January 18, 2003

The Seminar at NYMAG with Michael Jen and Gene "Aranha" Simco went off without a hitch, begining with Aranha showing some detail of the popular DeLaRiva Guard. Aranha showed a four-way sweeping method that had many of the seminar participants walking away with some very valuable new techniques to add to their open guard game. After Aranha's session, students took a short break and returned to a stunning array of techniques taught by Michael Jen from the bottom position. The subtle details shown made the difference between escaping while being pinned and struggling for survival. In all, enough techniques were shown so that even the newest students to BJJ attending the seminar had a very good understanding of pin escapes and working comfortably from the back. While most students were appreciative of what they were learning, the higher belts could be found in the corners of the room between demonstration and practice, taking notes.

The seminar was awesome. The techniques taught make you feel like you have totally been doing your escapes wrong. Micheal Jen takes a move that you think you might know, and has you change the tiniest detail of a hand or foot position so that suddenly you feel 10 times stronger. We should have seminars once a month. Or even once a week...hell, everyday. Every Single Day. - Chris 'Shag' Lavine (Blue Belt)

All the techniques were totally sweet. that's what i like about these seminars. i find myself using high percentage of what i've learned when i train. - Pat Maloney (Blue Belt)

The seminar was outstanding! Michael's pin escapes were amazing, and Aranha showed some nice tricks from De La Riva. A great time was had by all, can'twait for the next one. - Brian McLaughlin (4Stripe Blue Belt)

I think I speak for everyone when I say that yesterday's seminar was a great time! Excellent instruction and learned some very useful details. Wanted to extend a special thanks to Aranha for organizing and hosting the seminar as well as all of his hospitality the entire weekend.Would also like to say thanks to Micheal Jen for coming all the way out from sunny and warm California and also for the additional instruction in class on Thursday. - Buck Eskew (White Belt)

It was good to put faces with names also great learning experience (aikido people dont like the ground much). Once I found the circular motions it made sense looking forward to the next one and possibly getting there sooner. Thanks to Aranha, Michael as well as MYMAG students for hospitality as well as the lack of attitude towards an outsider class act people thanks! - Aiki

Intensive Training Review

After establishing the NYMAG academy, I found myself very busy with work. As the demand grew for my instruction, my opportunity to travel and train lessened. As a result, I was forced to bring my instructors to me. Over the years, many of the greatest competitors of Jiu-jitsu have graced NYMAG with their presence, including Renzo Gracie, Edson Carvalho, Marcio Simas, and Sean Alvarez. After a period of time, the need for daily instruction became apparent, so I hired a Brazilian instructor to teach at NYMAG on a regular basis. Through this training, I received some very valuable experience. After the departure of my old instructor, I found myself in a position much like the early days of NYMAG without a steady instruction. At this point in my training, a much higher emphasis is placed on being able to perform the techniques that I know with a high degree of proficiency, as opposed to learning a bunch of new moves. So I've called upon Michael Jen for some help in this area.

The most outstanding difference between Michael that was immediately apparent to me was his willingness to get to work immediately. The seminar at my school was scheduled on a Saturday; Michael arrived on a Thursday night during my 7pm class. Fresh off the airplane, Michael walked into my school and offered to teach the class. When it came time to roll, he worked with me and immediately started refining my game.

The next day, it was down to business; once again, Michael was interested in getting in as much time as possible to help me improve. The day after the seminar and the day after that, it was all about getting on the mat and training. Four days with Michael is like a whole year with anyone else that I've encountered before. The best way I can analogize Michael's attention to detail is by comparing him to a good listener. He is not just your worst enemy on the mat, but your best friend as well. He pays attention to you while you are rolling and instead of defeating you then silently continuing after each match, he will analyze each mistake you made, rewind to that point and begin again from there, making absolutely sure that mistake won't be made again. During this process, I could feel my game improving immediately. What might have taken one year to learn was happening in minutes! I've been on the mat with some of the best competitors in the world. By rolling with them, I've gained some invaluable experience, but sometimes getting information from them is like getting blood from a rock. Great fighters and great teachers are two very different things; finding someone who can do both is a very rare thing indeed. Michael Jen is one of these rarities.

Gene "Aranha" Simco
BJJ Brown Belt

A few weeks ago HBO aired their documentary on Mark Kerr entitled "The Smashing Machine." The title was borrowed from the nickname Kerr was given in Brazil after his dominating No Holds Barred debut in Sergio Batarelli's International Vale Tudo Championship. In America and Japan, Kerr earned the nickname "The Specimen" for his massive fighter's physique and natural athleticism. Incidentally, this was to be the original title of the documentary, but was changed along the way, most likely due to the more commercially appealing and controversial moniker that Kerr's Brazilian fans had bestowed upon him.

