Watch the video on YouTube here for  Hit Em’ featuring Mistah Fab from Zion I and the Grouch’s new album Heros in the City of Dope

Adisa calls me up a few days before to ask if I’d like to be an extra in a video. I am a fan of Zion I’s I used a track off of the True and Livin album on 101 Submission Chapter 3. When Adisa told me it was going to be some sort of Fight Club type scene, I was eager but a bit puzzled, Zion I is typically described as “poetic, positive and socially conscious” (Wikipedia entry), so exactly how this would figure into a video of Fight Club was puzzling to me.I got to the set (a warehouse in Oakland) at about 8:30 AM, not having any idea what to expect. Because of the change in schedule Adisa couldn’t make it, so I didn’t really know anyone there, but decided to stick around anyway. I saw one of the crew members running around with a Canon GL2 camera, thinking that must be what they’re shooting it on (For you AV geeks the GL2 is a camera just below the XL-1 model you frequently see me matside with). Imagine my surprise when I entered the warehouse and saw a full blown HD Movie Camera sitting on a track! This was going to be a full on video with a budget!

As said, the video was set in “Fight Club” environment, and much to my surprise I found out I was going to be one of the fighters! My opponent was a guy named “Rat” from a group called Deezy I think… Nice guy, but was about a foot shorter than me and came out with an, ummm, let’s call it unorthdox style. Now obviously if I’m “fighting” one of the video stars friend, I’m not going to come out the winner in this contest, so I was determined to make him (and the scene) look as good as possible. Problem was, despite the projection of a tense atmosphere I couldn’t stop myself from cracking up most of the time, and on a real production time is definitely money. People were shouting that I looked too good, but I’m no pugilist, I’m a grappler, so I just tried to recall the few boxing classes I had and kept my chin down, my hands up and threw the few combinations I know.

Another thing I learned about a “real” video shoot, is that they take a long time to film, and that three minutes of video (of which I have about 20 seconds of getting whupped in) kept me there until past 6:00 PM, at which point I was admittedly tired and grumpy. Everyone there was really cool, they fed us sandwiches and I got to talk jiu jitsu with Zion himself for awhile. Cool guy, said Adisa has been bugging him forever to try jiu jitsu so I tried to sell him on it as well.

At any rate, now that the video has been released I’m stoked as hell to see myself in it, probably watched it about 50 times already and have told everyone I know. Guess I’m a bit more of a ham than I’ve let on, eh?

Hi there,

Please stop being Lazy and Give the BJJ Community a Quality Report, if you don\’t want to do the reports, than stop teasing would be enthusiasts.

Given that I’m operating on very little rest over the last few days, and am honestly in a pissy mood over this very subject over something that happened this weekend, I’m going to sleep on this before I give a longer response.

On the other hand, I am my own worst critic in a lot of ways, and always appreciate constructive criticism.  Some things may or may not be possible, but I’m always trying to put out a better product, I think.  So any comments or suggestions you have, I’m all ears.

when a dog dies heroicly trying to save its master. Oh yeah, cats are evil.

From CNN

Dog saves owner from Fire, dies trying to rescue cat
ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin (AP) — After a disabled woman’s cat started a house fire, her specially trained dog came to the rescue, then died trying unsuccessfully to rescue the cat.

Jamie Hanson said her 13-year-old dog Jesse brought her artificial leg and a phone she used to call 911.

“She got me outside and then she heard the cat upstairs and she went up there to get the cat, and she wouldn’t come back to me,” Hanson, 49, said at a news conference Monday at Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center, where she was being treated for her injuries.

She received third-degree arm burns in the fire Sunday night at her home in Rhine, south of Elkhart Lake. Both pets died.

Hanson, who lost a leg in a car accident three years ago, said she was on the couch watching television when the cat ran over the back of the couch.

“And he jumped onto a table that had a candle on it and tipped it over and lighted the artificial plants on fire,” she said.

Hanson said she fell off the couch and was unable to get her artificial leg from the table, “so my dog got my leg for me and went and got the phone and brought the phone to me so I could call 911.”

I shied off a bit on making predictions this time around, as there was a difference as who was favored to win and who I was really hoping would win.

A big thanks to Kenny Florian and Anderson Silva, both who prominently and proudly displayed the OTM logo during the fights!

Like most of you, I watched the PPV broadcast with some friends, so i missed out on the prelims the didn’t decide to show. Bummer, I was looking forward to Kurt Pellegrino vs Junior Assuncao. Kurt won by RNC quickly in the first according to reports. Junior was in the red UFC sweatshirt next to Josh Koshcheck as they interviewed that old dude from Saw. (Someone in the house asked if he was old or high, to which we arrived at the general consensus of being both.

