By: Taylor DeCastro
The typical American tourist travels for the tropical climate and exotic sightseeing. Michael Pichardo travels to train in MMA.
Michael Pichardo is a senior at SUNY Cortland who travels the world to train in Mixed Martial Arts. Born and raised in the Bronx, Pichardo has always had a love for combat sports originating from his cousin.
“My cousin was the first in the family to train Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu which piqued my interest as a kid,” said Pichardo. “So, growing up, I always thought it was cool and something I would do informally here and there with my cousin.”
Being that his mother wasn’t exactly a fan of him fighting he had to beg his mother to sign him up for classes at Warriors Nation MMA in Brooklyn for his 17th birthday and dedicated all other holidays and celebrations to the sport.
“I asked for nothing else for my birthday or Christmas. I even paid the costly membership fees as all I wanted to do was train and give fighting a chance.”
From that moment on, his life revolved all around training. And as he got older he started to go beyond his little gym in Brooklyn and started training internationally.
Pichardo began his “train-cations” in 2023, traveling to Thailand to train with Professional Fighter Jeff Chan.
Jeff Chan is a Regional Amateur Muay Thai Champion with a pro MMA record of 4-1. Through his YouTube Channel, Chan teaches martial arts and shared that he was going to be hosting a training retreat in Thailand.
“The opportunity felt too good to let pass up,” said Pichardo.
So, he embarked on this retreat in Thailand and since then has attended two additional retreats in Athens and Columbia.
“We train in the morning and evening for at least an hour, where we go over techniques, conditioning and even spar,” said Pichardo.
Yet Pichardo said the most crucial part is not the technical training, but the insight received from the peers around him.
“Being in a room full of peers from all over the world that are just as invested in improving as you are is game-changing,” said Pichardo. “I get insight into how people from all around the world are training and I can bring new methodologies back with me. This is vital as I mostly solo train here at Cortland.”
At SUNY Cortland, Pichardo not only teaches kickboxing classes at the student life center, but in addition is the President of Cortland Jiu-Jitsu which was a huge deciding factor on his commitment to the school allowing him to still train while earning a degree, despite how small the team was when he came to Cortland his freshman year.
“Jiu-Jitsu club was my solution to still training and growing while away at school”, said Pichardo. “I saw that I knew more than the current Instructors of the club, so I took that opportunity to take over and teach.”
Through his training and role in the club, Pichardo single handedly revived Cortland Jiu-Jitsu and not only recruited members but made them grow a passion for the sport just like him.
“Michael inspired me to join Jiu-Jitsu at Cortland and he really conveyed the passion that he has for the sport to me,” said Antonio Magalhaes.
Magalhaes has been raining with Pichardo for two years and is also his roommate here at Cortland.
“The club now has an average of 20-30+ members who are passionate for the club and attend practices regularly,” said Pichardo. We are at the level that we can travel to competitions which was never done before my time as the club’s President.”
Cortland Jiu-jitsu will be attending two competitions in April with one of them being in Philadelphia.
With Pichardo graduating in a month he will be training full time again out of Warriors Nation MMA in Brooklyn and his next train-cation will be spent in New Mexico for 4 weeks at Jackson Wink MMA Academy.
This gym is run by former head coach and current UFC Heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
“I look to train here to get in the best shape and condition for my first fight this year.”
