There are 2 reasons for this. When I train in phases I can cut back on the amount of abuse I put on my body. But I can do this while also focusing on improving my fighting techniques. 

Although this is my downtime, I still engage in some amount of sparring and grappling. This helps me to keep my timing on track while enabling me to test new fighting techniques. 

There is a delicate balance we all have to achieve. We don’t want to punish our bodies to the point of abuse, yet we can’t let our fitness deteriorate. Because I try hard to maintain that balance, I only need 8 weeks to prepare for a specific opponent.