Agreed. Anyone who walks around bragging with their head up their hole is an ass. Its not just limited to competitive martial arts or kung fu, but to all walks of life.
I rarely say this because it ****es me off but wheres the proof? Yes we all know hypothetically your sensei donned his red cape and won the day. As far as Im concerned if its true, hes an ass, if hes lying, hes an ass. Me I'd take this all with a large bucket of salt but thats me.
There was no attempt at an eye gouge because the kung fu guy never had a chance--he was taken down, beaten down, and arm locked. He did not show up to challenge anyone, he showed up to roll with the Judo class. They invited him to spar; they had told him they wanted to see how their techniques would work against a BJJ guy. It started out cordial, but then the sparring went up a notch and they tried to kick him hard in the head after they told him no head shots (for both sides, as he is a 2nd dan in TKD). When they went for his head, he went for theirs, and then, from what I recall of the story, the Kung fu instructor called BJJ crap. My teacher is friends with the Gracies, and it really ****ed him off. The students ASK for stories about BJJ that he was involved in. He has some crazy ones--he used to be a bouncer. Anyway, after prodding from us, he told us his stories; it wasn't like he was a complete bragart, but we do enjoy the tales!
I didn't realize he's shared this story on the net with his name on it--OK to let you guys know: http://www.groundzero.com.au/diaryview.php?diaryid=16 In his own words, you can judge for yourselves... I think it's a great story, and he didn't do a thing wrong.
Man, please do send an internet greeting to you instructor in the form of a big friggin' applause for continuing and building his skills from scratch again after his amnesia. That is really an inspiration.
Snapping the guys arm does seem a little OTT but no doubt tempers were flaired and whatnot at the time.
Why do people have a problem with a fighter beating another fighter in an agreed upon match? Even if he did start it all it's completely legit. I can't think of one thing cooler then dojo storming.
Yes, he used to dojo storm a lot just to promote his school, he told me, but he said he did it to every major school in the area, no one really left. Now he says he'd just send one of his blue belts if a school starts talking BS. It's a riot during class, as you can probably guess. I've been out sick over a week, can't wait to jump back in tomorrow!
Actually, this is very interesting. I know we're somewhat competitive in our school. But I don't see anyone at my school acting like this. I'm not going to go so far as to say that the guy is or isn't an ass. I don't know. I wasn't there. But I've heard that this mentality is common in some areas. So, how many of the BJJ guys here would go out and "storm" another school, issuing challenges or anything like that? Can anyone here see their instructors doing this?
I posted this in another thread here: 'We had a guy in Austin like that. The guy has been running a McDojo here since the 80s. Back then he taught TKD. When that fad died he began teaching Karate. Then a few years later it was Hapkido. Then he added 'grappling'. I asked my instructor how good was he on the ground. He said he attended like 2-3 BJJ seminars in the mid-90s and that was it. I posted his McDojo info on another site, and people there did let him know some legit BJJ guys were planning on coming over and checking out his grappling class. Within a few days he stopped teaching 'grappling' and removed it from his website and all other advertising he used.' In instances such as this I think it's fine to show up and drop a challenge.
