UFC Performance Institute Hosts Summit In Saint Petersburg

UFC Director of Sport Science Dr. Roman Fomin, UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko and UFC bantamweight Yana Kunitskaya presented information and provided explanation in regards to the PI's research, tests and results.

Nearly 50 individuals closely tied into the fabric of Russian sports and the Russian Federation of Sport gathered to take in the presentation. 

Fomin believes that sharing this information is critical to not only the evolution of mixed martial arts, but to also determine the best practices to optimize performance for athletes of all sport.

"Sharing this information is part of our mission at the UFC Performance Institute, but it's also much more than that," Fomin said in. We grow our knowledge by accumulating feedback, collecting the information, and then using it to involve and influence athletes worldwide."

Fomin directly works with Shevchenko and Yuniskaya in order to determine what type of training works for each unique individual and the effect that it will have in the short, medium and long term. This type of information is more than valuable, it is vital to athletes and their coaches. And more importantly, it is vital to the development of sport and methods of performance.

Fomin and his team perform daily assessments, track progress over time and introduce new components into the training process for each athelte. Then the Performance Institute staff uses the data collected during these tests and training to analyze an athletes body.

Shevchenko can attest to the Performance Institutes role in her success and she believes that sharing this information can help athletes around the world.

"I'm a professional fighter so what's great about the UFC Performance Institute is that it adds little steps to the system I already have," Shevchenko said. "The nutrition and the physical therapy are number one. I'm always trying to be the best fighter I can be and the UFC Performance Institute helps me do that."

Yunitskaya, who is fresh off a win less than a month ago at UFC Wichita, has leaned on the Performance Institute as she has put together a two fight win streak.

She believes that the Performance Institute has helped her overcome nutrition challenges, injury issues, poor performance during training and lack of recovery.

"When I train at the UFC Performance Institute it taught me a lot about my body and how it works," Kunitskaya said. "For example I didn't realize how my running effected my metabolism, weight cut, energy levels and recovery. With suggestions for the PI I learned what the right amount was for my body to stay healthy and prevent overtraining."

Dr. Fomin firmly believes that as more tests are run and more information is discovered, that the Performance Institute will succeed in its goal to consistently produce maximum performance become the leader in high-level performance. Sharing this information with countries such as Russia, who are very sport minded and scientific, is a real step toward achieving that goal.

Gavin Porter is a writer and digital producer for UFC.com, follow him on Twitter at: @PorterUFCNews