Brighton, a club in the English Premier League, has brought in an MMA fighter to help with training to better defend against set pieces.
On 2 May 2026, Brighton manager Fabian Hürzeler revealed that they had brought in an MMA fighter to train with the club, experimenting with new techniques to defend set pieces starting 2-3 months ago.
Hürzeler said that in some situations, high patience is required in one-on-one duels. There are many ways to use your body and skills to win these duels, especially in set-piece scenarios. MMA fighters constantly engage in one-on-one battles; their job is to find ways to overcome opponents, and we like learning ideas from other sports.
“We don’t want to lose easily against taller teams. We might not be very strong in height, but there are always methods to defend and attack in one-on-one duels. This is why we are trying to apply various techniques from MMA,” he said.
The MMA fighter involved is Christian Eckert, a German from the same hometown as Fabian Hürzeler. Early in the season, Brighton has conceded 13 goals from set pieces, accounting for one-third of all goals conceded this season. They are preparing to visit Newcastle United, the team ranked fourth for scoring from set pieces, on Saturday, 2 May at 21:00 GMT+7.