MarkHolst.com

Hello everyone! I have been training really hard last week.

I have 3 sparring sessions this week, 2 wrestling practices at the MTL Wrestling Club, 3 strength and conditioning sessions and plenty of rolling and technical training! Sunday, I will have my recovery day and an evening at the Nordik to relax! Then, next week, I have a special training camp planned out!

Everything has been going really good, all the guys and students are helping me out a lot.  Steph has a possible fight in October and so does Remi, so it looks like there will be 3 of us fighting in October ! It’s going to be a busy September!

Also, yesterday the Ottawa Magazine published the September issue and the article that Roger did is in it, 3 full pages!

 
I hope you guys are enjoying the hot weather, I already heard Christmas songs on TV! :p

Take care everyone and I will update you on my next week training camp soon,

BoOts!

Hello everyone! What a great night WRECK MMA was! We had the mayor of Ottawa in attendance who got the crowd up and on its feet applauding when he said he had sent a letter to the UFC asking for a UFC event in Ottawa! Steph, Remi, Kru Jeff and Hammer, all got there W! All the hard word paid off! WRECK MMA had 8 action packed fights and the event was really nice and classy!

First fight of the night was Hammer. He came out strong and got the takedown He landed in crosside and mounted him, then went for the head and arm choke. He wasn’t feeling that so he took his back and slapped on the RNC for the tap! Good job Hammer, impressive debut in around 20-30 secs!

Remi was next up. He came out first round and took his opponent down, then moved to cross side, then to mount to work some GNP, caught his opponent in the head&arm choke to finish the fight in the first round! Good job Remi, back on the winning streak!

Last but not least was Stephane Bernadel, co-main event, against Jon “Judo” Williams. Steph started nice and easy working the game plan of stick and move and counter punching. Jon actually stood up with Steph and traded shots, tried to take him down once but Steph defended. Steph worked his 1-2 and combos got him rocked and finished the fight with a high kick and flurry KO. Great fight Steph, congrats!

OAMA goes 4-0 ! I couldn’t have been so proud of my teammates ! The training was definitively harder then their fight, just like it’s suppose to be! Also congrats to Pat and Nick putting on another great WRECK MMA event supporting the Ottawa Food Bank!

I had lots of fun training, warming up and coaching all 4 of the OAMA pro MMA fighters. Training has started now to ramp up for me, for my fight against Paul “Sassangle” Sass at UFC 120 in London England!

Here is a funny interview done by Bill from the A Channel Morning show, the first one to actually take part in training and want to get in the cage! Kru Jeff and myself had the interview with him. We had so much fun doing it and it came out great! Check it out at: 

 Interview and training with Bill!

Take care everyone and I’ll update you soon on the training this week!

BoOts!

WRECK MMA is tomorrow night! As of all of you know Hammer, Remi, Steph and Kru Jeff will be fighting!

Here are my predictions for the night; 4 & 000hhh! for the OAMA MMA fighters;

Hammer by submission; head&arm choke

Remi by submission; Guillotine or RNC

Kru Jeff by KO\TKO; Knee!

Stephane by KO\TKO; cross or left hook

Let me know your predictions, if you get them ALL right…I’ll buy you a shot or give you a private class!!! lol

All 4 of them are my close friends, teammates and brothers. I believe in them a lot and I want them to win.

I will be cornering some of them tomorrow ight! I cant wait to see them fight!

TEAM RENZO GRACIE OAMA!

Here is a video made for the promotions of the blue belts and also my promotion to purple belt!

Made by Mediii! Check it out:

BJJ Promotions at OAMA

Take care everyone, see you all  at the fights! Also, don’t forget the after party at Foundation

BoOts!

Hello everyone!
I got a really good week of training this week and today is my birthday, I woke up and got a call from Jonny from Virgin radio, he told me the good news that MMA is coming in Ontario! Wow, what a great Birthday gift and what a great start to my day!

I have been very busy training and also helping out my teammates for their fight on WRECK MMA August 20th at the Casino in Hull.BoOts!

As everyone knows now there is an addition to Kru Jeff, Stephane Bernadel and Remi Morvan fighting…there will also be Matt “Hammer” Hache taking part in the WRECK MMA card, making his pro MMA debut! Hammer has been one of my BJJ instructor for over 7 years now! He is a brown belt in Renzo Gracie Jiu Jitsu under Pat Cooligan. Hammer has always been in my corner during all my MMA fights. So he will be used to the crowd and he will know what goes on! He has been training very hard and I can’t wait to see him fight and make his debut. I have always wanted to see him fight MMA as I am sure everyone else at OAMA. Like Hammer says, it will be his first and last, so make sure you come and see it live!!!

