Ahead of UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Johnson in Stockholm, the home of Spotify, we’ve put together our own playlists to bring you the sounds of the UFC.
Head to our UFCEurope account for walkout music, guest playlists and more UFC tracklists. This week Scroobius Pip, UK rapper, spoken word poet and founder of Speech Development Records talks through his ultimate training playlist.
The choice of music is crucial for any workout. Choose the wrong tunes and you can never quite find the mindset you’re looking for. Choose the right tunes and it can help you make every minute, every movement of that training session matter.
I've divided my ultimate playlist into three sections: cardio, heavy bag and the cooldown.
Playlist 1: Cardio training
The first section is all about stamina. For some people, cardio training can be a chore. You can see their minds drifting aimlessly away as they go through the motions on the treadmill. I genuinely believe that treadmills are 90% mental so this to both motivate and, just as importantly, distract you.
These tracks will help you explode out of the blocks and start your session with the serious intent for the next sixty minutes. They’ll also give you little breathers every now and then. And when the pain starts to kick in, they’ll drive you on to keep pushing forward.
Scroobius Pip - Let em Come feat Sage Francis & POS
Outkast - B.O.B
So Solid Crew - 21 Seconds
warrenpeace – Hungry
Young Fathers - Come to Life
Playlist 2: Heavy bag workout
Next up it’s all about flat-out AGGRESSION. You’ve got your gloves on and you’re ready to work that heavy bag. You’re soaked with sweat, looking up at the clock waiting for the buzzer to sound. When it does, you want to forget about fatigue and focus on the task in hand: hard, heavy strikes that hammer that punchbag.
These tracks vary the pace, but most importantly give you those moments to unleash your kinetic energy, spike your heart rate and take this training session to the next level.
Deliver the fire, my friends. Just don’t break anything.
M.O.P - Ante Up remix (feat busta rhymes)
Childish Gambino – Bonfire
Sage Francis - Cheat Mode
Killer Mike - Big Beast
Doomtree - Bolt Cutter
Playlist 3: Cooldown
I'm going to be honest, the cool down is the hardest bit for most people to stay focused on. You're not REALLY pushing yourself or feeling any motivational burn. You're just doing it because you read somewhere that you should.
That's why the cool down SHOULD ALWAYS BE RHYTHM/DANCE BASED! Why be bored as you stretch and shake out those muscles? Get down to these beats and dance away to celebrate how awesome you are for punching a hole in that heavy bag.
Hackney Colliery Band - All of the Lights
P.O.S. - F*** your stuff
Damien Marley - Welcome to Jamrock
Foxy Brown - Fast Car
Prince - Sexy M.F.
Now it’s time to hit the showers and face the day. And…I know you’re going to take one of those annoying post-workout selfies for Instagram. I know it, you know it. I mean, I’m as much to blame for anyone for sticking that last song on there. Let’s just try and keep it to one a week, okay?
You can listen to all three on our official UFC Europe Spotify channel here.
UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Johnson takes place at the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm on Saturday 24th January. To be part of one of this huge event, which will determine a contender for the light heavyweight title, click here for tickets.