RECCE ROOM

In the martial arts world, there was major headline news recently. A jiu-jitsu student was awarded $46 million in damages. In writing and on YouTube, the jiu-jitsu community is apoplectic. Mr. Iturralde, the man who caused the injury, stated that Rener Gracie gave false testimony when serving as an expert witness. As of the publishing of this article, it has not been easy to track down what part of Gracie's testimony was considered false by Iturralde.  Gracie put out a video , explaining what he testified to, and correct application of the technique in question.  YouTube personality and MMA coach Ramsey Dewey put out a video in which he decried what he stated were Gracie's claims, and made some other observations, as well. However, the video is chock-full of inaccuracy about Gracie's testimony, claims, and also relies heavily on assumption of things not stated. This is not typical of Dewey. Dewey is usually right on the money and very accurate. Here are the more erroneou...

Ramsey Dewey has some thoughts on how to end fights quickly in self defense.  Some good points he makes: MMA fighters ARE trying to end the fights as quickly as possible! Krav Maga excels... at selling the power-fantasy of self defense ending a fight as quickly as possible.  If a "my style trains to end fights as quickly as possible" practitioner did meet a trained combat sports athlete "in the streets," it WILL end as quickly as possible. But not as the power-fantasy person believes.  Evil Troll Elmo is hilarious.

Recently saw a question posed online that I have seen many times - "how to end a street fight the quickest?" Although I am sure the original poster did not intend to, the question asked has many different layers, and it would be imprudent to avoid addressing the most obvious ones.  First - it is presumed that the "street fight" would be "bareknuckle" - in other words, no weapons. This is more fantasy than reality, though, because 97% of assaults include weapons. The quick answer to the question once you realize this fact is to carry a weapon - preferably a good pistol - and be expertly trained in the use of it. Also carry medical equipment and be extremely proficient in the use of it, as well.  Second - it is presumed (or maybe not) that you will be assaulted by a single individual. FBI statistics say that you will face multiple assailants more often than single assailants. In most states, this is considered a disparity of force and lethal force is justifi...

Martial Arts styles.  Many strikers who hear the word "styles," might think karate, or kung-fu, or taekwondo. Many grapplers might think "Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ)," or Sambo, or wrestling. But let's go a different direction. How does a person fight - using their chosen art or arts? Based on some of the styles of boxing, let's break down different fighting styles.  Pressure In boxing, this is sometimes called the "swarmer." The concept is to constantly apply technical combinations and press them into making a mistake.  This is a blend of a brawler and a technician.   Brawler The concept here is to rely on strength and toughness.  Get into a scrap and trust that you are tough enough, strong enough, and have just enough offensive and defensive technique to bring it together.  Distance Control Sometimes in boxing, this is called an "out-boxer." In jiu-jitsu, this is called distance control or distance management. This person stays ...

Stock image of "Master Ken" to illustrate a self-created "style." Many years ago, when people would call about martial arts, they would often ask if what I taught was like "abc" style (insert style you've never heard of). If my wife answered the phone, this would confuse her.  She would say "I dont know, you're gonna have to ask the instructor." Needless to say, that usually went over like a pile of bricks. I never once closed a sale calling back on one where she said that.  So what I did was give her a list of all the major styles.  Then, when people did ask that question, she would look it up - and when that style wasn't on the list, she would turn it around using a script I gave her - "there are likely a few similarities, but what we teach is the self defense application of Judo - the most practiced style in the world. So when your instructor or whomever created that style, they did probably copy some of our tried & tr...

It is with great humility and gratitude that I announce my retirement from the active teaching of martial arts. It's been a great ride.

If you own a martial arts school, should you invest in one of those companies that helps you with marketing? Short answer - possibly . If you own a martial arts school, and you list that as your employer on Facebook, you will see ads daily from different companies that offer help with marketing strategies. Can they help you? Possibly . These companies usually will have a few pre-screening questions that you must answer in order to get information. They will promise to give you a free case study, or some of the document. That document will either be worthless, or will never come. It's very important to take note of the screening questions. This is true in every other endeavor in life, as well. People who ask a question, are giving away their intent within the question. Most of these companies will ask you if you have your own place, or if you sublease. This is very critical. If you do not have your own martial arts studio in a prominent location - that people pass by on a ...

From  this YouTube video . A man issues a challenge at an MMA gym.  It goes about as expected.  Several key points that tell you this guy is not a significantly skilled martial artist - - He states more than 4 or 5 arts that he has trained in. - He claims "death arts." - He doesn't want to wear protective gear.   - Out of shape.  - Terrible footwork and movement.  - Never trained jiu-jitsu, but had "done some ground stuff."

