HAVING NO WAY AS WAY

"Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system." Bruce Lee said that and it is the fundamental philosophy of mixed martial arts. For weeks I practiced parrying the jab, cross, and hook and, in sparring sessions with my instructors, succeeded in getting my head snapped back like a rock 'em sock 'em robot. I was stiff. I was thinking too much. I was quite simply, stuck in the form. Only when they taught me to strike from any position, to parry going forward, and jab while retreating, did I realize the wonderful enigma of Sifu Lee's thinking. You learn the form to internalize motion; and then you make your own.

Sideshow

Can a 47 year old ex NFL football player compete in mixed martial arts? Absolutely not! Aging running back Hershel Walker has announced his intentions to become a fighter. Is he serious?Does he think MMA is less physically demanding than pro football? There was a reason he retired from the NFL and those same reasons apply now more than then. Alas, this is the inevitable fallout of the Brock Lesnar era. Nothing a good knee in the clinch won't fix.

A Chosen Few

Your lungs are burning from Muay Thai ladder drills and the Sifu keeps yelling, " sprawl!", and, "shoot!", and you are trying to remember the Gable choke you just learned today and the lactic acid in your muscles feels like lava. Hook, cross, lead kick, rear kick, "shoot!". You want to die. You are dying. Then your opponent drops his head for a micro-second and all those drills finally pay off as you wrap the neck, pull him into your guard and squeeze the carotid artery. Squeeze... When he taps, the release is sublime until you realize that you are only halfway through a five minute round and a quarter of the way through a three hour training day that leaves you feeling like the fifth car in a ten car pile up. And you are gonna do it all again tomorrow. Because you love it.