Our gym turned 22 yesterday, so of course I did what every self respecting student would do…
I developed some stomach issues, forgot my gi and ended up having to work late.
D’oh!
But, I offer my heartfelt happy anniversary to one of the first BJJ schools on the East Coast, one of the first kettlebell gyms in the country, and home to some of the toughest competitors I know and have the pleasure to train with, Maxercise!
GracieMag posted this interesting article about a Brazilian journalist and his objection to the violence found in UFC.
“The UFC’s Popular? So is Crack”
Yes, some matches end up bloodier then others, but if we are lambasting popular contact sports and their violence, where the reference to boxing? Or hell, football and hockey? For real, hockey is pretty damn violent considering it’s really just about guys skating around a rink, pushing a puck into a netted goal.
While I agree MMA (not just the UFC) is violent, it’s tiring as a fan of MMA to watching the “new kid on the block” being singled out as a vicious, brutal sport that is only out for blood and gore: yes, UFC sort of did it to itself with the years of reference to a gladiator in its opening sequence, but that’s a conversation I don’t feel like getting into. First and foremost, that’s (I sincerely hope) not what the majority of people are paying to see: people want to see two skilled athletes use their best techniques and wit to win over the other opponent, which can also be said about boxing. MMA just happens to have more options and avenues to achieve that win. Of course you’ll have people who boo at the ground game, but I’m sure there are boxing fans that don’t care about the artful dodging and weaving, the footwork, the blocking, and just want to see some guy get punched in the face until he’s unconscious.
Talk about the violence in MMA, and the UFC, but don’t make it the sole scapegoat to point out humanity’s bloodlust.
Filed under MMA
Well I have to say I am definitely surprised ladies are technically now in the UFC. I thought for sure we would have to wait forever for this day to come. It makes financial sense, in a way: Rousey is an exciting fighter, talks smack and has the skill to back it up. I really don’t know much about Carmouche, just that her fans are called Lizbos. Really, that’s about it: which is totally my fault and I will amend later, but at this very moment I’m going to chug along.
Either way, I think it’s going to be a win-win for both UFC and women’s mma. Rousey puts on a good show, and I am sure Carmouche is probably sleeping, eating, breathing nothing but training in her camp if not this very second, definitely in the near future.
Either way, I’m sure it’ll be a pretty interesting fight, and I will look forward to watching it and what comes after.
Filed under MMA
Sorry for the messed up posting schedule, my work schedule is sort of smoothing out, but I am getting up earlier now to get to work, which means in the sleep/train/write equation, writing has gotten a bit of a cut.
This past weekend some of our guys went and fought in an MMA…tournament? Event? There were supposed to be four guys fighting, but only two were able to get into the ring. The other two’s opponents had issues- one didn’t hand in the necessary paperwork in time and the other just didn’t show up to the weigh-in, which boggles my mind, but whatever. How do you not show up to something like that?
Anyway, my friends and I were talking about if they were for some reason going to do an MMA fight, what their walk out song would be. One mentioned Smashmouth’s “Why Can’t We be Friends” another has mentioned the theme from “The Price is Right” when the contestants are told to “come on down!”(is that a different song or the same theme? I haven’t watched the show in forever). I am torn between the Super Mario Brother’s video game theme and Pink’s “So What” at the moment.
If you were, for some reason, slated to compete in an MMA match, what would your walk out song be?
Someone pointed out this article, and it makes me sad/really leery of going for a single or double leg takedown: what are they? They are ways to take down your opponent by crouching down “shooting” in and grabbing one or both legs to take your opponent down.
Fancy terminology, I know.
These guys are going in for one of these take downs and their opponent is applying a guillotine which looks like this:
What the guy on the bottom is doing is dropping to take the other guy down and the guy on top has an arm around their neck, and for some, bad things happen.
Vertebra are either shattering or becoming dislocated, and these guys become paralyzed, or die.
These moves are no joke; I would seriously consider taking them out of MMA and jiu jitsu competitions because of the risk. Granted, I can say these things because I’m not on any governing body of anything, but just as they ban kicks to the back of the head, I think there has to be some sort of “no guillotines while both competitors have two feet on the ground.” or something. Guillotines themselves shouldn’t be taken out of the equation, but this is an issue that should be addressed sooner than later.