Stephane Bernadel and I were training with the Champ, Jean-Yves Theriault. Steph is Jean-Yves’ protégé and has been training with him for around 8 years. Today the Iceman trained Steph and I with the focus mitts, getting our hands sharp! It was an awesome workout and really good to work with the Iceman, 23X world kickboxing Champion!

I also rolled jiu jitsu with Remi the other night. He felt really strong and was very fit. He is more than ready for his comeback to MMA and to get the W! In addition, Pat scheduled a no gi jiu jitsu training session for Remi and myself. I rolled with Paul Hudson, Joel Hadden, Dansky and Warren! All of them solid Renzo Gracie blue belts who really put it on me!

I have been training everyday with Kru Jeff during MMA Elite class 1-3pm. We did some MMA rounds today and he was whooping me! He is in really good shape and you guys can bet that it wont last 3 rounds!

Last Tuesday, I went up to Montreal to train wrestling. It was an awesome training session, in which I got to train with high level wrestlers! There was the usual crowd there, Georges St-Pierre, Kenny Florian and the wrestling team. It was also the first time I saw Miguel Torres who was there training and looking really good!

My opponent for UFC 120 is Paul Sass. He is a newcomer to the UFC. He has a purple belt in BJJ and is an undefeated MMA fighter. He has many submissions victories, mostly by triangle choke. I will not have the reach advantage as he is about 6′1. I will be working my wrestling and BJJ very hard for this fight, and like everyone is saying to me…I will be working triangle choke defence! I hope to redeem myself from the last fight. It was not very exciting…I want to show the UFC that I belong there. I will fight with all my heart and spirit and my goal is to put on the fight of the night!

All in all my training is coming along really well and my 4 teammates are feeling good and ready for their fight!

If you guys need tickets to WRECK MMA www.wreckmma.com, email me at mark@oama.ca. I have some 60$ and 70$ tickets available!

Take care everyone and I will fill you in on my training camp and how the OAMA fighters are feeling this weekend!

Hello everyone!

I am visiting my good friend, Ross and his family this weekend. He lives close to the Valcartier army base, in a small city called Courcelette. His wife just gave birth to Dahlia, she is now 13 days old and he named me godfather! Ross took me around the army base and also Quebec city, it was an awesome weekend.

This week will be the last hard training for  3 of my teammates; Kru Jeff, Steph and Remi who will be figthing at the WRECK Mma show at the Hull Casino on August 20^th . They look really sharp and ready to fight! If you need tickets for the event please email me at mark@oama.ca

My training is going great, I feel strong and no injuries! I will let you guys know how this week goes for training! Take care everyone

BoOts!

Hello everyone!!

My next fight has been scheduled to be at the UFC 120 October 16th event in London, England! It will be my first time there and I am very excited! I have fought in Europe before at the 2004 WKA’s in Basel, Switzerland. I have heard that London is a beautiful city and that there is a lot to see and do there!

I will be fighting Paul Sass. A jiu jitsu fighter who has a great record of 10-0. Undefeated fighter! Many of his wins come by way of triangle choke and a few by heel hook submission. So I will need to take my jiu jitsu on a new level. I hope to redeem myself from my last fight and put on an exciting fight. The match will be prelim. So again, it might not be seen on the Spike TV program if it is a long fight but, if it is a quick and exciting one, there is always the possibility that Spike will air it!

I am very grateful to have another shot with the UFC and to be able to fight in the octagon again. I am very excited about this fight and I have already started to train! I will fill you in on the training camp later this week!

Also WRECK MMA is coming up on August 20th at the Hull Casino. 3 of my teammates will be competing that night; Kru Jeff, Steph Bernadel and Remi Morvan. They all look sharp and ready for war! If you need good tickets contact me at mark@oama.ca

Tonight was a big shocker for me. Pat, Hammer, Gelhart and Peter taught techniques in the BJJ seminar, then we trained for a bit and at the end there were promotions. Many white belts were promoted to blue belts. Congrats to all! At the end, Pat wipped out a purple belt and called me out to the front. I could not believe it, it came as a surprise to me. I have been a blue belt for five years. When Pat wrapped the purple belt around me I started to tear up and it took me everything to hold it in. I am very happy and proud to be a Renzo Gracie purple belt and to have been promoted by my head instructor Pat. Thanks a lot Pat. Also thanks to the instructors at OAMA;  Hammer, Xavier and Peter and to all my training partners at Renzo Gracie Ottawa!

Take care everyone!

BoOts!

Hello everyone!

Training has been off the hook this last week. I have been training with the 3 OAMA fighters who will be fighting at the WRECK MMA event. Kru Jeff, Steph and Remi are all looking really sharp and ready to fight any day now! On top of that we had the opportunity to be taught by the Gracie Bros, Igor and Rolles, and with great black belts Zé and Bruno. I also got the chance to train with Bruno and Igor and they helped me a lot with my BJJ.

