This interview, among the very first we did at OntheMat eight years ago, never seems to go out of style and remains one of the classics in all of the sport.  Every couple of months someone on the forums asks for a repost and a whole new crew of listeners wind up in hysterics over it.

Wallid Interviews at OntheMat 

This interview was probably responsible for launching OTM as much as anything else, along with a thousand forum posts, countless photoshop jobs before it was popular to do so, sound boards, windows themes, even a term paper.

As Scotty described it, Wallid was about three inches away from his face the entire interview.  Notice he only got to ask three questions.  As usual, he handed me the tapes to transcribe for Onthemat.com (I’m a faster typer -this was one of the first dozen or so interviews/articles we ever did), but I could not make it more than a couple of minutes at a time without laughing hysterically.  I figured if I transcribed this word for word, NO ONE would ever believe I wasn’t making it up, so I figured we had to put it up in it’s full form the world to appreciate.

Having said that, I like Wallid.  He stuck to his guns, remained loyal Carlson to the end and called things like he saw them long before anyone else had the guts to.  More than a bit of showman, sure, but a nice guy to anyone who’s actually met him in person.

Just got a text message that Shane Rice received his black belt from Rickson Gracie tonight.  This makes Shane the first Canadian treach black belt from Rickson Gracie.  Congrats dude!

So after the American Internationals, we were gathered at a bar in downtown Long Beach downtown to watch the UFC.  As I made my way to the bathroom, I noticed (as anyone would have) a bunch of women in bikinis walking around.  What almost escaped my attention was the kiddie pool full of either baby oil or jello.  These ladies were posturing as if they were tough and said they would take on challengers, but little did they know that we had one of the top female grapplers in the country, Gazzy Parman with us in the next room.  A light bulb goes off in m head and I sprint back to our table.  “Hey Gazzy!” I say, “What will it take you to take on the girls in the back room in an oil wrestling match?”

“All my friends saying they want to see me do it and cheering me on!” she replied.

Good enough for me so I grabbed her and raced back to the room, with much of our party in tow.  She jumps on stage with the girls and music starts playing.  As it happens Gazzy doesn’t have a bikini on, she does have on her grappling shorts and a t-shirt as she had been refereeing all day at the tournament.  We surround the stage and I realize that I have the video camera back in the car; this was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

I run to the car and back with camera in hand, but by the time I returned the whole thing was off.  Being surrounded by a bunch of jiu jitsu guys and Gazzy looking fairly menacing (I guess) on the stage, the girls backed off one by one.  BUMMER.

I’m sure they’re at least a dozen cell phone videos of the dance at least, so if you got em, share em!

Thank you Randy Couture

I love Jiu Jitsu and Submission Grappling.  I prefer it to MMA to be honest (no big secret there).

Randy Couture, probably among the most popular and decorated stars in the short history of MMA, lent a lot of publicity and notoriety to the sport of submission grappling by participating in the Professional Submission League’s Submission X.  Randy stepped up to a big challenge (which should be no surprise to ANYONE) in agreeing to face one of the top submission grapplers in the planet in Ronaldo “Jacare” de SOUZA.

This event attracted a ton of attention to the sport of submission grappling, which I love, and also featured a number of other fine competitors such as Jake Sheilds, Marcelo Garcia, Jeff Glover, Shane Rice, Alberto Crane, Joe Camacho, Rafael Lovato Jr., Andy Wang, Kron Gracie, Alan Zborovsky, Mac Danzig, Roberto Camargo, Vinicius Magalhaes, and Vladamir Matyushenko -guys I consider to be among the most talented and exciting athletes in the world who got to perform in front of an entirely different audience.

Randy took on a man who many (not me, BTW) suggested would make quick work of him, but Randy came in with with a good gameplan which he executed and when he had his opportunities he definitely tried to win the match.  True to his form, the match was very competitive and landed in a DRAW, which is no small accomplishment against someone as talented (and hungry) as Jacare.

Afterwards, in the post fight interviews, Randy was quick to share thee spotlight with all of his fellow competitors and grapplers.  And Randy still commands a presence, how do you enter a submission grappling event, with two of submission grappling’s top stars, to a submission grappling aware crowd, and still receive the loudest ovation unless you’re Randy?

So as someone who loves grappling, once again I say, thank you Randy Couture.  And thanks to the PSL.