Karate, chess helped TUF Nation Finale’s Ryan Jimmo after leaving Blackzilians team

QUEBEC CITY – Ryan Jimmo entered the UFC in 2012 on a remarkable 16-fight winning streak. Since then, though, he has split four fights inside the octagon.

The 32-year-old is determined to get back to his peak, and that’s why he relocated his training camp from the Florida-based Blackzilians to Power MMA in Arizona.

“It wasn’t the right kind of thought process there for me to be successful,” Jimmo told MMAjunkie of his time with the Blackzilians. “I chose to go into a different soil. Different plants grow in different soils. They need the right kind of food and environment. So I chose to go into a new soil.”

Changing training camps was just the tip of the iceberg for Jimmo (18-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) as he prepares for his Wednesday collision with Sean O’Connell (15-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at the TUF Nations Finale at Colisee Pepsi in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It’s one of nine bouts airing on FOX Sport 1 following four prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

Jimmo said he also went back to his martial arts roots.

“I’ve really got back in touch with my karate roots,” Jimmo said. “I’ve entered a few karate tournaments in preparation for this fight.”

Karate was good way for Jimmo to shake up his physical training. But for the mental side of the game, the Canadian took up chess.

“I actually have a chess master that’s kind of my mentor,” Jimmo said. “I competed in a little bit of that.”

The move to Power MMA, along with competitive karate and chess, have Jimmo feeling better than ever before. He admits his past few efforts in the cage were lackluster, but he said that was mostly due to the drastic changes he made in his career.

“I only started training at Power MMA about two months before my last fight,” Jimmo said. “I didn’t really have the chance to gel with the team and fully marinate in the flow of things down there. You were seeing a bit of a transitional phase for me.

“I just had a lot of crossed wires with all my training in that fight. Now everything is pointing in the right direction for me, and it should be great from here.”

Jimmo’s defeat to Jimi Manuwa this past October was particularly rough due to the fact it ended with a second-round leg injury. What made things worse is Manuwa went on to compete in a UFC main event against Alexander Gustafsson in his next fight.

Seeing how close he was to potentially headlining a UFC card against a top light heavyweight contender was a tough pill to swallow, but Jimmo said it just wasn’t his time yet.

“It was quite a bit frustrating to see where Jimi went after that fight,” Jimmo said. “I thought in the Jimi fight I was landing pretty clean shots, just not enough. I wasn’t being aggressive enough, and it was a little frustrating that the opportunity was right there in front of me. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the right time for me to capitalize on it.”

With his fifth UFC fight just around the corner, Jimmo feels Wednesday’s bout with O’Connell will be the one in which he displays his full range of his skills – something he’s yet to do inside the octagon.

“I’m a lot more comfortable now,” Jimmo said. “I’m a little more relaxed. You’re definitely going to see my new training in this one.”

While Jimmo is prepared to show what he can do on fight night, he knows he must be weary of O’Connell. His opponent makes his UFC debut and is hungry to make a name for himself at Jimmo’s expense.

“He’s an awesome guy, and I simply just like him,” Jimmo said. “I’m sure we’ll hang out after the fight. He’s a great guy, does volunteer work over in Africa, so I have nothing bad to say about him. But when it comes time to fight, I’ll be ready to get all over him.”

O’Connell may be an unknown to most UFC fans, but Jimmo said he’s taking this fight as seriously as if he were challenging 205-pound kingpin Jon Jones. He’s ready to return to the form that led to a seven-second knockout win in his UFC debut and build toward a memorable 2014 campaign.

“This year I want to fight three of four times, and they’re all going to be victories,” Jimmo said. “If I can use a chess analogy, before I didn’t have my opening studied enough. I didn’t all the lines studied enough. Now I understand all my openings, I understand my strengths, weaknesses and I know how I’m going to play now. Now I can have all my pieces lined up and have them in the proper positions to be successful.”

For more on the TUF Nations Finale, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.