Blast From The Past #5 - Spenna Vs The Ninja

It happened at one of our first open grappling tournaments in April 2001, it was a no gi tourney so most people turned up in T shirts and shorts as you would imagine, some wore gis but one guy.......

Maybe it's my memory playing up but I think I remember a puff of smoke then this guy walks up to register at the desk. He had got ready to compete and was kitted head to toe in black including black pumps, black fingerless leather gloves (no, it wasn't Chen) and a black head guard.

Everyone got weighed in then came the decision; who would be mighty enough to take on a ninja? Enter the Spenna.

In a classic match that could have been featured on Deadliest Warrior, Spen Fu v Ninja took place with the skilful Spen Fu master emerging victorious after a tough battle, I remember the Ninja being very strong.

The Ninja guy went on to take 3^rd place before disappearing without a trace.

 

 

You Shouldn’t Judge a BJJ Book by It’s Cover

Way back when most people were still at white belt stage, we attended a seminar with a BJJ guy who was very popular at the time. When it came to the rolling section of said seminar, popular BJJ guy just stuck to rolling with a handful of his students and left the rest of us to fend for ourselves.

A big meat head white belt out to impress popular BJJ guy asked one of my students to spar. My student Pete, who was an older athlete but had a phenomenal guard for a white belt, pulled guard and right off the bat arm barred the guy.

Meat had to find someone else to redeem himself against and spotted Helen, way smaller but was a blue belt so would make a good scalp. He started really hard, was aggressive then fell straight into a triangle and decided he had enough of Helen.

Meat then decided that a younger prospect might be a better idea so asked my 14 year old white belt student to roll. Meat tried to steamroller him but my student arm barred him hard and fast. Enough was enough so Meat sat out for a while.

At the end of the seminar we all gathered around whilst popular BJJ guy gave out some belts and sure enough Meat got his blue.

 

Combat Base Group Training Day 7th March 2010

This one is being hosted by Team Fulinkazan at Kings Gym in Bradford. Hoping to get one of these at everyone’s gym eventually.

Check out the small clip from the last one at Caged Steel.




Starts at 11:00am, finishes round 3:00pm

There will be a 40/45 minute workshop in every hour segment so schedule is something like this:

11:00 Warm up with Helen Currie
11:20 ½ guard with Carl Fisher
12:00 Offside Kesa gatame with Adam Adshead
12:40 free time to drill, spar, rest, talk
1:00 Butterfly guard with Steve Muckle
1:40 free time to drill, spar, rest, talk
2:00 Chokes with Ryan Hunter
2:40 free time to drill, spar, rest, talk
3:00 Finish



We have all different coaches this time so I guarantee that there will be someone there who most of you have not trained with before.

Whether you want to train on the mats or in the ring there will be someone who will train with you without any ego or hidden agenda, it will be a friendly environment because it is only open to our group so be sensible, be a good training partner and train hard.

£5 entry fee to train, coaches train for free. After paying for the gym, all the rest of the money will be donated to charity.

People don’t have to stay for the entire session, just turn up when they want and stay as long as they want, as long as they come through to support us that is all that matters.

Hope to see you all there.

Helen Currie on Youtube

Confirmation of details for inaugural ladies only training camp

To be held on 21st March at Caged Steel, a purpose built training centre, in West Yorkshire.

Starts at 12:00 noon to allow people that are travelling in to be able to arrive in time without having to set off at a ridiculous time, instructors will teach/coach 2 hours each and time will be available for rolling/sparring also.

The instructors will be:
Helen Currie BJJ black belt
Rosi Sexton Pro MMA fighter

Taking into account travelling costs that many of you will incur we have tried to keep down the cost, so due to kind donations from a number of sponsors and the generosity of the instructors, the price for the session will only be £25 per person.

The sponsors, Caged Steel Fight Centre, Tatami Fightwear, Kombat Clinic and Allsports International Limited are delighted to be part of the team offering this outstanding opportunity to help promote an atmosphere in which women can train with their peers rather than just training with the lighter guys in the usual mixed sessions.

These camps are not aimed at replacing that training, just getting together all like minded women at the same venue at the same time.

There will be training gear for sale on the day from Caged Steel and Tatami Fightwear that is specifically designed and tailored for women.

I hope that this will be well supported to make it feasible to do more.

We would like to start taking names of interested parties to give us an idea of how many will be attending, anyone interested please email me at combatbase@hotmail.com

The session hopes to cover both gi and no gi grappling so there is something for everyone.

Join our Facebook group here to keep informed.

Tatami Fightwear Sponsor Helen Currie

Following on from her recent interview with Kombat Clinic that has dragged her onto the internet and exposed her to the rest of the country Helen has been snapped up by Tatami Fightwear to help promote and develop training equipment for women. This is looking like a great opportunity for both and can only assist the development of women in BJJ and MMA in the UK.

They have already released the first wave of women's equipment with more to follow.

Tatami Fightwear have a full range of competition regulation gis for all sexes including childrens range. Check out their web site here

To be honest, I'm surprised that someone hadn't approached her already being the only female black belt in the country and 1 of only 2 in Europe.

New Interview With Helen On Kombat Clinic

Check out Helen's interview on Kombat Clinic web site here.

Team Fulinkazan Inter Club, Wesleys Night Club, Pudsey - 13th December

Just like walking down memory lane, I enter the night club for the interclub and basically there were mats put down on the dancefloor, the fencing around the dancefloor had mats leant against them and it was cold.

