Blake Griffin trains with MMA fighter to learn to deal with physicality

Blake Griffin is famous for taking hard fouls.

The Clippers' power forward recently trained with MMA fighter Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone to learn skills for all of the physicality he encounters down low as part of a video series with Red Bull called "The Crossover."

"In basketball there's a lot of pushing, grabbing and shoving going on that nobody else sees," Griffin said in the video. "That's why I'm training with MMA fighter Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone."

Before Griffin began his workout with Cerrone, he explained to him what type of skills he was hoping to learn.

"The thing in basketball is you always want to be free. I don't want to be hugged up to my guy," Griffin said. "When we're body to body, I want to control you."

Cerrone taught Griffin some striking and pummeling skills and gave him tips on how to gain an advantage inside.

"The thing that I really kept hearing him say is you don't want your head to get outside of your hips because then you're off balance and the same is true with basketball," Griffin said. "You always want to be in that athletic stance, and if you get pushed off your position, it's too hard to recover."

Those skills are relevant for Griffin, who always seems to take a beating down low. In 2015, Griffin said: "My entire career everybody says I need to punch somebody." After Robin Lopez clotheslined Griffin in 2012, Lakers' superstar Kobe Bryant weighed in on the conversation, saying he would have responded with force. 

"I'd smack the ... out of somebody," Bryant told ESPNLosAngeles.com in 2012. "I've known him for a while and he's a really nice guy, so I don't know if he'd want to do that. But I would. I would've done it early in the year."

Over the summer, Griffin also trained with handball champion Timothy "Timbo" Gonzalez and sprinting champion Carmelita Jeter to help augment his skills.

Griffin averaged 21.9 points on 50.2% shooting, 7.6 rebounds and a career-high 5.3 assists a game during the 2014-15 season.

So far this season, he has helped the Clippers get a 4-0 start for the first time since 2007. In the team's first three games, he averaged 32 points, nine rebounds and four assists while shooting 64.4% from the field. Then in Monday's win over the Phoenix Suns, Griffin led the Clippers with 22 points on eight-for-15 shooting, including a basket and three free throws in the last three minutes when the game was on the line.

Follow Melissa Rohlin on Twitter @melissarohlin