TMA Friday: Jits would Improve Your Kung-Fu Part II

I dunno who said it, but basically, even stand-up fighters inevitably fall to the ground when fighting.

Go learn to grapple. For the love of God, please.

TMA Friday: Jits would Improve Your Kung-Fu

Karate vs Wing Chun (plus Jits).

If someone does not get knocked out early, it always goes to the ground people.

Double Dose - Interview Thursday/TMA Friday

To account for my failure to post yesterday, I'm going to hit you with a double plus good post for both yesterday and today. I could make excuses about working 2 jobs, and not having time to start the posts ahead of time, but those would be just that, excuses.

Up first, we have an interview from This Week in BJJ from Budovideos feat. Romulo Barral:

And for the second dose, we have Lloyd Irvin discussing BJJ B*&^^*&^ness. I know I've posted this before, but it is worth repeating.




For TMA Friday -

 

Some one-legged yellow shirt Ninja striking combinations:


And some anti-grappling moves that are taught by someone who has clearly never wrestled before:

TMA Friday - Learn teh Deadlyz: Dim Mak World

Title of doctor, sifu, or master? check.
Chinese looking outfit? check.
Chinese writing on walls on scrolls? check.
Students wearing sashes of various colors and kung-fu shoes? check.
Deadly fighting techniques? check.
Lack of full speed sparring? check.
Cool 80's sounding electric guitar solo soundtrack? CHECK.

We have a TMA.

And a military/police/"tactical" (whatever the *&^% that means) version:

TMA Friday: Screaming Tiger Style Grappling (?)

Seriously.

I guess he's channeling his Chi when he uses that high-pitched screaming voice.
But who can now such things?

What is serious though, is that he does show a toe hold/"Comprido" whatever flavor you want to call it.

TMA Friday: TUF MEETS SURVIVOR (YES!!)

I am currently obsessed with this show Warrior Island for a number of reasons:
Dan Severn is running on a beach in the trailer.
The diffrent fighters showcasing boxing, Tae Kwon Do, Sambo in the trailer don't really seem to know how to emulate the styles they represent.
Allegedly, the guys will be on an island like some bad 80's martial arts tournament movie.


Additionally, we are allowed to vote on which 16 fighters will go to the island.
If this trailer here is to be believed, a billionaire put up half a billion dollars (seriously, they say this word for word in the trailer) to sponsor this tournament.

My current favorite guy wishing to get your votes to get on the island is Enoch "The Irish Brick" Bricker:

I cannot even fathom how unbelievably atrocious this will be if it is actually filmed.
But, man, I will be watching every single minute.

Metamorsis Pro Video Countdown!, Daily News, & TMA Friday

My goal to do 20,000 uchikomis is underway. Yesterday morning was my first 6am workout since the last time I had training camp for an MMA fight. I always feel great after morning workouts...about as alert as I ever feel at any point during the day to be honest. The catch is getting through the mid-afternoon/early evening grind where your body demands coffee/soda/sugar/something to press forward.

1) Awesome video preview to Roger Gracie vs Buchecha (his nickname means "cheeks" in Portuguese) from Metamorsis Pro

I'm calling my winners as Roger (despite some early scares), Caio ( I think Glover's ego will be his downfall), Otavio (Kron will miss with a sub attempt, Otavio will turn the tide and get the sub), Lovato (more consistently competing and longer frame), Lister (he's nicknamed the Boogeyman for a reason), and Machado (b/c I've never heard of the other guy)

2) Copa Podio announces a new format pairing couples against one another

3) Rolling Stone names Rousey best female fighter ever (sorry to all the women in history in boxing that came before)

4) Aaaaaand....some Ninjas for your day b/c it's Friday and Fridays are better when filled with Ninjas!

TMA Friday: More 10,0000 Hour Rule & Terrible Ninjas

1) If someone told you they could learn BJJ (with no prior background) from watching a video, you would tell them they're wrong.

I don't know why people think they can learn Judo (with no prior background) from watching a video.
Or that they can learn a throw by only drilling and not doing it live/in a dynamic setting.
That's not how you learn BJJ and it's not how you learn Judo.
Don't be that guy.