What Percent Of Fights End Up On The Ground [2019 Research] This is a very interesting article.  Using videos of street fights, the author of the article calculated how many fights go to the ground.  It's not the 90%+ we have been told for years.  Roughly 30% of fights end up on the ground.  This is not to say grappling and takedowns are useless - far from it.  Read the article and you'll find that when takedowns are employed, the takedown resulted in a major advantage 96% of the time.  However, more people fell down than initiated a takedown. This is probably due to the fact that there are just not many skilled grapplers as a percentage of the general population. Most notable point of the article - Most fights start with someone who’s unprepared getting punched in the face… even though there‘s lots of indicators it’s about to happen The aggressor then gains the initiative with a flurry of punches… and often wins with...

Seen online - I accidentally knocked out another white belt with a rear naked choke. He never tapped. He said he never felt it coming.  This from a site where the white belt was asking for advice. It would seem the two white belts had less than one month of training each.  So here is some advice: Two new white belts should never be training partners if it can be avoided. The rear naked choke (RNC) does not hurt. Many people do not tap, because they do not feel pain.  There is a faint numbing feeling and most get a bit of tunnel vision as indicators.  A competent instructor will advise you of this.  Getting choked unconscious like this is no big deal. 

Legendary kickboxer Bill "Superfoot" Wallace recently did an interview with the "Karate Nerd." As I've followed the Karate Nerd on YouTube for several years, I was very interested in seeing the video.  The video  certainly had its interesting points.  It was well worth watching.  However, "Superfoot" got one of his facts wrong.  He claimed that Gracie choked Shamrock with his (Gracie's) belt.  Ironically,  a few years ago, Shamrock alleged he was choked with   Gracie's sleeve . Of course, Shamrock was not choked with the gi or the belt.  He was choked via   "bulldog choke"  - a RNC variant. At the time, Wallace noted it was a rear naked choke. Wallace actually used the term, and followed up with calling it " hadaka jime " - which is Japanese for the same.   I am not sure if Wallace remembers clearly, or (hopefully not) is intentionally misleading. It comes across as if he is trying to stay relevant. 

This meme popped up on social media. Generally speaking it has some good ideas. However, the mindset represented doesn't fall in line 100% with what is now being proven to be effective. Let's dig into this. 1. Fight for top (Judo / Wrestling) This is a pretty good rule of thumb. The vast majority of takedowns executed in modern MMA are wrestling takedowns. The Pareto Principle applies here. 80% of all takedowns or more are double legs, single legs, or body lock takedowns. Leg sweeps and rear takedowns comprise 80% of the remaining 20%. Be familiar with Judo grips and throws so you know how to counter, but otherwise you can skip it.  It's just simply not common enough.  2. Stay on top. (Maintain a strong base / protect your limbs and neck) Perfect advice here.  Mat returns, ground 'n' pound, and guard passing are all frequently used with much success.  Being able to stabilize top positions is absolutely critical.  Not falling victim to a "gotcha...

When Gichin Funakoshi brought karate from Okinawa to Mainland Japan, one of his top students early on was a man named Hironori Otsuka. Otsuka had trained in Jiu-Jitsu prior to taking up the study of karate. In fact, Otsuka had received the Menkyo Kaiden - a license of total transmission - in other words, mastery of the art. Otsuka travel to Okinawa and learned from some of the top karate masters there. Later, Otsuka developed his own style of karate, called Wado-Ryu. The Kata he taught more closely resembled the Okinawan kata, than they did Funakoshi's kata. Also, Otsuka was a big proponent of sparring (Funakoshi despised sparring) and self defense techniques. Simply put, Otsuka valued the martial aspect of karate. He focused on teaching his students most effective forms of self-defense. In the 85 years since the founding of Wado-Ryu, our understanding of unarmed combat has grown exponentially. Otsuka was not afraid to change things in his time, for the sake of better self defe...

From a reader: "So you're closing your dojo because of dwindling class size, but you say you might reopen and teach a different art. Why do you think that would make things work out differently?" Excellent question!  Here's why: 1. I have limited myself with regards to demographics. In the current jujitsu class, I primarily market two men and women who are business professionals. Contrary to the popular demographic which is 18 to 25 years old, and wanting to do MMA. Also, I suck at teaching children jiu-jitsu. I can teach them how to do it, but I can't make it fun enough for them to want to come back on a consistent basis. And teaching children the martial arts is the one tried and true method of keeping class sizes up. I am pretty good at teaching kids karate.  2. Because of part 1 above, I never fully embraced changing my marketing methods. I was content to have the free Facebook page and a half-hearted website and that's all. I failed to look into h...