I'm going to do a long rant regarding this topic, the story and a story of my own to top it off, 'cause I'm bored and I might even make a point out of it. While at first glance "dojo storming" as such can sound very uncultivated. But there's "martial arts department" in the government willing to run routine checks on styles and schools to ensure what they're doing isn't just complete nonsense. There has always been a sense of community control in all martial arts. In earlier days of JJ in japan, dojo challenges were the way to go. People openly challenged eachother in brutal matches to see who were the best, and the loser had to close his school. The result being more students for the winner and a sort of "survival of the fittest" as far as styles go. (Remember at one time there is speculated to have been somewhere around 2000 JJ styles in Japan) In modern days such challenges seem a little barbaric, but martial arts are after all about fighting. And people are used to hiding their critical thinking and obstinate attitudes behind the guise of law and order to avoid confrontation or proof of their scepticism. In Norway (where I live!) Full contact professional competitions are not allowed, but training full contact is! (go figure). So a sparring match to decide the skill of another martial artist if so inclined by a challenge is not as horrible as one might be led to believe. Now, usually such "tests" are performed all the time in regular clubs. People spar and "fight" and find out where they lie on the skill-ladder of that school. Indeed this is the natural progression of a martial artist simply to gain some skill. (I hate the word martial artist, but..) And there's no evil intent behind it. The reason why I didn't react with "he's an idiot" when the story was presented was that this guy is visiting a place, sparring with them, feeling challenged in several rounds way above what was agreed upon in regards to the regular rules of their sparring and answering back. Upon protecting himself he recieves another challenge, this time, should he lose he is threatened with being blinded for life and losing his eyes in a full contact match should the opposing Sifu beat him. Why then don't I think it's overkill to pop his elbow? Because I've had my elbow popped myself on several occasions. From being too slow to tap out for instance (voluntarily or simply by accident) And I can't say I hold a grudge against the people who tore it. I trained through the recovery and while it's painful to have a messed up arm and you can't spar as hard as you'd want to.. It's not the end of the world. You're not crippled for life if you pop your elbow. You're injured for a while but it's not a huge deal. Freaking out at a small injury like a popped elbow in a sparring match is typical of people who have never grappled. I know, it seems brutal to hear a pop in the elbow but I doubt the Sifu in question has any trouble with his elbow to this day. Lastly (this is turning out to be a long one) I've been "challenged" myself in a much less safe environment than a dojo. When I first started JJ, I was hanging out with some friends on the town (woooo!) and some of them was getting a bit loud concerning my training and I tried to shush them down. I've never liked too much attention. But it was too late and some random dude I don't know stepped up and asked the typical "well what do you do if..." questions. After some back and forth with me attempting to dodge the question he took matters into his own hands. And I'll never forget the irony of this. Did a front bearhug... that's right. You know that crazy stuff you think people never do in a fight or self defense situation or anything? I did a classic JJ defense, blocked his hips and sunk my hips walking back and around and was about to step in for a hip throw when he let go. And in one split second I thought "phew he's only kidding" ....then he jammed his fingers in my eyes.. My natural reflex was now to just shut my eyes as tight as I could and he couldn't do any damage. From there I should perhaps have gone in and finished the throw, but the guy was larger than me by a bit more than I liked and hip throws aren't my forté. So instead I started reaching down for a leg thinking I might get a double or single. I get one leg and start lifting and driving and attempting to hook his other leg with my foot when suddenly lots of people start swarming in on both sides pulling us apart. And thank heavens for that. In retrospect I suppose I defended myself ok. But right after that he was very defensive and avoided me, trying to talk nice and being sorry he freaked out. And then he slipped in a comment that if we were somewhere else it would be better to test this. Now, this is the point I'm leading up to. I'm a small guy. Very thin, not particularily athletic, always been. I'm also quite shy and not a very aggressive guy and I usually have to get nagged on by instructors to push the offense if needed. But right there and then I was ready. I said something along the lines of "well I'm ready when you are" and I really was. I was ready to go again. It never happened and he was full of hot air I suppose and just couldn't face the fact that he had been mildly thwarted by a little shrimp. But THIS is the point. I never thought I would say or do something that stupid, but experience has taught me that when someone is provoking me strongly enough, I just might take that challenge. And for the guy in the story, I can't say I blame him. And finally, a popped elbow is NOT that big a deal. Wow this was a long one. Sorry 'bout that.
My problem with the whole thing isn't the challenge but, the Broken arm, if the guy really knows his stuff, and has some class he would just have held the fellow in the arm bar(for a long time) until he submitted. That would have proven the point much better. The broken arm situation could easily end up in a serioust lawsuit. You have to learn control, Here where I'm at, in any kind of confrontation, the second you have the advantage, then YOU become the aggressor, what you do from that point is what could determine what the law does afterwards. Now, I know this wasn't a fight, it was a challenge, but control should still be considered.