Last night, I went to the Montreal Wrestling Club where I had the chance to train with Georges St-Pierre. We did 3 X 2min rounds of takedowns. He is an awesome wrestler, kicked my butt and gave me some tips. Great guy! Then, I trained with a whole bunch of wrestlers who gave me whoopin’ and a few tips as well!

I have been training a lot with my SNC coach, Pierre, at Capital Strength and Conditioning. It’s been going great. I am pushing more and more weight every week!

Training has been going great so far! I have some big news for the next post! Have a good weekend.

BoOts!

Hello everyone!

I am back now at doing the usual Muay Thai training and BJJ training at OAMA on top of  wrestling at the Montreal Wrestling Club and of the strength and conditioning with Pierre at Capital Strength & Conditioning. Everything has been going well so far.

During the MMA elite class I train with Kru Jeff and Stephane Bernadel who will be fighting in the next WRECK MMA on August 20th at the Casino in Hull.  Remi Morvan will also be making his return in the MMA ring. I will be training all 3 of my teammates (returning the favor) and will make sure they are fit and ready for battle. Kru Jeff is my striking coach, and now it is my turn to hold pads for him because he will be fighting soon! I can’t wait to see them in action in the WRECK ring!

I have taken the intensity of the training down a bit but still getting the time in. I have been having lots of fun doing it and enjoying not having the pressure of it all getting to me. I also have started up again to teach constantly at OAMA a few MMA classes as well as a few Muay Thai classes here there. I am really enjoying getting back to teaching the students of OAMA.

There was a Muay Thai night on Friday and then Saturday and Sunday I will participate in the Gracie Bro Seminar. Igor, Rolles and Gregor will be doing a 3 hour seminar each day. I can’t wait!

That’s all for now!

Take care everyone

BoOts!

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the hot weather!

First off, I want to apologize for not writing in so long. To be honest I had a really hard time after the fight, getting motivated to write and talk about the fight but now I am ready!

I felt really good leading up to the fight. I had a great training camp for this fight. I barely had to cut any weight in the sauna and the weight  cut went very well. My morale was up and I was feeling really confident and ready for my big UFC debut…exactly 10 years in the making! 

Unfortunately that all changed once I stepped foot inside the octagon…lol

The fight didn’t go as planned at all. Game plan : stand up and strike. My opponent, John Gunderson, was as strong as me but was able to apply his game plan, that is take me down to the ground.

The fight was a big blurr to me…I would listen to my instructor Pat yelling at me instructions, they would register…and I knew exactly what he wanted me to do…and I wanted to do it, but just didn’t. I felt very nervous and stiff. I was punch shy, I knew John would just wait for me to throw a punch and then duck under and take me down, which he did in the endanyway! I guess I just didn’t show up for the fight. On the ground, John was very slick and defended all my attacks. I was waiting for the referee to stand us up but it never happened. He was very smart and did enough to win. I remember at the endof round 3 when I had caught him in an arm lock from the guard, I knew there was only a few seconds left into the fight and that I needed to finish the fight..I knew if it went to decision, John would win by UD. Yet I knew all these things and did nothing. I just could not. Every move I did, he countered. It seemed that I didn’t have the drive to really push andmake something happen. It just was a stall mate fight on the ground…but he was on top the whole time. He didn’t hurt me at all with any of his punches. It was a jiu jitsu match more then anything. In the 2ndround the muscle fatigue set in, I started to get tired and I just hoped for the best that I could catch him in a submission and pull off with a win but it didn’t happen.

I learned a lot in this fight. How I shouldn’t wait for the referee to stand us up, just to make it happen. To take the fight into my own hands and not wait for the referee. Also I went the distance for my first time. I did 3 rounds of 5minutes of fighting. I was surprised how it went by really fast.

I wasn’t hurt at all from the fight. No bruises, shiners or broken bones. It didn’t even look like I was in a fight. From my last fight before that, against Corey Hill, he really put on a ground andpound clinic on me and I my head and face were like a pumpkin. But from the Gundersonfight, I was able to neutralize his ground andpound and took no damage from him. So I am really happy about that, because I can see improvement in my MMA game.

After the fight, I went to the doc to get checked, all good…then got my check and went in the elevator to take us back to the change room. We were my 3 corner men, Nick, Hammer, Pat and I in the elevator. I guess the nerves drop at that moment and I puked all over the elevator (sorry, but we cleaned up real good!). I guess that’s how nervous I was about the fight.

All in all, I learned a lot from this fight. I went the distance for my first time and got my first UFC fight out of the way! Good learning experience for me to fight in the UFC in Vegas and I can’t wait for the next one! It took me a while to bounce back from this loss but with the love and support of everyone in my family, team, friends and fans I was able to get back to the grind. It’s been a good 2 weeks now that I have been back at the training, nothing too intense, just getting the FUN back into the training for this summer.