I made the decision and informed my Jiu-Jitsu students at the beginning of May, that I will be at least temporarily discontinuing classes for the summer. Class size had dwindled to 6 students, and only two of those were even paying regularly. To be fair, one of the ones who was not paying is a black belt, and therefore does not have to pay any more. Of the folks who were left, the jiu-jitsu class was clearly not a priority for any of them. This is not a criticism of my students, as life can happen to any of us. But the facts were very clear, of the 34 classes offered from January 1 through April 30, here are some statistics: - 3 times did we have four or more students on the mats. - 6 times did we have zero people show up. - 23 out of the remaining 25 classes featured one or two students. Sometimes in life, we need a nudge to show us the obvious. Yours, Truly, received three distinctive nudges. 1. About two weeks before the decision was made, I was rolling with an advanced stude...

The Guard. Any serious martial artist will include the guard position as a component of their training. One needs to learn how to pass the guard, when trapped in it. One needs to learn how to use attacks such as submissions and sweeps from the guard, when applying it. And one also needs to try and how to stand up from the guard position, whether you find yourself on top or on the bottom. Some quick guard facts. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Some people in the Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) community will claim that BJJ developed many of the submissions and sweeps from the guard. This is completely false. Virtually all modern arm locks, chokes, leg locks, and sweeps were documented long ago in Judo. Judo is well-documented has the parent art of BJJ. Certainly, BJJ practitioners have developed a plethora of setups and transitions to the arm locks, chokes, leg locks, and sweeps - and for this reason we must give credit to the art. Judo & (Japanese) Jiu-Jitsu Credit must be given ...

The martial arts has been a source of much personal enjoyment through the years. It has also provided some of the most humorous moments in my life, as well. Here is another one. I met an individual on the job one day. Before law, she told me that her husband trained in the martial arts. Naturally, I asked which one. Karate. I advised her that karate was one of my two arts... the other being jiu-jitsu. She got a very concerned look on her face and stated that her husband felt Jiu-Jitsu was very dishonorable. Naturally, I asked her why he felt that way. Her reply - "Because in jiu-jitsu and in cage fighting (MMA, perhaps?), if one combatant is knocked down, the other man follows him to the ground to beat on him. It's much more honorable just to knock him down, and then let him be." "What if he gets back up? More specifically, what if it gets back up and is able to win the fight from there? It would seem to me that there is a big difference between ...

The martial arts has been a source of great enjoyment for The Rifleman through the years. Additionally, the martial arts has been the vehicle which has provided much humor, as well. Many years ago, I had an ad in the Yellow Pages. As I worked a regular daytime job, I had and answering machine. One evening I came home to a message, and promptly called the person back. It was a woman who was seeking martial arts for her husband.  Evidently, she had been able to reach another Studio between the time she left me a message and the time I called her back. She seems pretty sold on the other Studio. This is nothing out of the ordinary, nor is it anything unusual. Naturally, I was warm and inviting and advised her that the offer for a free class or two still stands. Then it got a little weird... She told me that she was looking for martial arts for her husband, because he would "get so very mad" from time to time. She continued to tell me that her husband, when angry, would just ...

UFC 229 observations: Takedowns All but one of the takedowns in the prelims and main card fell into one of these categories: body fold/leg hook combo, single leg, double leg, rear takedown.  The one exception was an uchi-mata by Khabib on MacGregor. Takedown defenses Stuffing takedowns generally didn't work, unless there was a half-asked takedown attempt.  Sprawling worked well every time it was attempted.  Strikes Spinning back fists generally got people in trouble.  Straight rights and lefts ruled the day.  The fighter who kept to more conservative straight punches was the one who wound up hitting more effectively.  Every KO / TKO was scored via or set up via a solid straight punch.  Looping punches, big hooks, overhand punches, and haymakers rarely hit, and usually only served to wear out the fighter who threw them. Also, these punches left many fighters wide open to counterattack.  Strike intensity Also of note, fighters who put 100%...

People practice martial arts for a variety of different reasons. One of the main reasons that most people get into the martial arts is the concept of self defense. However, not all martial arts address self-defense effectively. Two facts to consider when speaking of self-defense. First - it is a fact that over 90% of street fights end up on the ground. 2nd - it is a fact that an equally High number of fights start standing up. Many martial arts schools have self-defense patterns that are practiced. Well this is not bad in and of itself, the practice of such a pattern, without addressing a resisting partner, can leave the student to a false sense of security. Furthermore, many schools practice self defense patterns against attacks that are just so rarely used. For example - adult students will spend hours upon hours practicing escapes from a wrist grab, when those are rarely used against other adults. The following defenses are absolutely essential for any true self defense program:...