2) I blogged about it HERE, the 10,000 Hour Rule:
Despite my knee injury, I've been able to start back doing uchikomi (in the video below) for Judo as well as some footwork drills.
I figure if I can average about 400 uchikomi per session, at 3 sessions per week, I'll hit 1200 repetitions a week, then 4800 per month and have totaled 19,200 uchikomis (and the rate per week will increase as my leg gets stronger, especially the last 2 months before my being cleared for sport again, I'll probably average about 300-500 per day.
There is a lot of debate about static uchikomi on the internetz, I personally feel it is a fundamental part of developing good form and unity of body movement for your tokui waza or "pet techniques". When I regularly compete only in Judo I average about 500 per day 5 days a week and perhaps depending on the content of Judo practice another 200 at night.



On to the TMA Craziness!
Ninjas are probably my favorite Traditional Martial Artists. Their belief in their secret abilities borders on the cult-like. I have also never actually seen someone with Ninjitsu training use it effectively in a dynamic situation. Perhaps, that is their secret. Hmmm.
At any rate, in college, I remember watching the Ninjitsu club doing what can best be described as almost completely wrong versions of classical Judo throws and beginning to wonder if years of Chuck Norris movies had lied to me. I then rolled with several of them and felt like I was tossing small children with degenerative diseases around the room like I was the Hulk.

Nothing like someone teaching Turtle defense that doesn't even know the proper nomenclature.
Good thing people are paying this fraud to teach them "self-defense".
Here's Ninjitsu in theory:

Here's Ninjitsu in practice:

Crazy beard?
Black outfit with multi-colored belt?
Crazy name for Dojo with references to abstract qualities and/or nature?
Reference to invisibility or secret techniques?
Instructor clearly thinks he is teh most deadly person among hundreds?
We have a Ninja!

Rick Hawn Profile & TMA Friday

With "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey making waves for both women's MMA and Judo in MMA, there's so much press I'm working on a longer post about her for later.

In the meantime, with all the coverage in MMA magazines about the Olympics, former Olympians in MMA and future potential-MMA fighters coming from this years Olympics, Rick Hawn deserves a full fledged profile.

In 2004, Hawn placed 9th in the Olympics. He came away dissatisfied, moved to train with Jimmy Pedro, and made a run at the 2008 team but missed out due to the selection process. He doesn't elaborate, but blamed the politics of Judo for his not being selected. Rousey has had similar things to say about the politics and the money behind USJA as far as how much goes to athletes (according her the amount is next to nothing) and how much goes to the travel expenses, food budget, and lodgings of those who are basically administrative staff for the USJA on trips abroad as opposed to athletes.

At any rate, Hawn moved over to MMA, quickly racking up an impressive record before moving to the big show.
His first big splash on the national scene was a shoulder throw to hammerfist TKO win in Bellator:

Hawn opened his MMA career at Delagrotte's Sityodong gym but has since made his way to GSP's home away from home, Tristar in Montreal. Hawn recently walked away with Bellator's 155/Lightweight tournament title and will now face Michael Chandler for the belt Chandler himself recently won via finish/upset over Eddie Alvarez.

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TMA Friday:
I've made jokes in the past about TMA (traditional martial arts) as so much of it is based on theory rather than application. I do this, in part, b/c I went through the tough but necessary realization that what I had learned in Wing Chun Kung-Fu (how I got started in Martial Arts FYI) left quite a bit to be desired in fighting other trained fighters. If I had to pick a martial art to teach someone who was fighting other "street fighters" and non-trained fighters, Wing Chun is actually not bad. It's against trained fighters that I found Wing Chun started to have some holes. That being said, my biggest beef with traditional martial arts is the lack of full-scale sparring (or close to it) and the belief that you can simply know how to do something rather than train your body by doing it thousands and thousands of times.

That being said, it's hilarious to see there's nothing wrong with a look into what those wacky TMA guys are inventing as of late.

Takedown Defense (I guess against someone with no wrestling experience but who tries to grab your legs?)