When Chase “Mannimal” Mann pivoted from powerlifting to the unforgiving world of MMA, the transition was anything but smooth.

In an Exclusive Interview with Bodybuilding Bros, Mann admitted that raw strength alone wasn’t enough to survive the chaos of the cage.

When we asked the Mannimal, "Were there any powerlifting habits or mindsets that you had to unlearn for MMA?"

He explained, “I had to learn to stop relying on my strength so much. It's good to be strong, but every time I use strength to overpower someone I am draining my cardio. And once your gassed out, it doesn't matter how strong you are. So I really had to focus on relying on skills to get better and only using strength when I had to.”

We saw that while he took on Isi Fitikefu, Mann overwhelmed his opponent in relentless grappling. He immediately shot for a takedown and tackled Fitikefu to the ground. Throughout a five-minute period, Mann had his opponent either on the ground or in the ring corner. Even with these successes in strength, Mann talked about finding the right balance between strength and skill.

While strength is an important factor in MMA, more than that, conditioning matters the most. Mann learned this the hard way when he realized that continuing a powerlifting routine wasn’t suitable for MMA.

That’s why he reduced his focus on strength training and shifted toward conditioning his heart and lungs more. He started two days of training with sprints as well as going for long-distance runs.

Mann then added, “I used to do strength training every day as well as skills. I was always dealing with little injuries, and it took a while for me to realize that it was coming from overdoing it in strength training. So I cut back to 3 days a week, and I feel like it is the perfect balance.”

That doesn't mean that powerlifting didn't help at all.

That’s Why We Asked Chase Mann how did the powerlifting base help your transition into fight-specific strength?

Mann told Bodybuilding Bros, “It helped a lot when it came to grappling and clinch fighting the most. In the beginning when I didn't have much skill, I could rely on strength and power often to control others and get my way out of bad positions if I ended up in one.”

The goal was not to lift the heaviest weight once, but to lift the opponent multiple times during the bout. That's why the powerlifting approach in MMA was likely to cause even more injuries.

Now, Chase Mann has found the right balance in his workout. After a win against Isi Fitikefu, his undefeated streak extends to 7-0 on his ONE Championship debut. More importantly, he has established himself as a leading candidate who can go on to win the ONE Welterweight MMA World Title.

Written by

Suryakant Das

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar