Reading Guide
How the skills table and the weekly planning sheet are meant to be read — an English rendering of the reference guide “Fiche de suivi Saber — Grille de lecture”.
Skills table
The dominant profile and the archetypes change how a fighter's characteristic coefficients are calculated: a striker's striking ratings weigh more than their grappling ratings, and the other way around for a grappler. Archetypes raise the coefficients of the qualities that matter for the style — for example, a Nakmuay sees knees, elbows and clinch strikes valued more highly. Each characteristic is rated 0–20; a main stat is the weighted average of its substats.
Dominant profiles
Polyvalent
A fighter whose winning condition can alternate between striking and grappling.
Grappler
A fighter who wins 80% of rounds or more thanks to their ground game and wrestling.
Striker
A fighter who wins 80% of rounds or more thanks to their striking.
Striking archetypes
Brawler
A fighter with boxing that isn't necessarily textbook, whose strength lies in gritting their teeth and throwing heavy shots.
e.g. Gaethje, Chandler
Boxer
A fighter with clean boxing, whose style rests almost entirely on their punches.
e.g. Topuria, JDM
Nakmuay
A muay-thai style fighter whose game leans on kicks, elbows, knees and clinch strikes.
e.g. Rountree, Aldo
Kickboxer
A kickboxing-style fighter with good movement and distance management, with little clinch.
e.g. Adesanya, Dos Anjos
In & Out
Close to the kickboxer: the in-&-out fighter favours being uncatchable and hard to touch over volume.
e.g. Taylor Lapilus, Stephen Thompson
Volume
A volume fighter who breaks the opponent down under constant pressure with a high strike output.
e.g. Holloway, Covington
Counter
A low-volume fighter who waits for the opponent's mistake to hunt the big shot.
e.g. Machida, Romero
Grappling archetypes
Chain wrestler
Whose first quality is wrestling in chains — attempt after attempt — even if the timing can sometimes fail.
e.g. Merab, Khabib
Power wrestler
Whose timing and double leg are the premier wrestling qualities, and who installs ground control to shut the opponent's game down.
e.g. Kamaru Usman, GSP
Clinch Grinder
Who seeks to impose themselves in the clinch and against the cage to wear the opponent down.
e.g. Belal, Cormier
Sub artist
Constantly hunting the submission, on the back as much as in top position.
e.g. Oliveira, Ortega
Top grappler
Whose first quality is top-position grappling.
e.g. Gamrot, Brady
Scrambler
Who defends takedowns and the ground game through movement, creating chaos and scramble phases.
e.g. JDM, Ferguson
Defensive wrestling
Often with a wrestling base, who uses it for commanding sprawls rather than to attack.
e.g. Gaethje, Henderson
Anti-wrestling
Who uses movement and distance management to avoid being brought to the ground.
e.g. Adesanya, Gane
Characteristics
Average of offensive grappling statistics
BOTBottom
Ground skills, ability to reverse, avoid having guard passed, and limit adverse ground and pound
CTRLControl
Ability to maintain an opponent on the ground and avoid being reversed
GNPGround & Pound
Ability to find spaces to strike on the ground and do so effectively
PSGGuard Pass
Ability to perform ground transitions to strong positions (mount, crucifix, back, etc.)
SUBSubmission
Ability to submit opponent
Average of defensive grappling statistics
DEF CGECage Control Defense
Ability to avoid being taken down or controlled in cage control
RELGetting Up Skill
Ability to get up from a bottom position
DEF SUBSubmission Defense
Ability to avoid being submitted
DEF TKDNTakedown Defense
Ability to defend takedowns in the center of the cage
Average of offensive striking statistics
BOXBoxing
Offensive abilities in English boxing
KICKKicks
Offensive abilities with kicks
K/EKnee/Elbow
Offensive abilities with elbows and knees (outside clinch)
KOKO Power
Ability to score KOs
Average of defensive striking statistics
CHINChin
Chin, ability to take head strikes
DIST/ALLDistance/Reach
Ability to manage distance in striking
ES/GARDodge/Guard
Ability to defend strikes with guard and/or evasions
FOOTFootwork
Footwork, ability to move in the cage and frame
Average of offensive wrestling statistics
CHAINChain Wrestling
Ability to take the fight to the ground in multiple steps, whether on single legs or defended takedowns in a first step
SHOOTShoot
Ability to take the fight to the ground in one motion, whether through explosive double legs, set-ups, or timings
Average of clinch statistics
CGE CTRLCage Control
Ability to control the opponent against the cage
CLNCHClinch
Ability to control the opponent in the clinch
CL. STRClinch Striking
Ability to strike from the clinch
Average of physical statistics
AGIAgility
Agility/mobility/flexibility, ease and fluidity in movements
END GRAPGrappling Endurance
Endurance during grappling phases
VIT/EXPLSpeed/Explosiveness
Speed/explosiveness
FORStrength
Strength
END STRKStriking Endurance
Endurance during striking phases
Average of mental statistics
AGRAggressivenessneutral
Aggressiveness (neutral characteristic, does not count in the average for some archetypes)
SFRCold-blood
Composure, ability to not yield to pressure, to restore training level in fight
CREACreativityneutral
Creativity (neutral characteristic, does not count in the average for some archetypes)
EXPExperience
Experience
FIGHT IQFight IQ
Fight intelligence, autonomous adjustments and listening to the corner
KILLKiller Instinctneutral
Killer instinct, ability to finish the fight at the slightest opportunity, to smell blood (neutral characteristic, does not count in the average for some archetypes)
RESResilience
Resilience, ability to push forward in difficulty
Planning sheet
Prepare the week's schedule ahead of time. Tip: build one typical week, then copy it across the following weeks to save time, and adjust the small changes as they come. Validate each session — sessions that are not validated are not counted towards your end-of-week training load.
Weekly fields
| Weigh-in | Weight to enter every Monday morning. |
|---|---|
| Absences | Absences during the week. |
| Ground sessions | Number of ground (sol) sessions in the week. |
| Wrestling sessions | Number of wrestling sessions in the week. |
| Striking sessions | Number of striking sessions in the week. |
| MMA sessions | Number of MMA sessions in the week. |
| S&C sessions | Number of strength & conditioning (prépa physique) sessions in the week. |
Perceived fatigue
Reported weekly by the fighter (1 = fresh, 5 = wrecked).
Fresh — Very light fatigue: a recovery week.
Mild — Light fatigue: an active-recovery phase.
Moderate — Reasonable fatigue: a pace you can hold all year round.
Heavy — Heavy training-camp fatigue. Do not keep this level for too long.
Wrecked — Total exhaustion, tendon pain. Reduce the load immediately — the risk of injury is imminent.
Intensity & load
Intensity 1 (Low) — A drill-style session, like a session during fight week.
Intensity 2 (Moderate) — A light morning session.
Intensity 3 (High) — A hard morning session.
Intensity 4 (Max) — An extreme session: very hard sparring, or conditioning taken to failure.
Weekly load is the week's intensities summed up (3 sessions at intensity 3 = a load of 9). A load above 30 signals overtraining — this is a general indicator only: your personal overtraining gauge may sit slightly higher or lower.
Watch out: A fixed load does not mean fixed fatigue. Fatigue can accumulate week after week: perceived fatigue can climb from 3 to 5 in three weeks while the workload stays exactly the same.