
- 26:14
- Original source
- Watch the source segment →
From this episode
The Ariel Helwani Show