UFC 101

UFC 101 -

My Viewpoint

UFC 101 is in the books. I was very excited about this one. Anderson Silva, Forrest Griffin, B.J. Penn, Kenny Florian; this had the potential to be one of the most exciting UFCs of the year (except for UFC 100, which is a tough act to follow, by any measure). But, all in all, it turned out to be a little lackluster for me.

First of all, the Amir Sadollah vs. Johnny Hendricks fight was a dissapointment. I think it was stopped too quickly. Dan Miragliotta jumped in a little too fast to end the fight. It was a judgement call on his part, but I think a few more seconds would have been appropriate. And, is it just me, or did anyone else think that Hendricks was totally punching the back of Amir's head while he was down on all fours? Amir is a very talented kid and could be a very exciting fighter in the future. He is still young and relatively inexperienced. He deserves another shot in the limelight I think.

Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffen. Anderson is amazing to me. There is no one else in MMA that fights like he does.He pulls thngs out of the hat that just blow me away. His hands were hanging at his and he shoots off a straight punch like lightning. Wow. On the other hand, Forrest didn't seem quite right to me. He looked a little off and kind of sluggish. Not too take anything way from Anderson, he is incredible.

Forrest is one of my favorite fighters. I love his attitude, humor and humility. He is refreshing in an MMA universe that is full of predictably oversize egos. I'm hoping that he hasn't been in one too many wars. The knockout seemed to come a tad too easily. We all saw the same type of thing happen with Chuck Liddell. While the all-out battles are exciting, they tend to shorten a fighter's career. Silva and Machida are two of the only fighters that are savvy enough to remember that smart fighting is all about hitting the other guy effectively and taking as little damage as possible while doing it. Most fans aren't so savvy about that either. Anyway, my hope is that Forrest can regroup and still have a successful career.

B.J. Penn vs. Kenny Florian. As I have said before, in spite of his ability, I don't like B.J. Penn. I think he's a dick. But he is a very talented dick. And he seemed a little better in this outing. A little. Maybe, just maybe, the beatdown from GSP taught him a little humility and maybe, just maybe, he'll be a better person because of it.

The fight itself was not all that exciting, mostly due to Florian's strategy of charging Penn and pressing him up against the ropes. He just wouldn't give up on that. It seemed smart for the first two rounds -- try to wear Penn down and gas him in the later rounds. But, he would't listen to his corner and give up on that to concentrate on his kicks. I think Florian should have kicked the crap out of Penns legs and then worked in the takedowns later when Penn's legs were too tired to fight them off.

The Aaron Riley vs. Shane Nelson fight was boring. Sorry.

The two best fights, as far as I'm concerned, were Josh Neer vs. Kurt Pellegrino and George Soritopoulos vs. George Roop. Neer is a jerk and I was glad to see Pellegrino handle him for the most part of three rounds. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. This Soritopoulos guy will be something to watch in the future. He put on a tutorial in groundighting. Excellent.

So, other than that, the evening was a bit of a letdown for me and I can't get very excited about the upcoming events. Except for the return of Randy Couture, there are no standout fights coming, espescially after the stacked cards that we have seen recently. And, jeez Dana, give us a break, two pay-per-views in a month is a bit of a burden on my pocketbook.

My Martial Arts and the UFC

UFC 101 is this Saturday, August 8.

I have a love/hate relationship with the Ultimate Fighting Championships. I have been watching since UFC 1, way back in 1993. That night, I had a few students come over to my house to watch.

Now, keep in mind that my martial arts philosophy has been geared toward being practical, even though I was originally a Tae Kwon Do practitioner. I had named my art Freewind in 1980 and it's concept was to be grounded in the Tae Kwon Do style and then add the essence of other arts that were effective, and, of course, appealed to me.

I first added some Kenpo (Ed Parker style), because I liked the way the art was put together and was influenced by a very amazing Kenpo stylist named Sandy Sandovol. Next, I was introduced to an amazing martial artist named Kelly Worden and followed him as he journeyed through the Filipino martial arts under the tutelage of his mentor, Remy Presas. More about Kelly, Sandy, many others, and my evolution in the arts in later blogs.

Back to to the UFC...

That night, the night of the first UFC, we were shocked by the dominance of Royce Gracie. I had never seen anything like it. On the other hand, I thought he was kind of an ass.

Anyway, we added groundfighting to our style, as much as we could in our isolated little town, and my style grew again.

I followed the UFC ever since, well, as much as I could through it's embattled "human cockfighting" years (thank you, John McCain), when it was banned by our local cable company, but even then, I kept up by purchasing or renting the DVDs.

I am a fan. A big fan. I believe that the UFC has revolutionized martial arts like nothing before it (except Bruce Lee, my hero and the subject of a future blog, I'm sure).

That all being said, I have issues with the UFC. My history in the arts has been grounded by a firm belief in honor, integrity, respect, dignity, etc. The UFC oftentimes does not display these virtues. In fact, there are many UFC competitors that I found downright distasteful.

Brock Lesnar is being groomed to be the new poster boy for the UFC it seems, and, as talented as he may be, I find him disgusting.

B.J. Penn may be the most purely talented and well-rounded fighter in the UFC or maybe MMA in it's entirety (in spite of his inconsistent work ethic), but, from what I've seen, he's an arrogant, disrespectful dickhead.

Sorry, B.J., I own your book, I appreciate your talent, but tomorrow I'll be rooting for Kenny Florian all the way. Ken-flo is a class act and a very talented martial artist in his own right.

Gotta go. I'll check back after the fights and let you know what I think, whether you want me to or not.

Martial Arts and My Life - 1st Blog

Welcome to my blog.

This is my first attempt at blogging so let's see how it goes.

My plan is to discuss all things related to the martial arts: traditional martial arts, self defense, weapons, MMA, UFC, etc.

I will also talk about fitness. I'm not a young man anymore, but I still work very hard to stay in shape. My workouts are built around the martial arts but I have a variety of things that I do. Of course, my favorite is my kickboxing workout with Otis. The picture at the top is me and Otis. He's the best training partner I ever had. Always shows up. Never complains. Doesn't hit back. Perfect.

Here is a link to a clip of my kickboxing workout on YouTube (excuse the clutter, my workout room is also the basement storage room):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWXRyC2Wr10&feature=related

I've practiced martial arts my entire adult life. I owned and operated a martial arts school for close to 25 years. I had to give it up finally for a real job that actually made money, but I have always loved the fighting arts passionately and will train for the rest of my life.

Enough about martial arts for now, I'll get back to it later (but I'll always get back to it!)

So, the title of my blog is Martial Arts & Fitness & Life & Stuff. I will obiously talk about martial arts and fitness, but I have some things to say about life in general, and there will be other stuff that I will throw in now and then just 'cause I feel like it.

That's it for now. More to come...