Above, Jon Favreau (Hogan) and Robert Downey Jr (Stark) chillout after working their boxing.
After watching Iron Man 2 on opening night, I’m pretty impressed. Nice to see that Hollywood has taken a break from destroying my childhood joys and let a decent comic book movie slip by, un-bastardized. No really Hollywood, thanks for sodomizing Spider Man 2 and 3, Dare Devil, Ghost Rider, Judge Dredd, 80% of the Batman movies, GI Joe, and the new Superman stuff. I’m glad you did that.
Anyway, during one scene Tony Stark is boxing with Hogan and slips in an elbow to the head from close range. Hogan says something like, “What the hell was that?!”, to which Tony mockingly replies, “It’s called mixed martial arts, and it’s been around for about three weeks.” Hogan spits back, “It’s called dirty boxing, and it’s been around a long time.” Of course, then Scarlet Johannsen is there for some logical cinematic reasons and ends up jumping in the ring, doing this crazy flying-leglock-on-head throw and finishes Hogan with an armbar.
At least that’s what I think happened. Scarlet’s hotness made that part a blurr.
Where were we? Aw, yes. The point, if I even have one, is that the components of MMA have been around a long time, but it’s nice to have a little media love, besides the Diaz brothers kicking a dude while he’s down. To sign off, I leave you with some pics of Robert Downey Jr practicing his martial art of Wing Chung on set.
“Aikido is too dangerous, so therefore it isn’t allowed in MMA.”
“Aikido doesn’t work on trained fighters or resisting opponents.”
“Aikido masters are bound to a philosophy of gentleness and non-fighting; therefore no true Aikido master can compete legally anyway.”
“Aikido is sucks in MMA, therefore Aikido sucks.”
“Steven Seagal knows Aikido, and he’s killed like 300 people. It must be awesome.”
I’m sure you can dig up your own “nuggets of wisdom” on a Sherdog or Youtube – these sites being the epitome of truth, balance and logic. ( Personally, I love the way information and error is rolled into one comical thread of flaming, poor grammar and misrepresentation)
Aikido isn’t the only disputed martial art in MMA; I’ve heard similar jaw-jacking about Karate, Judo, Dog Brother’s stick fighting, etc. There are always fanboys and haters, no matter what you choose. I’ve recently had some people ask me about this, so I’ve decided to post my thoughts.
Anyway, there is some sorting out to do.
In the next few pages, I’d like to see if I can shine some light on Aikido and it’s relation to MMA.
I was surfing the net and found a video of Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira that I hadn’t seen before. It’s 30 minutes long, and shows Nog teaching 11 MMA specific techniques. The video was shot back in his Pride fighting days, for a Japanese audience. It’s pretty cool – Antonio speaks in broken English and it’s translated into Japanese.
30 minutes is quite a long time (for web surfers anyway), so I’ve listed the techniques in the video below. The video has nice technique recaps, so it’s easy to navigate to any distinct part of the video.
Open guard ground and pound defense, up-kicking into a triangle.
Closed guard ground and pound defense, transition to a belly down armbar.
Half guard G&P defense, sweep into side control, finish via headlock.
Attacking within the G&P, then defending the calf crusher.
Sprawl counter to a low single-leg take down, finish via a gator roll/anaconda choke.
I’ve seen Big Nog use almost all of these moves in MMA fights. Watch one of his highlight vids and you probably can check off more than half of the above list. (There is even an amusing compelation named after the anaconda choke he uses).
If enjoyed that kind of material, I hear that Big Nog’s book, “Mastering Mixed Marital Arts: The Guard” is excellent. After reading the amazon reviews, I’m saving my extra pennies to buy it.
Article Summary: Self talk (ST), or inner talk, is vital to a healthy mental game and performing well – and mixed martial artists should spend some time thinking about it.
Imagine bombs blowing up around you, gunfire whistling past your head, and you’ve still got save the President from terrorists and get the girl. You’re freaking out, which is normal considering the circumstances. Now, what do you say to yourself to calm down, kick ass, and get the job done?
It’s obvious that something like, “Stop freaking out”, “I’m going to die” or “Don’t panic” won’t be as effective as “I can do this” or a confident “It’s go time.” This makes intuitive sense, right?
However, few people manage their self talk as a technical part of their mixed martial arts game. Ironically, UFC fighters frequently talk about how important the mental game is.
