I went to wrestling camp with Mark Kerr. He was such a nice, friendly guy that it is hard to picture him ultimate fighting. He was an incredible athlete, guys used to give him a soccer ball just to see how far he could kick it or a frisbee just to watch him throw it an incredible distance. I don’t follow the sport very much, but has he beaten any top guys? And is there a tape where i can see him fight.
Heya Manimals, I want in. Ya know, I didn’t know dick bout no Matt Furey before this Combat training aarticle, I however, print out the article and did a few of the exercises at work the other night when I was bored, you know what, my back has never felt so F’n good as after doing the back bridge for two mins, WITH REST IN BETWEEN. I shall be doing the bodyweight exercises as my fourth workout day each week for a while. It produces a NYCE rush. I hurt my fucking arm doing a Poliquin incline superset. IT sucks. I go now.
“NO! I wanna holler the loud funny words!” - Stimpy
-Eric
Monkeyboy, keep doing the back bridge and your back and neck will keep feeling 100% better. SIR’s statements are totally false and he cannot back them up with any double blind studies. . Bridging is done by Iyengar yogi’s who are pain free despite doing it for decades. They don’t walk around in pain. Far from it.
First off, I stand by my assertion that Furey is preaching exercises that have been a mainstay in M.A. for generations. I also have noticed that he has lifted weights earlier in his career but now preaches bodyweight exercises. Can anybody say capitalism? He knows he can’t sell a book on weighttraining considering all the current “top dogs” out there but he’s definately trying to find his niche in the business end of the MA world. I still say he looks like shit and couple that with the fact that he’s never won anything noteworthy in mixed MA AND he’s doing things done for years (some before Gotch was even a sperm cell) and all I see is a guy seeing $$$$$$$$$$$$! As far as Tank being the best striker in UFC, are you even training in any Martial Art or are you one of those Morons who just wants blood and boos when a fight stays on the ground with little or no strikes. It’s OK to be a fan but know your opinion’s limitations.
Just want to throw my hat into the ring.
Furey- Never fought NHB so we can’t judge him on that. My guess is he doesn’t know how to strike or defend strikes on the ground or standing up.
Ken Shamrock- WAS a great fighter. Fought Royce to a draw and landed a couple good punches. Now his career is going nowhere. He has a lot of fighters in his Den now, though. Pride has been notorious for fixed fights. I’ll leave it at that.
Frank Shamrock- Probably the best middleweight there is. Beat the current UFC middleweight champion (Tito Ortiz). Hasn’t been doing a whole lot lately.
Abbot- Powerful puncher. No technique. He is not the only good stand-up striker that has fought in the UFC. In fact, he was KO’d by a better striker, Pedro Rizzo. Tank would probably be a good powerlifter though (claims he can bench 600).
Sakuraba- Very promising fighter. Took out 2 or 3 Gracies before his most recent loss. And I guarantee those fights weren’t fixes. The Gracies would die before throwing a fight.
Mark Coleman- The best heavyweight right now. Under the tutelage of Ken Shamrock he finally got his conditioning where it needs to be. As soon as he gets comfortable with submissions he’ll be virtually unbeatable.
Rickson Gracie- Probably my personal favorite, but he is over the hill. His technique and conditioning are always top notch, but I don’t think he could match up with Frank Shamrock. Rickson is very selective when picking fights. He fought the same guy (Takada, a Japanese pro-wrestler) 3 times! He is not willing to take a chance. But you must give him credit as he never lost a public match. Also, condolences to Rickson and his family during their time of mourning for their son, Rockson.
As for the neck briges, don't do them! They will injure you in the long run. Ask anyone who wrestled at a big name college. After doing neck bridges since they were 12 I guarantee almost all have neck and back problems. Are there any studies to support this? No. Are there any studies that say the Smith machine increases your chance of injury while squatting? No. Come on guys, we don't need a scientific double-blind test to prove every damn thing!
-Tony
OK then Tap - I look forward to your enlightening us about what puts you in a position to tell others the limits of their opiniton. I started training in Judo and Tae Kwon Do 18 years ago and in my late teens/early 20s did Jow Ga Kung Fu for an hour every day and regularly sparring (in full contact kickboxing style not none of that touch or point sparring). For the past two years I have concentrated on boxing but still work my kicks, can do the splits, and probably can execute as many fancy schmancy asian martial art techniques as the next guy but usually keep some humility about it instead of styling myself here or anywhere else as some sort of warrior. As far as tank goes, I think people over estimate the value of some martial techniques and training styles, get caught up in the mystique, and lose sight of what is effective (eg basics like straight punches, short hooks and uppercuts, a good thrusting front kick etc) . I stand by my earlier comment I made when others were talking about Ken Shamrock (and hence early UFCs) - first 10 UFCs Tank’s strikes were the best and that is after watching Ruas fight again last night. And yes grappling with no strikes is ridiculous and a factor of one of the rules - a time limit and judges. It becomes like a boxing clinch and lets people ride the clock. Plus its not the best strategy in real life and is not exactly the ideal way of ending any form of altercation. In UFC Id limit grappling to 60 secs without a position change.