First bout of Spencer Fisher vs Dan Lauzon was good, many no doubt hoping Dan could pull off the same magic as big brother Joe in the last UFC and I was rooting for the kid because I’ve been following him on the grappler circuit for awhile. Fisher had other plans, and like his last fight took a licking and kept on ticking to finish the fight over the perhaps over excited youngster by TKO in the first round. Fisher maybe gets a shot at Sherk or Florian, either would be an interesting match. I’m sure we’ll see Lauzon around for a long time.

The less I say on Cheick Kongo vs Carmel Marrero the better. Marrero won by split decision if you must no, but I have no desire to rewatch that fight.

I’ve been telling people how good Jon Fitch was for nearly three years now, when he entered against Shonie Carter at a Shooto bout in Las Vegas a lot of the other press were asking me who was this guy, and were thinking he would get handled by the veteran. Fitch actually made Carter puke in the ring that night the beatdown was so severe. Now the rest of the world finally gets to see whom I consider the next big thing in MMA. Kuniyoshi Hironaka is a very tough opponent himself, his last bouts being an MMA victory over Charuto and a grappling victory over JJ Macahdo. He was very slick in this bout as well, but I knew there was no way he was going to submit Fitch working on the bottom. Fitch displayed both beautiful ground and pound and stand up that surprised even me en route to a unanimous victory.

I knew Sean Sherk vs Kenny Florian was going to be a war, but for different reasons everyone else did. Anyone thinking that Sherk was just a ground and pound wrestler completely underestimates the versatility of his ground game; I firmly believe in pure submission he can hang among the very best. Anyone who thought Kenny couldn’t deal with Sherk’s power hasn’t seen him take on much bigger and much stronger opponents time after time again. This was a war, punctuated by a Florian elbow that opened up a cut on Sherk that must have poured a gallon of blood into the cage. Kenny hung tough, but Sherk pounded his way to an inevitable 5 round decision to gain the long vacant UFC Lightweight title.

The main event featured Rich Franklin vs Anderson Silva. THe UFC did quite a bit to hype up this match with Franklin as the popular Champion who has benefitted from exposure as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter, and Anderson Silva’s highlight worth KO of Chris Leben replayed endlessly as Zuffa refused to mention Anderson’s past in chief rival Pride. Still Franklin, with a record of 22-1, came into the bout as the favorite and rightly so, Anderson was a bit untested in Championship bouts and Anderson’s 17-4 record included some drop to questionable opposition.

Those doubts were obliterated quickly in the title bout, as after a brief period of feeling out, Anderson secured a THai clinch which Franklin had no answer for and began a series of vicious knees to the body and head. After a barrage of damage the champ fell and referee Big John McCarthy called the bout at four minutes in. Anderson was overcome by emotion in accepting the title. It was a little uncomfortable to see Rich’s nose indented on the far side of his face, and a bit more uncomfortable to see the reaction of his finacee on TV. None the less Rich is a warrior and I’m sure he’ll be back stronger than ever.

With some time left on the PPV card they decided to show Clay Guida vs Justin James. Clay has been involved in some of the most exciting bouts I’ve seen this year, winning the lightweight title in StrikeForce in a 25 minute war with Josh Thompson, and then losing the title in another 25 minute war with Gilbert Melendez. Justin James looked dangerous on the feet, but Clay got in his patented takedown and began to work some serious ground and pound. James sunk in a deep armbar that Guida twsited out of and the match continued. Late in the second round, Clayton damaged James with strikes on top, then proceeded to pass guard immediately to the back, where he sunk in the fight ending rear naked choke with seconds to go. Huge win for Clay on his UFC debut, the Chicago native has certainly had a roller coaster year but I expect to see huge things from him in the future.

In the other non televised match, Yushin Okami defeated Kalib Starnes by TKO in the third round. (Okami gave an interview with OTM the day before his bout). A scheduled bout between Keith Jardin and Mike Nickels was scratched hours before the PPV when Nickels pulled out with a bad back. I certainly hope Jardine gets compensated for his time and preperation and not screwed completely out of his sponsor and fight purses.

Stay tuned we’ll try to get much more with the fighters soon!

Right on the front page: http://www.OntheMat.com

One thing I know is going to reignite a controvery with OTM:

The funny thing is I’ve only seen Mica compete once and he ended up getting choked out by a Judo black belt. That’s honestly the first time I’ve ever seen or heard of a Judo black belt tapping out a Jiu-Jitsu black belt. If anyone missed this, the footage is available on OTM’s fight database. You can also watch footage from my matches on OTM and draw your own conclusions.

We’ve been accussed in the past of showing favortism towards Laimon and even as far as trying to sabotage Mica’s reputation by posting that particular match. The truth of the matter is we’ve always tried to keep OTM as unbiased as possible and give everyone a fair opportunity on the site. This is both personal philosophy and good business sense!

The match in question was part of the World Grappling Games 2001, in the report we included seven videos including all of the black belt matches from the tournament, of which Mica vs Taka Kuno happened to be one.

http://onthemat.com/video_search.php?search=World+Grappling+Games+December+2001

If anyone would like to submit video to the OTM Video database, we are always happy to accept (as long as it does not violate copyrights) and host.

