At the beginning of the UFC we saw brawlers fighting wrestlers, kickboxers scrapping BJJ practitioners etc etc. Nowadays the fighters all need multi skills to survive in this awesome sport.
Most of the martial art styles are represented in the UFC in one way or another. Kickboxing, Boxing, Thai Boxing, Jiu Jitsu, Wrestling, Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Judo etc. Where are the guys who practice Kung Fu?
Bruce Lee trained Wing Chun Kung Fu prior to forming his own style, Jeet Kune Do. The philosophy of Jeet Kune Do was simple, don’t be limited by using only one style of fighting. There are no styles, only fighting. Bruce Lee mixed styles and used techniques that worked for him (sound familiar?).
Some say this was the birth of MMA.
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Do it yourself training? Is it even possible to train yourself to become a professional MMA fighter? You could, but an instructional fight DVD, start training, get yourself into the UFC, then become champion…? Ha Ha, ok yeah, that won’t work, I don’t think so.
Well, crazy as it seems, it did work for former UFC middleweight champion, Evan Tanner. Evan purchased Royce & Rorion Gracie’s instructional videos and got down to training - in his living room! That’s how he learned his submissions. To be fair Evan already had a solid wrestling background. He was state champion in his junior and senior years, but it was the videos that prompted him into entering MMA competition.
van is currently setting up a foundation for disadvantaged fighters (details at evantanner.net). I wish him all the best. He deserves it. He’ll also be fighting in the UFC around September at UFC76 or UFC76.
Im off to buy that dvd, you never know…
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Back in the day we had Tank Abbott, Pat Smith, Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock etc. These guys started off this worldwide phenomenon. They gave us some crazy fights. Gracie wowed us with his BJJ skills, Tank threw leather hard and fast. It was raw and exciting.
Look at it now. Huge sell out shows, superstar status for guys like Chuck Liddell. Its come a long way thanks to the Ferritas and Dana. Nowadays we have complete fighters like Georges St. Pierre, Chuck Liddell, Dan Henderson, Fedor Emelianenko, Bob Sapp…. These fighters have provided us with some awesome allround fights.
Which fighters have entertained us the most? The new, technical, complete MMA all rounders or the old school, single skill tough guys?
PS. I was kidding about Bob Sapp :)
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Bad blood indeed. These guys do not get along at all. The Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale is going to have Pulver versus Penn and it’s going to be huge.
Pulver & Penn have been coaching TUF 5 and they have been close to blows on several occasions. We can finally see them in the octagon on 23rd June 07.
These guys have met before at UFC35 when they fought a tough 5 rounder. Pulver got the majority decision. Penn doesn’t like taking it to the judges. I thought he beat Georges St. Pierre up when they fought (GSP’s face was a mess), but the judges thought otherwise.
BJ Penn has disrespected Pulver over and over in TUF 5 and Jens isn’t happy. Both fighters are coming off losses, Pulver to Lauzon and Penn to Hughes, both on UFC63. Both need a win, both want to beat the bejesus out of the other. Whatever happens this is going to be a cracker.
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Well, that was the opinion of Dave O’Donnell, the successful co-founder and promoter of Cage Rage. Dave wasn’t that happy that UFC 70 was taking place on the very same night as his Cage Rage promotion.
A Coincidence? Dana White, UFC Supremo, says it was. Dana says he doesn’t check the timetables of rival promotions. In fact he says UFC doesn’t have any rivals, and classes the rest of the worlds MMA shows as places for aspiring fighters to learn their trade before going big time with the UFC. Cheeky monkey.
Dana was rumoured to have spent $5 million advertising UFC70, serious money by anyones standards. Big Dave’s standing his ground, he puts on a good show and has secured a deal with Sky which gives him a bit of clout. Play nice boys. Dana, stop trying to take Dave’s toys from him.
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