LinuxRacr, yeah I'm sure it was in that fight....lol. Ironicly enough I'm not a huge fan of the striking arts....granted to be a well rounded fighter you need to know both. I've done striking arts most of my life- Tang So Do as a child, and Wing Chun as a teen for many years with the addition of Chin Na. I've always gravitated towards the grappling aspect of Chin Na "the art of seizing and locking so it was only natural for me to explore BJJ. I trained under a Rickson Gracie certified Brown-belt for about a year. Let me tell ya- it was the most hard-core school I've EVER trained at. The first night I actually vomited from exhaustion. It's a more laxed atmosphere- no bowing or calling the instructor Si Fu or whatever. More like a collegeit wrestling practice. The best part about BJJ and the way they train is there emphasis on live sparing. We'd usually warm up doing indian sprtints and agility drills for 10 minutes, technique for 30-45 minutes and live sparing for the final 20 in 5 minute incrimants. Let me tell ya- there is NO replacement for live sparing. I cant count how many times I'd practice a technique in Wing Chun only to find I choke while trying to apply it in a live sparring session. It's very rough to spar EVERY night but you learn real quick what your strengths and weaknesses are and actually how proficient you are with a technique on an opponent that not only is doing everything in his power to avoid it, but to hurt (well....submit) you as well.
Our school actually had Vale Tudo tournaments- basically you'd put headgear and grappling gloves on and fight. It would start standing and go ANYWHERE from there. Very exciting! The teacher, Joe Diamond, was unlike any martial art teacher I've ever trained with- he was a competitor himself. He won the IFC at the University of Del., a NHB event. And he's a PanAmerican Gold Medalist. Thinking back to my Karate/Kung Fu teachers........no disrespect to them but they honestly would have gotten the floor wiped by Joe.
dafaba, thats awesome man. I've read articles about Extreme Fighting in Grappling magazine. It's a pretty hard-core event. I think alot of the Lions Den fighters compete in it- if I'm not mistaken. My favorite is Pride. For one it's in Japan...Japanese fans are so much more devoted to the sport than in the US. MMA is still growing here- THERE it's like the Super Bowl. At an average UFC even we attend they'll be somewhere around 10-15,000 in attendance. In Pride they have over 200,000! I also think some of the best fighters are in the Pride Circuit. Noguira is probably the best Heavy-weight in the world right now! And it's the only forum to see the old Gracies fight (Renzo, Royce, Ryan) other than obsure brazilian NHB events. The UFC is nice though- it's the only one that has come to NJ other than NAGA, but NAGA is pure submission wrestling...even though I'm not a huge striking art fan it's fun to watch! It's cool seeing the event in person, you get to meet so many of the fighters. Personally I've met Tito Ortiz, Frank Shamrock, Mourice Smith, Randy Couture, Semmy Schilt, Kevin Randleman, Josh Barnett & Matt Hume, and Marco Ruas.
I love MMA- it's my FOOTBALL. I'd sooner be up for attending a UFC or Pride event than an Eagles game here in the Vet!
