The Benoit Tragedy

I had avoided writing about professional wrestling within these pages mainly because sports grapppling and mma are pretty far removd from th WWE, but I have been a life long pro-wrestling fan and sometimes thought about adding a few pro-wrestling stories. Never got around to it though....

Sadly, the first mention of pro-wrestling entry is about the horrible Chris Benoit-Murder Suicide. It is difficult for me to comment on the specifics of the case as I only know what has been released to the press. I can say, however, that I am shocked and must concur with the conventional wisdom of public sentiment that it is time to get serious about cleaning up the out of control drug problems that are rampant in wrstling today and have been rampant in wrestling for close to 35 years. No, none of the problems with reckless and out of control behavior have been a secret. The fact that behavioral issues have led to a murder-suicide is such an outrage, however, that it has become fodder for tabloid television presentations. If there is anything good that will come out of this, hopefully, it will be that th industry cleans itself up for good. The odds of it actually happening, however, are fairly slim.

Leglock DVDs

I have to admit, thanks to the awesome releases of a number of leglock dvds on the market, I was able to learn a great deal about the subject and, additionally, I was able to get a huge jump on other practitioners as this material was often not taught in classes. (Joe Moreira's Panther Footlocks dvd started my journey in this realm way back when) There are a number of different things I could mention about the positives and negatives about leglock DVDs, so this will probably be a topic that I will visit and revisit over time. If I were to make a blanket statement on the subject, it would be this: BE CAREFUL!

While a lot of the information on dvd instructionals that deal with the subject matter of leg locks, there also needs to be great concern taken towards understanding that twisting the ankle and the knee brings about the possibility of serious injury. Yes, I know, this statement has been made by many people, many times in the past, but I can not emphasize this enough. Trying to learn leglocks off a DVD without proper supervision can prove DANGEROUS. So, do yourself a favor, use caution when trying to mimic what you see on a leglock instructional!

Not to Contradict Myself, but....

In my previous post, I mentioned that subissions do not work without positional control. That was PARTIALLY correct on my part. There are a few submissions that work without control and they include the Guillotine, the bent armlock and the toe hold. Because these particular submissions have th ability to manipulate the body (you can drag someone around with a guillotine, the bent armlock can be used to throw someone, etc) they can be slapped on without solid control and successfully performed. HOWEVER...that does not mean they are easy to use. There is a lot of complexity involved as the ability to adjust to the opponent's resistance is paramount to pulling off the moves.


The infamous toehold

Submissions Without Control

I really, really, really try to avoid mentioning submissions on this blog mainly because there is WAY, WAY TOO much emphasis out there on learning submissions - usually at the detriment of critically important info such as positional escapes, pinning, etc.

Here is problem with seeking submissons when there is not control of the opponent: the submission will not work because the opponent is able to move out of the submission. In many instances, even the slightest movemnt makes the completion of a submission tough to finish. Think of a straight footlock: if the body is not controlled, it is pretty easy to get out of or at least it will delay the sinking in of the move.

So, why do people ignore controlling an opponent and go for submissions? Their brain has been hardwired that way through crowded group glasses, bad instructional videos, and crash course seminars. In those environments, the emphasis will be on keeping people happy by teaching a ton of submissions in order to pander to people's desire to see new 'moves.' Does it get you anywhere? Nope. In fact, if anything would improve a person's game it would be curtailing the volume of submissions they are accumulating.

Karo's Judo for MMA

I haven't watched all that many instructional dvds lately (actually, I haven't wacthed any in maybe 2 years) but I finally did watch Karo's Judo for MMA dvd. Well, part of volume one. ...I haven't seen the whole set yet. What I watched so far looks really cool and interesting. This looks like a winner of a dvd.

Venture Financing

Venture capital makes the world go around and many multi-million dollar companies can attest this fact as they, themselves were built upon the finances supplied by venture capital. Of course, no matter how great an idea is, one can not acquire venture capital unless they locate a company that offers such capital under agreeable terms and conditions. One such company is Venture Alliance Partners, a top notch financier that can provide funds for a variety of business opportunities. So, if you are in need of venture capital financing, please visit their site and see what they have available for you.

A side note about Joe Moreira's Set

I always found it odd that people only look at Moreira's "White to Black Belt" volumes on his Panther series while ignoring the fact that he had a multitude of 'specialty' tapes on footlocks, kneelocks, conditioning and sparring that were part of the series, but separate from the belt progression tapes. Perhaps Panther is to blame for this because they did not promote the other tapes well. Then again, students during the time period were dying for some cohesion to the Jiu Jitsu belt promotion system so the idea of a chart/path to belt promotions was appealing. Whatever the reason, the bottom line is that ignoring these other tapes/dvds in Moreira's series is to ignore some really great and helpful instructionals. Again, they are avilable at the rock bottom proce of $9.95 these days so you can still pick them up if you missed them the first time around.

Joe Moreira Panther DVDs

Even after a full decade and a half after their initial release, these DVDs featuring Joe Moreira still are top of the line Sport Jiu Jitsu tapes that still deliver the goods when it comes to learning some unique spins and details on the basics of the sport. Sure, Joe gets a lot of flack for having a thick accent that makes his English difficult to understand at times and, yes, it is tough at times to look beyond this flaw. However, if you have a little patience and hang with Joe through his tapes series, you will discover that this is a fine series that delivers on its promises to help you learn the proper way to become a better grappler.

When comparing this set to the other tapes that were on the market at the time, Joe really provided a GREAT DEAL more detail and depth on the art (Pedro Carvalho's series being the other example of this) than what his competitors were providing. On that basis alone, Joe really does deliver the goods.

On a side note, Century Video now distributes these tapes on DVD at $9.95 a pop. They were $49.95 when they first came out......Sometimes it pays to wait.

K1 Dynamite

Ugh....this was a bad show...I'm sorry but I can't be more positive, but this show was an absolute tragedy. For those who followed the behind the scenes drama of this event, it was plagued with production problems as the promoters simply could not get their act together. At one point, they did not have a promoter's license even only days before the show was to take place. (There was legitimate fear of a cancellation at this point) Mercifully, they were able to pull things together and put the show on, but the end result was a hodge-podge mess of bad matches as many of the guys in the ring looked like they didnt belong anywhere near being the caliber of a professional fighter. And the two main events were a disaster despite the star power of Lesnar, Sakuraba and Royce Gracie. Utterly awful program that will probably never have another PPV again.

Remembering Panther Video

Panther Video has long since been defunct, a victim of its own oversaturation and lack of ability to produce quality videos. Then again, some of the videos that the company produced were pretty awful while a few gems did stand out in the crowd. However, much of Panther's growth derived from the fact that it basically had no competitors for a decade. When competitors who had solid bankrolls behind them combined with better production skills, Panther found itself on the defensive and never recovered.