2nd degree black belt and owner of 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu Eddie Bravo is attempting to start up a new hybrid of grappling and striking, it seems.
In an article from BJJ.org, they quote Bravo explaining the sport as ADCC rules, but with striking only allowed on the ground. It technically does not stray far from jiu jitsu’s lineage, from what I understand: the Gracies did strike in some self defense situations.
I can really see this going in either direction to the extreme: either stupendously well, or pretty freakin’ terrible.
Some say it will take care of stalling problems that happen on the ground, but I also see this creating fights that stall on the feet as well. I would also have to wonder if this would actually stunt the possibility of submissions being attempted in the first place. Who would want to sit in guard or be on bottom in general, knowing their range for a punch is limited and therefore barely effective, coupled with the possibility of getting a hammer fist to the face?
We could then argue this would force competitors to address those issues quickly and effectively with either existing techniques or the development of new ones, therefore strengthening jiu jitsu’s self-defense aspect. But, those may take years to really develop, which in the mean time means poor fights and a potential death sentence during those first shaky years of any new business venture.
And around and around we go. Again, this has the potential to go really right, or really wrong.
What do you think?
I have to admit, I frequently look at what posts people visit most, and what search terms readers use to get to my website. While the reigning champ is still “how to cover a black eye” and variations of such, recently there has been an uptick in readers in regards to UFC Fighter Alistair Overeem. Overeem, for those who have no idea what I am talking about, failed a drug test after his win over Brock Lesner, apparently having over twice the allowable amount of testosterone in his system. There was a hearing in April and the Nevada State Athletic Commission refused to issue Overeem a license, and instructed to wait 9 months to reapply.
When I saw the increase in Overeem queries, my first thought admittedly was, “oh no, what did he do now?”
But apparently, UFC President Dana White thinks Frank Mir will take up the spot left by Overeem. Oh, so good news.
Mir is not my favorite fighter for some reason or another (I can’t recall why at the moment), but it’s nice that he has another match. Good for him.
And now, here is a large photo of Mir. Just because.
So, I have been taking some Muay Thai classes, regularly, for the past week or so, and I noticed something.
Occasionally one of the newer guys would lay on the floor, supposedly out of exhaustion. As I saw this, our Coach’s words came to mind, “Get up! Never let your opponent know how tired you are!” I didn’t say anything because really it’s not my place to say anything, and the instructor did get the guys to stand on their feet again, but it still caught my attention.
It kind of reminds me of the earlier days of the UFC, back when it was more of a quarterly event and less of a every week sort of thing. 99 % of the time I could tell who was going to lose because they were obviously tired, gasping for air as they tried for ways to stall or were just eventually submitted or just knocked out.
No one wants to be that guy. So, while we are all training partners and rooting for one another, just like you practice your jabs in the gym to perform them in a fight, the same goes with standing and controlling your breathing. What you do in practice will show itself in competition.
So keep standing and keep pushing forward!…or something to that effect.
As I have stated before, music is primarily subjective. An out of tune instrument is simply that, but otherwise just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, music is in the ear of the listener.
That being said, there are certain songs in relation to kettlebells, weight lifting, MMA clips and youtube videos that I would be pleased to never hear again.
Bodies Hit the Floor by Drowning Pool
…Yeah, that one.
Also, Down With the Sickness by Disturbed
…those are really the two prime examples that I can think of
What I hope someone, some day puts as the soundtrack for one of those videos:
…Anyone? Yes?
Well, a girl can hope.
I personally found this pretty interesting: for those not heavily involved in jiu jitsu and other sports it may seem a little less than interesting, but as someone involved in jiu jitsu and supplements with strength and conditioning training, I found the presentation fairly succinct and went along at a nice pace.
Also, I’m giving it an extra point for the English accent, which is adorable, if we’re being totally honest
I was going to try and embed the slideshow here for your viewing pleasure, but instead here is a screenshot and a link:
Powering Through: Strength and Conditioning Advice Slidecast
Check it out!
A 20 something jiu jitsu brown belt student at Maxercise in Philadelphia, PA who likes to write. Obviously.
