ojovivo
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dirt enthusiast
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Peter Solarz
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
TVSTRANGERTHINGS
titsay
Misplaced Lens Cap
Product Placement
Andulka
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if i look back, i am lost
shark vs the universe
Janaina Medeiros
d e v o n
hello vonnie
Show & Tell
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
cherry valley forever
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@muaythaiobsession
Deadly seminar this morning from Japanese MMA legend Abe Ani (head coach at Tokyo's AACC), teaching us catch wrestling techniques and leglock attacks/escapes down. Some really unorthodox and counterintuitive moves, looking forward to applying them!
First ever boxing match this morning - it was fun. It was an in-house tournament, more or less an interclub, and I agreed to it a month ago right before a great work contract came up, meaning I literally did ONE training/sparring in the past month. My fitness is okay because I'm cycling 1.5-2 hours a day but it was weird to take a bout and not really train for it. I didn't know my opponent at all, never seen him before, but although he was a pure boxer I had a lot more fight experience than him and control of distance, footwork, confidence was the difference. The fun of it for me was just to see where my base level is now without really training so it's great to find that it's remaining fairly solid. Oh and I got my second BJJ stripe at white belt a month ago! Hoping to get to blue belt within a year.
“A lot of jiu-jitsu is based around the idea of not hurting people. Jiu-jitsu gives people an option to tap or submit. The intention is not to hurt or punish the opponent. They are given a choice to stop that. That’s what I try and do in my fights. I try and represent jiu-jitsu to the best of my ability and to show the philosophy of the art. I don’t like to hurt people."
— Demian Maia
My boi Andy (top middle in the photo above) has his first ever title shot on Friday for the IKBF Victoria strap. It’s a rematch against a lad who he beat before in a very tough fight, a lad who’s since gotten his hands on the belt.
Myself and Andy have put in hundreds of gym hours alongside one another, sparring across thousands of rounds and fighting on a bunch of the same shows. We even fought each in the final of a tournament at amateur level; I forfeited to him in recognition of his senpai status since it looked like he was going to retire back then, meaning he became Australian champion. Given the way things have played out over the past year and a half, this is a big one - not just for him, but for me also. As the continuation of my fighting career grows ever-more improbable, I’m sort of thinking this could be my last vicarious belt effort...
Been refocusing my discipline in training as my personal life continues to fall apart in a spiral of unending shit. It definitely helps but it's harder than ever to drag myself out of my own rotten mind. Back to minimum three sessions a week each of Muay Thai and BJJ. Enjoying facing a couple of higher level chaps in stand-up sparring the past week and doing a lot of work on more advanced guard manouvres in BJJ - spider guard, butterfly guard, X guard. Satisfying, adding more weapons to my ground game.
Just spent a delightful evening clinching and trading kicks, elbows, knees and fists with my boy Adam in preparation for his title fight on Saturday. Been training with this lad since my second fight - can't wait to see him get the gold!
3 Worst Things About Fighting
1. Injuries
2. Cutting weight
3. ?
Got offered an MMA fight two weeks from now. My fitness & conditioning are dogshit and my flow is weak from the lack of recent sparring. I'd love to do it but I don't think it's time... ...yet.
Level 17 Martial Arts Dork Achievement Unlocked: Weapons Sparring. Just did my first ever session of Filipino Stick & Weapons fighting. It was DEADLY! Sticks, knives, swords, and sparring with the afore-mentioned. I have now transitioned from "confirmed enthusiast" to "total dork" in the martial arena.
On the way to the fights and feeling pretty emotional. I’m so jealous of my current/ex training partners who’re on the show. It’s the biggest/best one in Australia and there’s a couple of lads I’ve beaten on it, loss of training time and halting the fight career is the biggest loss I’m feeling since my baby girl was born. I guess that’s life…struggle and sacrifice. It’s all worth it; I wouldn’t trade the love and support I can give the girls for anything.
...but still. I miss it desperately.
🤓
First BJJ tournament today...took the bronze! My goal was to win 1 fight so I'm fucking delighted!! I was nervous as fuck and nearly didn't enter because I was too intimidated and thought I had no business being in there...good lesson: PISS ALL OVER YOUR COMFORT ZONE.
CHANGES
So… I’ve switched gyms. I’d been thinking about it for a while, basically since before I started Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu last April. At that stage, I decided to train at Nexus BJJ, a pure Gracie jiu-jitsu school under the Pedro Sauer system. It’s ten minutes from my house and it worked pretty well to go there three days a week and still keep up Muay Thai and boxing in the city another two-three days a week. But since Aniya was born in September, the schedule of everything has gotten really tight, so it’s been harder and harder to keep up both.
Changes were necessary so I started looking for a decent gym with both under the same roof, and began trialing at Nemesis MMA when they reopened after Christmas on January 2. They’ve a good schedule of classes in Muay Thai and BJJ and also do training in wrestling, boxing, judo and krav maga. Both owners and head coaches have serious fight experience and they’ve a good stable of active fighters on some of Australia’s top promotions plus a lad in One FC, so there’s plenty of quality sparring and training partners. There’s a good mix of hobbyists and fitness people alongside serious fighters and martial artists. And it’s a 15 minute drive from my house. But the main thing I was looking for is quality of training and attitude - what are they like? What’s their response to various situations? Well, they’re really sound and the training is solid. So I’ve decided to stay.
On top of all that, I’ve just started a relatively full-on job as Marketing & Communications Advisor for an ethical management consultancy firm here in Melbourne, so that means even more demands on my time. My first day was on Thursday so I decided to make a clean break and a fresh start and go to talk to both my Muay Thai coach Pedg and BJJ coach Murat after work that day and inform them of my decision. I was nervous. I’ve been training with Pedg since 2011 and he’s cornered me for ten fights. I’ve gone through huge growth there, developing close friendships through his gym and learning a lot about fighting and about myself. For the past half decade he’s been the biggest single influence on my life of anyone apart from my wife, so it was a tough decision. I was a bit sad. But it was time to go. He was really fucking sound about it, which was cool, and I’ll keep going in there for sparring from time to time. The same with Murat, though I’ve only trained with him for less than a year. It was something of a relief though, as the martial arts world can seem a bit like the mafia when it comes to leaving the family…
So I’m on a new path. The goal is to become a complete fighter.
Today is my first BJJ tournament!
5 Years / 6000+ Followers
It’s almost five years since I started this blog - here’s my debut post following my first ever hard sparring session back in January 2012.
Right now I’m dealing with intense family shit and some big potential changes in my approach to training and fighting...I can’t say anything yet, but watch this space.
Hope you’re all feeling inspired and motivated with your training goals for 2017!
It's been a rough couple of months. Lots of stress and tension. I'm feeling it. But tonight was my first sparring since helping the lads prepare for their fights at the end of October. It was glorious...I feel like I've just done a month of relaxation meditation. It's bizarre - perverse, even...but nothing heals my soul like combat.
Posts are thin on the ground these days because life is mmmmmad with the baby. Buuut I'm still training, generally getting in two sessions Muay Thai, two boxing, two BJJ and I'm ashamed to say just one run a week. I'm feeling the lack - three rounds Muay Thai with my coach last week nearly killed me. Lowest my fitness has gone in a looong time. Hopefully things will return to at least three sessions of each plus sparring in the new year. But I went with my friend Kieran for his blue belt grading at Renegade MMA today and it was deadly! Nice atmosphere and great buzz...I love the martial world.
Variations on kicking with the rear leg.
DEADLY STYLE