Submissions can either be e-mailed to me (Gumby@onthemat.com) or anonymously FTP to ftp://onthemat.com. After review the video will be posted in our database. Everyone who submits a video will be entered in a monthly random drawing for a prize!

I should also mention that I’ve known Laimon for a very long time, in fact I met him when he was a poor purple belt living at BHJJC.  We had travelled down south for a tournament, and BJ Penn introduced us and said he had a place to stay when we got there.  Little did I realize that we would all be sleeping on the mats of the academy together.  I don’t know if Marc knows it, but one of my favorites pastimes that trip was calling the school very late at night, just to hear his very sleepy “jiu jitsu” greeting.  We’d laugh like school kids and hang up, only to dial ten minutes later….

This guy scared the beejeezus out of me.  Maybe it was the unibrow.

It’s been years since I’ve seen this particular episode (or any other of the 1980’s series Buck Rogers, and I’m not sure why this popped into my head in the middle of the night instead of Erin Gray in a catsuit.  (Am I dating myself with this reference?)

If you don’t wash your gi after every use (and I only know a few people who do) you have to get this stuff:  Febreze AntiMicrobial.  It’s a spray fabric refresher that eliminates 99.9% of odor causing bacteria on fabrics.  I spray my gi down after each use and let hang dry, rotating between gis I can get about four sessions per gi in between washes.

My girlfriend got four bottles around the house and I’m seriously considering bringing one to the academy.  After all, you may not be able to smell how much you stink, but the rest of us sure can.  I swear, if there was a patch/sponsorship available I’d put it on my gi in a heartbeat.

First if you haven’t been to the main page yet, please read here:

http://onthemat.com/articles/The_OTM_Belt_Database_10_07_2006.html

and update your own ranking here:

http://onthemat.com/belts_database.php?mode=add

Done? Good.

Of course even having read all of this there are plenty of questions and concerns being brought up having to do with both the belt database and the ranking system in Jiu Jitsu in general. All of these questions and concerns dance around the truth that is often whispered but never, ever spoken aloud by anyone. You know it of course, but say it along with me:

NOT ALL BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU BELTS ARE CREATED EQUAL

And how could they be? Even the name of the martial art is under heated debate (Gracie, Brazilian or plain Jiu Jitsu?) There is no enforceable high level standard for grading, and even at an instructor level the criteria for rank varies from academy to academy.

Heck, can anyone even list out the specific criteria for a belt promotion at your own academy? Anyone? (Actually, I know they are out there, but the fact it’s often so mysterious proves my point).

To add to the confusion are the number of “suspect” promotions, which either involve people shopping around for promotions, promoting themselves, or even in the case of credible instructors awarding questionable belts.

No I’m not going to cite specific examples here. I’m sure you can think of a few examples in each case.

There are of course two obvious solutions to the problem. The first is a centralized approval process and standard of the awarding of rank. There are (multiple) agents underway that are trying to do just this. I believe that most all of these agents are well intentioned in their own way, but attempting to impose standards after so many years of relative anarchy is going to be an uphill battle to say the least. Whatever degree of enforcement (if any) comes to pass, there will still be a lot of discretion left up to individual instructors.

Which leads to the second solution: rather than consider Jiu Jitsu to be a universal art and ranking system, acknowledge that ranking is going to be weighed differently from instructor to instructor. Saying “I am a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu” might mean something to someone relatively unfamiliar or outside to the sport. Inside of the sport, it’s almost meaningless to make such a statement because of the wide variance of standards. The more correct statement would be to say that “I am a purple belt under a specific instructor”, will carry a lot more weight.

For example, when asked by most people I encounter who are unfamiliar with the sport, I usually simply say that I am a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. If I am asked by someone familiar with the sport, I will state (with some measure of pride) that I am a brown belt under Ralph Gracie. To those who care about these things, it’s an obvious statement on the quality I place in his instruction and the quality he places in me as a student.

I am of the opinion that anyone who trains in this sport should have this type of confidence in their instructor that they should be able to list their instructor and that the instructor who awarded the rank would be able to defend the decision to award the rank. This type of relationship exists outside of a centralized approval process and makes the ranking an individual thing, as well as holds instructors and students accountable for their actions.

I should again reemphasize that the OTM Belt database is NOT the first solution to the rank issue in that we are not centralized approval process or official record holder of any martial arts ranks (neither was the BJJ.org database, although it was frequently and erroneously referred to as such). At some point in the future if any centralized level of belt standardization comes along we would be happy to work with them however. However, to be marked in our database as “verified”, every belt rank should have an instructor who awarded said belt rank who will confirm the status of the belt. It is our hope that by centralizing and making accessible this type of information it will increase accountability within our sport (among the other many other useful purposes for the belt database).