Great post Tony but I cant agree on Ken Shamrock - this is a guy who in his late twenties in UFC 1 lost to Royce Gracie in a few minutes tops by turning his back on the ground and getting choked out. And while the other grapplers were winning multiple UFC’s Ken never won a tournament, often couldnt continue after winning the first match, and lost pretty badly to Severn in a “superfight”. In additon, he rarely looked like he had the killer instinct/will to win and looked content to ride the clock circling or mounted instead of fight.
My all time favorite bullshit Pride fix, is the Fujita vs. Gilbert Yvel fight.
Dre,
Yes, Royce beat him pretty badly in the first UFC, but Shamrock was a largely inexperienced grappler at that time. He had some good wrestling experience, but the first thing a wrestler does is go to his stomach.
After the first UFC he trained in Japan and became a King of Pancrase which greatly improved his knowledge of the ground game.
I don’t agree that Severn beat Shamrock that badly. For one thing, the rules of the match changed on the night of the fight to appease the Michigan athletic commission. The fighters could no longer strike with closed hands.
I agree that Shamrock is not much compared to the champions of today, but I do believe that he was once a great fighter, if only for a brief period of time.
Tony, if you went to Matt Furey’s website you would see that he said the way wrestlers do the back bridge is wrong. You should not do them on top of your head but you should do them on your forehead. They have helped my back and neck tremendously and I have had neck and back pain for over 7 years since my college football days. Everyone has their own opinion but I don’t think you can make a conclusion by you saying since wrestlers have neck and back problems it must be the neck bridges. That is not a very sound conclusion.
Dre, I’m glad that you took your Mary Kung Fu and are now a boxer but it just supports my assertion that you know nothing about grappling. Have you ever seen the Abu Dhabi Tourney? If you have and liked it, then you would understand my comment regarding the “morons”. If either you haven’t seen it or don’t like it, you officially have NO opinion on grappling, it’s effectiveness, or it’s place in MMA competition. With the exception of crosstrained Kickboxers, what striker has dominated any MMA comp.? As for the rules changes in the UFC, they were made so that the laymen (YOU!) would still understand what was going on and would therefore allow it to seep more into the mainstream. I don’t know about you but true Martial Arts, whether it be Ju-Jitsu or Kung Fu-Fu (oops.) is anything but mainstream.
Just an FYI-
In true NHB and MMA circles, Furey is considered to be a joke.
However, I wholeheartedly agree with your story about the need for conditioning, in addition to weights. I fight Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, am starting to get into NHB, and train with a few guys who have fought in the UFC and Pride. They hardly ever touch a weight…its all plyometric stuuf, explosive movements, cardio, sparring, etc.
Fujita v Yvel wasn’t a work, it was the perfect example of a striker who could not fight on the ground and wrestler who has no finishes.
As for strikers who have done well in MMA, Vanderlei Silva (only recently promoted to purple belt BJJ) has had success as a stand up fighter. Mo Smith has wins over Mark Coleman and Conan Silviera and is a former UFC champion, and the most devestating fighter in MMA today, Igor Vovchanchin (despite his loss to Tra) is a pure stand up fighter.
As hard as it is for me to admit (I am a grappler who has only recently added kickiboxing) the key in MMA today is to cross train, have an understanding of both aspects of fighting (groud work and striking) without both, you will loose. Gone are the days when all a grappler had to do was close the distance for the the clinch or takedown. If MMA have taught us anything, you are lost without grappling.
Who do you train with jrflex?
cjack,
“Matt Furey’s way” of doing neck bridges is no different from the way wrestlers do it.
You don’t have to take my advice. Maybe you’ll be lucky and never have neck or back problems from the bridges. I’m just stating what I have observed from the experience of myself as well as others.
No Tap, your assertion was not about my grappling knowledge but a confused response to a provocative opinion about a fat and contraversial UFC fighter’s punching prowess. As far as your “tourney watching equals grappling knowledge” theory goes Ill just say this - I definitely know enough about fighting to know that if you made a mistake like your last one in a fight you’d be well and truly snoring now.
I really think Fujita vs Yvel was a work. Every time I see it, I can’t help but notice Yvel glancing back at his corner, ever 15 seconds or so. It almost seemed like he was waiting for “the signal”. If the fight was real, then don’t you think that Yvel would at least try to chop down Fujita with low kicks? That is his style after all.