Brazilian Ju Jitsu

With my newfound obsession hobby of following the UFC & MMA in general, and knowledge of the fact that 95% of fights go down to the ground, I decided I wanted to look into MMA gyms in my area. I found one in my town actually, joined up, and have taken about 4 classes so far. This particular gym primarily teaches BJJ (Brazilian Ju Jitsu) which has been proven time and again to be a dominant fighting style. However, ATT (American Top Team) also incorporates kickboxing and submission grappling into their weekly schedules.

On MMA vs. Traditional Martial Arts
From the FAQ section on another MMA gym's site...

"Mixed Martial Arts” is a program that takes the most effective and practical techniques from systems and style that have proven to be superior to others. While most other martial arts programs claim to be steeped in tradition and go back thousands of years, realistically they have been diluted of their original intent and effectiveness. This is due to the commercialization of what we call “McDojo’s” that in the last 20 years have popped up in strip malls and shopping centers. Jamming people into small storefronts and having the students stand in line punching and kicking into the air and learning a kata. These schools advertise “self defense training” and it is far from that.

Our program, which is a mixed martial arts program incorporates the best of boxing, Muay Thai (kicking, knees, striking), wrestling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and grappling. These styles of training dominate in each of their respective ranges of fighting...which means self-defense.

It doesn't hurt me either to be training with one of the top 10 lightweight MMA fighters in the world. Din Thomas, with a 17-5 professional mixed martial arts record, is the head instructor at ATTPSL.

Bowflex 552 SelectTech Dumbbells

I just picked these up at Sports Authority. They have a limited time offer (in the stores at least). Buy the SelectTech 552 dumbbells at $399, and get the stand (normally $150) for free. Not a bad friggin' deal I would say. These dumbbells are great considering how much space they save and come out to pretty much half the price of a traditional set. It also came with an instructional DVD which runs you through all the different exercises you can do with these. Note - Most exercises require a bench.

UFC 56: "Full Force"

For those of you interested in full-contact fighting / MMA (mixed martial arts)...you would have loved the PPV on last night. There were some awesome fights on the card. Rich Franklin vs. Nate Quarry, Georges St. Pierre vs. Sean Serk, Matt Hughes vs. Joe Riggs, Jeremy Horn vs. Trevor Prangley, and of course the undercard fights.

The UFC is blowing up by all measurable factors. SpikeTV's "The Ultimate Fighter" show has helped educate the masses, the live events continue to sell out, and MMA gyms are popping up all over. 2006 will be a very exciting year for MMA, as Dana White announced the comeback of some notable fighters to the UFC. Tito Ortiz & Ken Shamrock make their returns as well as being the hosts for the renewed season of TUF (The Ultimate Fighter 3). B.J. Penn and Frank Mir also make their own comebacks into the UFC.

The main event featuring Quarry (winner of the first TUF season finale) against the formidable and more experienced Frankin didn't come as much of a surprise. Just seeing the knockout however, was worth the price of the PPV alone. Yeah, this is definitely going to make the highlight reel...

Click picture to see knockout

Convict Appeals 55-Year Prison Sentence

Unfucking believable. This is part of the reason why I haven't posted anything lately. I'm tired of getting pissed off and emotional over shit I care about, only to know that NOTHING will change in the near future, if at all ever.

Weldon Angelos heard his fate almost a year ago. His family couldn't believe the sentence. Even the judge regretted handing it down, and the people said the system is flawed.

[...]

In this case, 55 years for selling marijuana three times to a police informant while carrying a gun. The judge grundgingly gave the mandatory minimum, calling his own sentence cruel, unjust, and even irrational. It's a tougher penalty than many receive for sexual abuse and manslaughter convictions.