This semester many students have the opportunity/requirement of a kick-butt writing assignment. For those whom it is required, you know who you are.

Anyway, here are the ground rules.

You need to watch one of the fights from the TV show, The Ultimate Fighter (fights can be seen here). You could arbitrarily pick one or select one of the top ten fights from TUF – video above has snippets from each fight.

After watching, I want you to write a brief analysis (at least 200 words but no more than 400).  The analysis should have a summary of what happened (only a few sentences),  analysis of key elements that determined victory and your favorite moments with your explanation of why you liked those parts.

The main focus should be the various elements that you believe determined the fight.  What techniques seemed to be most dominant? Striking? Grappling? Conditioning? How might the loser have improved his performance?  What made this fight interesting to you?

Draw on your own experience with various techniques while you comment. Don’t fuss about being technical or ultra-knowledgeable. Speak from the heart with and edit once for grammar. Limited usage of slang and industry-standard terms is okay, but if your response reads like a comment on Youtube, I will likely stalk you down and beat you with a rubber hose.  (Flexibility will be provided for non-native-English speaking students).

Post your assignment below, using your first name and last initial, listing the fight you watched before the body of your work. This is to be finished before 12/12/11.

Ex:

BartB

Roland Delorme vs. TJ Dillashaw

This fight was ……….

I look forward to your work!

Also, remember to sweep the leg.

Just a quick heads up – this fall, we’ve scheduled three  MMA classes at the U (ESSF 1415).  Two in the morning, one at night. There are credit and no-credit options – and you don’t even need to be a U student to come (sign up via continue.utah.edu). Come join us – we’ve finished a fun summer semester and I’m pumped to dig into training this fall!

Just a reminder to all students – classes start tonight!

This semester we’ll be officially introducing the “ABC’s of MMA” which will be our syllabus, more or less.  This more formalized curriculum will help students progress from class to class, semester to semester, keep track of progress, and more.  I’ll  post a ton more details and how we’ll be using this syllabus, found here: ABCs 05172011 Keep in mind that while the ABC’s of MMA is in beta, you’re experience and feedback is going to help the program evolve.

I look forward to training with you!

• A water bottle
• Appropriate workout clothes
• An athletic cup
• A mouth guard

If you don’t have any of this stuff, don’t worry, I will forgive you … for tonight only!  Protective training gear becomes more and more important as time goes on. As always, I am excited to begin training with you.

For those whom it concerns:

Fall semester started Monday, and MMA classes begin tonight (Tuesday) at 8 PM.

For those interested in the sport-science part of MMA training, there are some upcoming exercise physiology lectures up at the university of Utah that may interest you. Topics range from things like “Fatigue as a Specific Sensory System” to “Oxidative Stress and Muscle Dysfunction Following ACL Injury and Surgery“.

These talks are held on various dates, but are always on Friday starting at 2:00PM. To check out the schedule for the colloquium, see it here.

For those looking for information about the U of U MMA classes, look no further.

I’m extremely excited about this coming year.  I’ve streamlined the course a bit and believe that students will learn more, faster, and with a greater degree of technique because of it.

For starters, we’ll make sure to emphasize the MIXED part of mixed martial arts. No matter the class title, if it’s taught by me, we’ll be doing MMA.  Striking, grappling, conditioning. Every few semesters I’ll focus on a  a specific  martial art textbook. This semester I’ll be teaching a good deal from BJ Penn’s MMA Book of Knowledge. This hopefully will allow students to study at home and after the class is over. It’s a cheap textbook, and I think it’ll be invaluable to student’s MMA progression.

I’m teaching three mixed martial arts classes this semester. The scheduling department hasn’t been kind to me this year, so the classes may not be listed exactly correctly. However, the following should get you through without fear. Basically, for the morning classes if it says 9:40-10:30 AM and is taught in the HPR W 106 room, that’s my class.

Class Numbers and Times

ESSF 1415 section 001 and 002; W 8:15-10 PM

This class is posted as Martial Arts Elem: Mixed Martial Arts.

ESSF 1420 section 001 and 002; M/W 9:40-10:30 AM

This class is listed as Judo: Jujitsu grappling for beginners. Supposedly, the class name (not number!) will be changed to Judo: Mixed Martial Arts.  It says that it will be taught by “Staff” and that really means me.

ESSF 1440 section 001 and 006 ; T/H  9:40-10:30 AM

This class is listed as Aikido: Elementary. Supposedly, the class name (not number!) will be changed to Aikido: Elementary : Mixed Martial Arts.   Again, another strange listing error. I’m not listed as the instructor, but fear not. This is really my class. And yes, really, this is an MMA class, as I really don’t know any Aikido.

Additional Notes

Spring semester at the University of Utah starts Monday January 12.

Make sure to sign up for both half-semester classes to make sure you can get in.

You don’t have to be a U student to get into the class – take the class from the continuing ed department.  Go directly to http://continue.utah.edu/noncredit/ and look for my classes under the ESSF course list. BTW, it’s super cheap to take the class this way.

If the class fills up before you can sign up, come to the first session and I’ll give you an add code.

This semesters textbook is Mixed Martial Arts: The Book of Knowledge by BJ Penn.

As always, if you have any questions drop me a line and I’ll do my best to answer them quickly.

Remember, university fitness classes are split into two half-semester chunks. If you haven’t yet signed up for the second half of the semester, do so ASAP – otherwise, you’ll just be in the class for the first half of the semester.

Also, you don’t need to be a U of U student to get into the class. You can sign up directly through continuing education from the ESS department. Taking the class non-credit this way is cheaper, if you don’t need/want the university credit.

On this website, I’ll often post techniques we learned in class to re-enforce your memory and skill.  If you found a video with a technique you though was cool, send it to and I’ll post it for the class.

If you want to buy a Gi (training uniform) you can buy a nice “medium weight judo gi” at

Kiai Martial Arts

4860 S State St

Murray, UT 84107

(801) 262-5650