City Kickboxing's Eugene Bareman and Israel Adesanya. Photo /Photosport
City Kickboxing's Eugene Bareman and Israel Adesanya. Photo /Photosport
In a month's time, Eugene Bareman could be the world's most travelled man since Covid-19 forced borders to close.
The head coach of Auckland's City Kickboxing will travel from New Zealand to Las Vegas next week to corner Dan Hooker at the UFC Apex, before moving on to Fight Island in Abu Dhabi to corner UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.
In a time where international travel has been suspended, Bareman told the Herald having to bounce between three countries over a five week period wasn't something he was overly comfortable about.
"It is a disturbing thought for me considering everything the world has been through and considering my opinion on it," Bareman said. "I've been very strict and adhered to everything. I've taken this very seriously. I have dependents, people that I live with and people in my family that are in that hit risk demographic so I've taken all of this very seriously. To then have to travel, it's a little bit disturbing to me.
Eugene Bareman, Dan Hooker and Tristram Apikitoa backstage prior to Hooker's bout against James Vick in 2019. Photo / Getty Images
"My initial thought was (to stay home). Especially that going away with one fighter essentially means I'm away for three weeks. Any successive fighter after that, I'm away for three weeks of their camp as well, which affects them too.
"A big consideration of my decision is the fighters I'm in charge of, they have families and dependents just like I do who are relying on them, and indirectly they're relying on me a bit to do my job. At the end of the day I'm just going to travel with my team and we're going to do the best we can to get these fights out of the way and get home safely."
Bareman, along with City Kickboxing striking coach Mike Angove and wrestling coach Andrei Paulet, will corner Hooker in the biggest fight of his career against fellow top-five lightweight contender and former interim champion Dustin Poirier in Las Vegas next week.
While the other three will return back to New Zealand and go into mandatory quarantine for two weeks straight after the event, Bareman will have to spend a week in America before setting out for Abu Dhabi to corner Volkanovski in his rematch against former champion Max Holloway. In Abu Dhabi, he will link up with Volkanovski's team which would also include City Kickboxing UFC lightweight Brad Riddell, Joe Lopez from Freestyle Fighting Gym in Wollongong and Frank Hickman from Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket.
Frank Hickman, Eugene Bareman, Joe Lopez and Brad Riddell will again corner Alexander Volkanovski when he defends his title on Fight Island next month. Photo / Getty Images
Because of the proximity between fights, Bareman won't have the luxury to return back to New Zealand for the week, as quarantine on arrival must last a fortnight.
"So I'm going to have to hang around in America of all places, which isn't the place I'd really want to be," Bareman said.
"I have to hang out there for a week or go to Fight Island a week early if I'm even allowed to do that. It's a difficult situation where I'm essentially away for five weeks."
Simply getting from country to country hasn't been the only challenge facing Bareman ahead of the bouts, but the smaller octagon awaiting Hooker has forced some critical thinking too.
At the UFC Apex, the cage is considerably smaller than the regular UFC battle ground which has led to explosive fights and plenty of stoppages in recent weeks.
"There are certain things we've had to adjust for that small cage. There's certain ways we move, exit and navigate the geography of the cage when it's a big cage, and we have to adjust change that strategy slightly."
When it comes to Hooker's bout, a booking made on short notice but one that had been expected sooner or later, while a full camp would be ideal, Bareman was comfortable with what Hooker could achieve in the time allowed.
"If there's one guy in this gym that can take short notice fights, it's hooker. He's a guy that keeps himself in very good shape outside of camp; he's just in a good habit of doing that.
"He's the one athlete, if I had to take a short notice fight, he's the one that I would probably choose to do it.
"We've never had to take a short notice fight, so we've had the benefit of plenty of preparation time.
"If anything, this is a real test of our system, and whether the system I have and the coaches have can pull something together under these circumstances, because we haven't had to do that before…I'm very interested to see the outcome."