This is long over due but I wanted to thank the important people in my life that made my dream come true and helped me prepare for my first UFC fight at the Palms Casino in Vegas in the UFC Ultimate Finale 11.
  
 First off, thank you John Gunderson for the fight. You won hands down and are a great fighter. All the best in the future.
  
 Thank you to my family which has always been loving and supporting, even though they don’t really understand or like the sport. They know that it’s what I am passionate about and they are happy for me. My mom has always been a big part of my training camp, making sure I am on weight and dieting.
  
 Big thanks goes out to the man who made the fight happen, Pat Cooligan. I met Pat when I was 17 and told him about my goals and dreams and he made it happen only 7 years later! I can’t thank him enough. He is the one who put the great training camp together for me to prepare myself. He taught me all my jiu jitsu as well as put a strategy for the fight. Pat has been a mentor to me and a father figure, he always has great advices and takes great care of me all the time.
  
 Hammer, Nick and Kru Jeff are like my 3 big brothers with whom I have grown up through my years at OAMA. All 3 of them trained with me and got me ready for the fight. With Hammer, Nick and Pat in my corner I felt protected and really happy. I was happy that after all those years of hard work, all 4 of us would be standing in the UFC Octagon! My striking coach Kru Jeff put up with me for 5 weeks, 2 of those I was dieting. I don’t know what man could do that! He sacrificed his body and time and twice a day for 5 weeks I would smash pads with him. Thank you bru!

Big thanks to Pierre Auge from Capital Strength and Conditioning! Pierre has been my S&C coach for 1 year now. He has been getting me to push more weight and get stronger every month. I never used to do weights before and now that it’s been 1 year with him I feel much stronger. My fitness was very good for the fight too and I had a really easy time to cut weight all thanks to Pierre.
  
 Also thank you to all the staff at OAMA making it the best gym to train at in the world! From walking in the door and seeing Sami’s sunshine smile & Xavier’s great sense of conversation to the newest staff, Jeff and Derek. You guys maybe don’t realize it but you make what is OAMA…OAMA!
  
 A special thank you goes out to all the OAMA students You guys always have been supportive in my ups and downs…wins or losses, always had my back. I really appreciate that.You guys are the best!
  
 Also thank you to all the instructors and fighters who took part in my training camp: John Danaher, Ricardo Almeida, Frankie Edgar, Jean-Charles Skarbowsky & Brian Denis, Shawn Willams, GSP and Justin Fortune.

 I am now back in the swing of things, back to the grind! It took me a while to get back in there though…the loss hurt a lot. But everyone at OAMA and Ottawa\Gatineau has been so supportive and helpful through this tough time. Now I am training everyday and teaching everyday at OAMA. I am also enjoying my summer…it’s been a while! As far as the next fight goes, my manager will let me know and as soon as I know, I will let you guys know! 
 
Lastly, to all my readers and fans, thank you for reading and supporting me through the years. I hope you enjoy the blogs and my fights. There is a lot more coming!
  
 Take care everyone and enjoy the weather!
 
BoOts!

Mark holst vs John Gunderson UFC

Hello everyone!

I just finished my week of training with Muay Thai champion and an incredible Muay Thai teacher, Jean-Charles Skarbowsky. I am very fortunate to have had this opportunity. Pat flew him in from Paris, along with his best student Brian Denis and Jean-Charle’s wife.
The week was great ! I sparred and trained pads with Jean-Charles. He really pushed me to my limits, beating me up and bringing me back up every day! I feel great now, very well prepared and ready for the fight! Jean-Charles spent a lot of time with me talking about the mental side of fighting. He really opened my eyes on fighting and gave me many great advices! After 10 years of Muay Thai, the techniques which he was showing me were all new to me! I couldn’t believe it. He and his student Brian are phenomenal fighters and would just throw me around all day!
Jean-Charles gave me a lot of great tips on the mental side of fighting and he was the first coach who ever really got into the deep psychological ways and tricks of fighting. He also taught some classes at OAMA and a seminar attended by the OAMA students. I believe all of them were blown away!

I hope one day to go to Jean-Charles’ gym in Paris or have him come back down again to train with us! It was so much fun! Once again a big thank you Jean-Charles for teaching me and helping me to get ready for this fight! Merci beaucoup!

Now the training is winding down, I have to focus on dropping the lbs, my favorite part of fighting ! I leave tomorrow for Las Vegas. I will post again in a few days before I cut weight. Take care everyone and again I cannot thank you guys enough for the support and encouragements! I really appreciate them and I won’t let you guys down!

Take care everybody!

BoOts!

La Famille: Brian, moi, Jean-Charles and et sa femme.