Whether this documentary will do more harm than good to the public's perception of Mixed Martial Arts as a sport remains to be seen. Throughout the piece, viewers were treated to many of the positives and negatives of MMA. The documentary succeeded in focusing on Mark Kerr as an individual athlete, in much the same way as the "Beyond the Glory" or "Sports Century" series on Fox Sports and ESPN, as opposed to making him out to be the "face of MMA." Any injuries he incurred or problems he faced seemed to be treated as occupational hazards and poor decisions rather than as a consequence of his being a "human cock fighter," as some would hold. "The Smashing Machine" might actually have superseded its only real semi-mainstream rival, "Choke" (the Hickson Gracie documentary) in terms of giving people a view of what it is like to be a fighter. While others exist on the market ("Life in a Cage"; "Heart of a Champion"; "Day of the Zen"), none of them have enjoyed the promotion of "The Smashing Machine" in that it was part of HBO's popular "America Undercover" series, viewed potentially by the entirety of HBO's subscriber base. Without a doubt, this was MMA's fifteen minutes, and whatever questions or impressions it left with the public will follow the sport for some time.

One issue that was brought up in the documentary but never actually addressed is probable the most oft asked question advocates of the sport will ever face:

Why do it?

Why do men (and lately women) devote endless hours in the gym, honing their bodies to the peak of endurance and strength, sculpting a specimen worthy of Michelangelo, only to enter a caged octagon and have that well-hewn form beaten to a purplish pulp? What thrill can a civilized human being possibly gain from daily practicing techniques ultimately designed to maim or kill, and then applying them to another human being until they painfully signal surrender? How do two men enter into the subtle contract acknowledging that though they bare each other no real ill will, they will pound one another mercilessly for little more than the adulation of a paltry throng of fans? Are these men not beasts? Are they not mercenary sado-masochists? And what of the pioneers of Mixed Martial Arts, the Gracies, who not unlike the Sicilian Mafia turned hurting people into a family business. Why are people doing this and why are people watching it?

Mark Kerr certainly didn't have an answer, he told viewers he was broke and realized that being a wrestler was more or less a dead-end career. This attitude typifies the average American wrestler that entered onto the Mixed Martial Arts scene, starting with Dan Severn in the fourth Ultimate Fighting Championship. Prior to UFC IV. most of the participants were traditional martial artists who truly wanted to see how their fighting prowess or martial arts style would stand up against peers from different disciplines. The admittedly more capitalist motivation on the part of the American wrestlers such as Kerr was responsible for turning No Holds Barred into Mixed Martial Arts. The wrestlers, much more than even the Gracies, showed that fighting was about domination. Domination meant doing what was necessary to gain the advantageous or top position in a fight. This was a truth that had eluded many traditional martial artists because of the simple fact that while they were busy believing in a style, the wrestlers were believing in the dollar, which turned out to be a more tangible goal than a properly executed crescent kick.

Why do it? Doubtless there are easier ways to make money. Wrestlers clearly have options, from coaching to competing to entering the WWE. There is something to be said about the psychology of the person willing to enter the cages of America or the rings of Japan. There is even something to be said about the average Brazilian jiu-jitsu student in that BJJ truly is not a weekend warrior sport. Observe the attitude and intensity of the students at the average BJJ class and its clear that this is something they take more seriously than the average tae kwondo class. This is not an indictment on a particular system, but a simple observation. The grappling arts are structured differently. There is more natural competitiveness and thus a deeper commitment to them, most probably rooted in the fact that they are the only martial arts that can't be practiced in isolation. Perhaps it is the fact that only the truly competitive last in the grappling atmosphere and its an unspoken comeuppance to move on from BJJ to MMA. The thought certainly lingers in many students' minds.

As a result of the passion the sport's participants and purists have, there is no real fan base for modern MMA. In most cases, unless one practices a fighting art or knows someone who does, there is no impetus to watch the sport. Consequently, the fan base is populated primarily by participants and pundits in the United States, which is something the current owners of the Ultimate Fighting Championship are trying to change without resorting to following the mistake-laden example of boxing. Meanwhile in Japan, where many of the martial arts had their genesis and where nearly anything can be wedded to entertainment, 91,000 fans are filling soccer stadiums to see Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira become a legend.

Over the next few months, I'd like to discuss the why's of MMA. From why fighters compete to why MMA is both failing and succeeding as a sport. Hopefully, next month I'll have a treat for my surviving readers as a break from my usual demagoguery. Until then, keep on rollin'…

Diami J. Virgilio
February, 2003
kneeblock@yahoo.com

Guest Instructor Gustavo Machado. www.gmachado.com

Date -         Feb. 8, 2003
Time -         11am to 3pm
Seminar fee -     $80.00 per person

Place -     Family Martial Arts Center
        206 Manhattan St.
        Americus, GA  31907
        www.americusmartialarts.com
Contact -     Ken Hudson
phone #        229-931-0006
cell #        229-938-9921

Gustavo Machado’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy is located in Virginia Beach Virginia. Gustavo is the most senior and unchallenged Black Belt in the state of Virginia. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is the hottest martial art being practiced to date, and Gustavo is the most knowledgeable professor in the state of Virginia. He is expanding and will be teaching here in Georgia several times a year. Do not miss this chance to train with this instructor. “www.jiu-jitsu.net” interviewed him for the month of January 2002. Check it out!