He’s ready to play “Touch Butt” outside of the park now too…
Controversial movement coach, Ido Portal, plans on making his MMA debut shortly. Casual fans first became exposed to Portal’s rather unusual techniques in the lead-up to UFC 196. Although it was not his intent, Nate Diaz inadvertently made Portal famous at the UFC 196 pre-fight presser.
Diaz was attempting to run-down Conor’s training partners when he famously referred to Portal’s methods as playing “Touch Butt in the Park”. Diaz’s comments were part of what led to there being increased public interest in the bout, which would go on to break UFC PPV records.
Despite being his most high-profile client, Portal has even said McGregor is still only a novice at his movement techniques.
“(Conor’s) a very intelligent and dedicated practitioner, but the stuff that we do is extremely difficult. Like, last week they show me doing some one-armed hand-stands around the house and he asked me, ‘how can I do that?, I told him, ‘You don’t need to do that, it takes too much time. It takes three years of six hours a day training to get there.’ but he still wants to get it.”
So as good as Conor is, he still can’t touch butt in the park like Portal can touch butt in the park.
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Nate Diaz Berates “Touch Butt in the Park” in the Park Approach
At the UFC 196 pre-fight press conference, Nate Diaz blasted Conor for his choice in training partners. At the now famous press conference, Diaz threw the following comments Conor’s way:
“You’ve got it all figured out, but who do you train with? You’ve got no training partners. Who do you train with? You’ve got that one little goofy (expletive) with you. I’ve got real training partners,” Diaz shouted to McGregor. “Top-10 fighters. Top-10 boxers. Top-10 jiu-jitsu guys. Top-10 kickboxers.
“You’re playing touch-butt with that dork in the park. (The guy) with the ponytail and I’m the one who ain’t got no training partners? I don’t think so. You seem to have it all figured out when you’re fighting midgets. You got (expletive).”
Who Else Plays in the Park?
Conor McGregor is not the only fighter to utilize Portal’s movement techniques. Gunnar Nelson and Michael Page have both been featured on Portal’s YouTube page training with him.
Some fighters claim, however, that while movement is important for a fighter, it simply doesn’t make sense to take time away from other training techniques to focus on Portal’s. As an example of some of his more bizarre training methods, Portal filmed himself throwing playing cards at Conor McGregor as the Irish UFC champion attempted to punch them out of the air.
Check out this video of Conor taking part in the “Chaotic Card Drill” below:
Ido Portal MMA Debut
Portal did not announce who he will be fighting or which promotion he will be fighting for. It’s possible at this point that Portal doesn’t know that information and is simply beginning his MMA training.
Perhaps if the UFC is looking for an inexperienced opponent for CM Punk, Portal might be able to fill that role.