Hello, everyone. I've been taking USSD in Los Angeles for about four years, and I am currently a green belt (brown stripe soon). At my dojo, they don't rush us through the ranks. In fact, my Sensei has made it very clear that I won't advance in rank until I make my material from all of my previous ranks (white and up) perfect. We work a lot on practical stuff, and I consider myself a pretty good fighter. I like competing in the USSD tournaments (despite the price), but I'm looking for somethind different, specifically mixed martial arts tournaments for minors in my general area. I'm 15, 16 in June.
Prospero- I started in USSD when I was 10, and stuck around until about 14. I didn't find out until much later how unprepared USSD left me. The USSD tournaments are pure point sparring. "Begin" Tap "Stop. Stances. Begin" Tap. "Penalty. Excessive Contact. Begin" The problem I see with USSD is that a lot of the stuff gives you the impression that you can really defend yourself. Many of the techniques are standard, "Step Through Punch...stand there and let the defender perform a barrage of cooling looking techniques." My favorite was "Defensive Maneuver 14", which basically involved "Step Through Punch, Block/Grab, Jump Scissor Kick" That being said, there are a bunch of Traditional Martial Artists that are able to perform decently in Non Traditional Competition. Unfortunately, they are few and far between, and nearly all of them need to cross train in something with hard Kickboxing level contact and a complete ground game. Dian Hsuhe and PacificShore can vouch for a certain instructor within Kara Ho that does very well in Cage Fights...yet this same instructor was a Golden Gloves Boxer for years AND a Pro competition level weight lifter. I would recommend that you cover these areas before you even look for events: 1. Check your medical status. Reoccuring injuries, asthma, etc... will keep you from competing and not getting seriously hurt. 2. Research your instructors background. He might be bigger and stronger than you, so it LOOKS like he's a badass...but he could have NO practical experience in NHB or Kickboxing style competition. Also see if he has any practical experience in grappling. 2a. If your instructor has decent qualifications and experience, then ask him to ramp up your training to make you survive a MMA fight. Stop point sparring, get some MMA gloves, boxing headgear, and MT shin pads and start hitting like your life depended on it. A leaping backfist may score a point, but will likely get your face broken in an MMA match. 2b. If your instructor isn't qualified to prepare you...understand that there is no shame in that. Also understand that you need to get your tail to a boxing gym and/or a BJJ school and start preparing yourself. You might need to take a break from SKK...but you can guarantee your instructor that you'll be in much better condition when you come back. 3. After you start training this way, do some serious introspection and see if you really want to go this route. Sure, it sounds cool to tell people that you train "Like the UFC guys"...but this type of training isn't for anyone. i.e. I have terrible shins and prefer not to spend 10 rounds getting leg checked...so competing in Muay Thai or even Full Contact Kickboxing is beyond me. I'm also pretty non-competitive, and I'd much rather spend time with my fiance than spend every day preparing for a match. --Once you have these two issues covered, THEN start looking for matches. These types of competitions are all over the place, and range from BJJ Grappling w/strikes to full out "King of the Cage" style matches. Good luck and keep us posted.
I like to think that I'm in a pretty good dojo. In the adults class they let us spar sometimes without gear (lightly, of course) and we put in a lot of pretty decent contact sparring. That being said, I'm looking into JKD (at an MMA gym) and Krav Maga. What do you think of competing in the California Gold Cup?
http://www.goldcupcircuit.com/GOLDCUPRULES2006.pdf I think competing in this would be an excellent opportunity for you. It is essentially "Sport Karate", so you'd be point sparring. Moderate contact every but the legs and head/face, light contact to head/face. You could probably go right in this with the training you have. Once you start at this JKD/KM gym, ask the coaches about in-house and local MMA matches and how to prepare for them.
Thanks for your help! We do a lot of grappling in the group classes, but I don't consider myself a great groundfighter. I'm definitely pretty good, though.
