I just watched something that was informative, funny, and freaking sweet. Weighing in at just over two hours, Joe Rogan “interviews” Bas Rutten and lets him just run off with the mic – much to the listening pleasure of all. You may or may not like Joe Rogan, but everyone should be a Bas Rutten fan. (Warning: these boys can get pretty raw, and this mature content is not for all audiences)
Anyway, since you may not have the attention span, nor the time to listen to it all, I’ll give you the recap. In no particular order:
Bas sounded off on his experience in kick boxing, MMA, and fighting in Japan; we think MMA is big now when 15,000 people show up to a UFC even; in the heyday of Pride, these events were selling out in Japan with 40, 50, and even 70,000 raving fans in attendance. Things were nuts over there, and I’m not sure we really understand that nowadays.
Bas as a kid overcame some serious physical adversity; he had these intense asthma attacks that would last for days and days where he would gasp for air for every breath. Like many of his opponents, he punched them in the face hundreds of times until they were subdued. Also, he had some serious eczema.
Due to his experiences in lung stricture and subsequent training, he now has a product called the O2 trainer (o2trainer.com) – like a snorkel with different modular hole sizes – which may help you develop some lung power.
Bas got in some crazy bar fights in Europe. Super crazy.
Bas ended his fighting career mostly due to pain and injury – sounded like some pretty gnarly stuff – tendinitis, etc.
Bas loves training and competing, it is a pleasure to him.
He spoke liberally about transitioning into his sport commentating role.
He and a buddy learned from tapes in their garage – he was mostly self taught. Pretty bad ass.
So…. Anderson Silva knocks out Vitor Belfort with a front kick to the face. It was beautiful. The timing, the distance the expression on Silva’s face … it almost made me cry. Both for the beauty of the thing, but also because my hope for a new champ got KO’d as well.
The fun thing for me was all the hoopla post fight about the kick. People were going ape-shiz like they have never seen it before, and true, its not a bread and butter thing in the UFC.
This you probably already know. What you may not know, is that Anderson learned this technique from Steven Seagal, or so says Seagal.
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First of all, is it just me, or does Seagal look like “The Eradicator” from the Superman comic books? Because the glasses really sell the look.
As for his remarks about nobody really using it, etc, also like “The Eradicator”, there may be a small amount of fantasy going on.
The way I figure it, is that the teep kick from Muay Thai is close match to this kick, and that’s been around from the dawn of time – and Anderson is *ahem* fairly well versed in that. But hey, now that Seagal has brought the front kick to MMA, perhaps we will also see elbows to the face as well. Maybe even punching of the ribs. Who knows the crazy things is store for us?
Maybe he showed some different pointers or a style of doing it? I don’t know, but it would be awesome to hang out with these guys and find out. I bet its like a rap video, but with hot girls doing ninja stuff instead of clubbing.
I originally learned the front kick in Karate, and one time I accidentally kicked an opponent in the throat in a tournament (I was aiming for the face). It’s a nasty kick. A lot of force is going straight forward, and the structure of the stances with you and your opponent is like a head on collision. The kick is a bit slower and harder to hit with; the movement makes it tricky to adjust mid way through. Unlike a circular kick, which can just keep swinging onward to whack into an opponent, it can be avoided with good head movement. Below, a kung-fu version of the kick.
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The first time I saw the kick in MMA was with Bas Rutten. I remember thinking, “I’m going to have to keep that in my bag of tricks.” I know the resolution on the pics below aren’t amazing, but trust me, it’s Bas. (See video here).
Here’s a video of Rob Mccullough teaching the rear push kick, a variation of the one that KO’d Vitor.
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Anyway, the front kick is something we’ll probably see more of know that attention has been brought to it. Here are just a few more pics to please you.
True fact: Anytime a front kick to the face happens, a leprechaun gets a pot of gold.
(Above: My way of kicking off the new year, in my home gym)
First, I hope you had a splendid Christmas holiday and all your dreams came true. Second, I hope your ready to leave behind the chocolates, eggnog, or spice cake and get back into your favorite painful obsession: MMA training.
We often use the first few day of the year to set goals and think about the man or woman we’d like to be for the next 12 months. It’s a healthy thing, and I think you should do that (see my post on making better new years resolutions). However, don’t be disappointed when you fail to keep your goal to spend 15 hours on the mats a week this year. I know that I’ve been guilty of breaking of such promises. As the saying goes, a man’s reach exceeds his grasp – as well it should.
If I may offer one piece of advice: whatever diet plan, training regimen, or martial art commitments you make, get started today. Start the journey today. You can always modify the direction when you’re moving. As Newton’s first law of fighting states:
A fighter in motion tends to stay in motion; A fighter at rest tends to get KTFO’d.
Again, I wish you the best in all your endeavors this upcoming year. If there is a way I can serve you, let me know.
Sweet wisps of winter’s breath are couched behind the trees, their leaves turning red and gold. I watch in silent anticipation as nature blushes, dances, and flirts. The season’s crescendo is not lost on me; I bring my brothers round. We prepare to eat, laugh, and watch two dudes beat the crap out of each other. Specifically, I reference this fall’s celebration of Brockober Fest (UFC 121).
I’m pretty pumped for this card; Brock Lesnar vs Cain Valasquez notwithstanding. I’m looking forward to Utah native, Court Mcgee, Jake Shields vs Kampmann, Diego Sanchez – pretty much every fight has something I’d like about it. Additionally, Brendan Schaub (vs Gabriel Gonzaga) is fighting and he’s talked smack about Lesnar, so I’ve got little drama to enjoy too.
But really, the main point here is that it’s great to be an MMA fan. We had UFC 120 broadcast for free and a serious night of fights just a week later.
On Brocktoberfest
Here is my take on the Brock vs Cain fight. Brock is a clear, heavy favorite. I’m not writing off Cain, but the deck is stacked against him.
What is Cain going to bring to Brock that he’s not well equipped to handle?
Wrestling? I think he can deal with that. A good double leg to put Brock on his back might be a game-changer, but I don’t really see that happening. It would be a fun scenario because Lesnar’s BJJ coach Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros says Brock’s got a surprisingly aggressive guard game. I also don’t see Cain slowing Lesnar down with any Greco/dirty box on the cage. Randy Couture roughed up Brock a bit with it, but it’s not a hole in the armor of this beast.
The striking game isn’t Brocks strong suit (as Brendan Schaub had remarked about) and If the match were to be a pure stand up bout, I’d give the edge to Valasquez. That being said, I don’t see it being a stand up war. Cain can probably sneak in some hard shots, but that won’t stop Brock. I think of it in comparative terms. Cain doesn’t hit as hard as Shane Carwin. Cain pounded on Ben Rothwell’s face, but didn’t knock him out cold; Carwin, from a similar position, sent Frank Mir into la-la land.
Submissions? Once bitten, twice shy.
As for speed and cardio – both guys are pretty freakish in this department. In the third, fourth and fifth rounds, if Cain hasn’t suffered too much damage I think we’d see an advantage in performance on his side.
Anyway, I’d love to hear your two cents.
Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower. - Albert Camus
