Millwall boss wishes he’d tried UFC and uses MMA tips for football training

The UFC is as good a descriptor that there is for the battle to gain promotion to the top flight this season.

Millwall manager Gary Rowett, who last month passed three years in charge at The Den, knows all about the rigours of trying to claim a play-off place, but also appreciates the dedication it takes to reach the UFC, mixed martial arts’ premier organisation.

The ex-Derby, Birmingham and Stoke boss has been avidly watching all the octagon action since the early 2000s and while Rowett has left it too late to swap MFC for UFC, he has picked up one or two tips from elite MMA coaches that he hopes will keep the Lions in the fight for the Premier League.

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Former defender Rowett, 48, said: “If I was younger, I would have liked to have done some MMA training but as a player you can’t really risk it and then you get to about 35 and you think, ‘I am too old now, I’ll just get beaten up’.

“But even as a coach now I look at John Danaher or Firas Zahabi, you look at some of the coaches, and it is quite interesting to see some similarities in how they talk and how they work. For example, John Danaher talks about training every day, not having any days off during his [fight] camps, even if they just have a lighter day where they practise technique.

“In the football world, where you tend to get two days off a week, it is certainly something that makes you think. And Firas Zahabi talks about flow, about maintaining a level of flow in training.

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“I try to take one or two bits from it but, of course, it is very different in football as it is like having a fight twice a week. So you have to train differently but you take little bits from MMA trainers, and all sports, and see if there are any parallels with what you are trying to achieve yourself.”

Millwall travel to Preston on Saturday looking to push back towards the play-off places after goalless draws in their last two matches.

Rowett, on one of the smaller budgets in the Championship, has made steady progress during his time in South London and is now looking for the Lions to punch above their weight and land a shot at the Premier League.

He added: “We understand as a club what we are and what we have done over the last three years. We have been very close to the top six in all three seasons, which has shown a good level of consistency.

“Of course we want to do what Luton and Barnsley have done in the last few years and break into that top six. We now want to push on before the World Cup break and then take stock and reflect.”

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