This is how most of us 'old skool' guys started out, before purpose built gyms and wall to wall matting, we would train anywhere, sometimes without mats just on a piece of old carpet. The first interclub MMA matches we did was exactly the same, some mats, some space and some eager participants. Absolutely perfect.

In fact the interclub organiser, Spenna, fought his first MMA match in one of our interclubs that were exactly the same as this and he went on to fight pro in some of the country's biggest shows and competed internationally so if this interclub could springboard someone to that sort of level, that would be awesome.

Also reverting back to the no judges' decision rule that we used to use, either win by sub or stoppage, lose by same or draw, that's it. No points, no decisions, simple.

I had thought over this long and hard when we were doing regular interclubs that if a guy completely dominates another guy but ends in a draw, is it really fair? I came to the conclusion that it was, if you can't finish the guy then it means he has some defence and desereves some credit.

Anyway I'm rambling now so back to the interclub. A great turn out from the Fulinkazan clubs and invited friends kept the action going, no lulls just one great match after another. Mainly aimed at giving guys some competition experience so what they lacked in experience they made up for in enthusiasm, every guy giving 100% on the day.

From Combat Base we had Tom Keough making his amateur MMA debut who thoroughly impressed me all round, he dominated both opponents with some crisp striking, good takedowns and some dominating groundwork. Right at the end of the 1st fight he faked a leg kick and executed a superman punch that echoed round the club, something he had only learned 30 minutes earlier!!

Nige Tunningley was in the heavyweight grappling division and, though not small himself, faced some big guys. Against both opponents Nige showed some good standing wrestling getting good takedowns to go to ground where again he imposed his game. Managing to pass guard and having submission attempts both matches ended in draws after full time.

Final Combat Base guy was Paul Lawrence who is brand new to us but very game and wanted to try competition straightaway. He was doing some good work, got the takedown, escaped a tight looking guillotine and passed guard to side control. A scramble ensued and Paul showed his back to his opponent who didn't need a 2nd opportunity jumping on Paul working for the RNC eventually getting the tap.

After all the matches were done, trophies for sub of the day and fighter of the day were given out then ALL the competitors received a medal, whilst this has been criticised before by various people I think it is an excellent gesture to the guys that gave up so much time to train, put themselves in a stressful position having to fight someone they didn't know and whether it is a cliche or not, I firmly believe that everyone who competes is a winner regardless of the result.

As I finish off so many interviews and reports etc with the same thing I hope people now recognise how important it is to be the 'man in the arena'. Everyone wants to win, sometimes you do but sometimes you don't but the main thing is that you try.

Can't wait for the next one.

Well done Spenna and Team Fulinkazan.

Blast From The Past 4 - My Most Favourite Match Ever.......

Was around 2000 and was an amateur Vale Tudo match (which is a contradiction in terms and quite funny when you think about it) as the phrase Mixed Martial Arts had not really been used at this point. The match took place at the inaugural amateur trials held by Lee Hasdale's Total Fight Forum and was against a Brazilian guy who's name I can never remember, might have been Pereira or maybe not. Anyway he was over here to help teach at the Anaconda BJJ club in London (which by the way, spawned some awesome competitors despite the fact that the instructor didn't have the best reputation but had some cool gloves)

At that time I was watching tons of Brazilian Vale Tudo stuff and thought that the Brazilians were the be all and end all of fighting, after all the guys I had been watching were some of the world's best, so to have the opportunity to fight one was awesome, there is just something about competing against someone from the home of the style you are doing.

The fight was up and down, we both landed strikes, got takedowns and had a roll around before the fight ended all too quickly. The fight was declared a draw.

I was real happy with my performance and thought that maybe us English had a future in BJJ after all.

Blast From The Past 3 - Marco Ruas

I remember watching UFC 7 seeing this big Brazilian dude smashing the hell out of everyone which really inspired me to try this 'Vale Tudo' as it was called then (more about that another time) to see how people performed under this extreme pressure. I was very fortunate that a little while later I heard Marco would be in this country so decided that whatever the cost we would have to go train with him.

Drove down to Worcester on the Sunday and got there late but just in time to see Marco guillotine a guy unconscious because the guy did not tap quickly enough. The seminar was brilliant and picked up some excellent Luta Livre anti –jiu Jitsu techniques that I still use today in no gi.

Hearing then that he would be in St Helens on the Friday we decided that we would have to make the trip over and get in another session with him. Arriving a little late again (it's a curse) I walked in first and Marco stopped the seminar, he made his way over and came to shake hands thanking me for travelling over. He started the seminar then stopped it abruptly again when Helen appeared doing the same with her.

The guys there must have wondered who the hell we were, 2 random people turn up and he stops the seminar for them, they never realised we were just 2 people who had trained with him previously and were bad timekeepers.

He got the seminar back on track and taught another excellent session.

Got to hang out with him afterwards and mess around getting some photos and stuff. He told me to get him in a rear naked choke so he bent down so I could reach around for the choke. Before the photo was taken he just said "can you breakfall?" I replied "sure" next thing I was launched over his shoulder with seionage from hell, as I hit the deck he dropped into a perfect arm bar just as the photo was taken.

The photo ended up in Combat magazine with Marco laughing his head off as he was arm barring me.

Absolutely awesome guy, so humble and friendly. It's a pity that he stopped coming over to the UK because I would have loved to train with him more.

Check this out the highlight reel