26 Sept 2005

Battered, bruised but buzzing with excitement, Meerkat spent a second day demonstrating BJJ and MMA at the ExCel centre. Here are the promised pictures:

Image hosted by Photobucket.com
Image hosted by Photobucket.com
Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Cheers to Ed for a memorable occassion.

Rumble in the Dock(lands)

Battered, bruised but buzzing with excitement, Meerkat spent a second day demonstrating BJJ and MMA at the ExCel centre. Here are the promi...

24 Sept 2005

Boy oh boy! What just happened? One minute I'm at home, next, I'm whisked off to the Excel Centre in Docklands and fighting in the cage in front of an expectant crowd.

This Saturday I joined BJJ instructor Eddie and the rest of the gang to the very first 'Weekend at Dave's' themed exhibition. Sponsored by Fosters and the lads mag 'Nuts' the venue was packed full of everything lad, from hot cars, to hot chicks. And I mean DAMN hot. Everywhere you looked, glamour models and PR girls were flaunting their wares. None of us knew where to look, it was all, so, erm, distracting.

Anyhow, back to the cage. There it was, in all it's blood splattered glory, the famous Cage Rage ring. Our gang was to give the public a demonstratrion of BJJ and MMA. After a warm up, we spent the next half an hour just following techniques that Eddie showed us. The crowd ambled by, not really showing much interest. Then, after the technical class, Eddie paired us up for sparring, one-one-one in the ring. Me and Adam got off to a flying start, a blur of adrenalin pumped kimonos, arms and legs. It probably looked scrappy, but me and Adam always go at it like a ton when sparring. I managed some sweet escapes and turnovers but eventually he caught me with an armbar and then it was over. I couldn't believe how quickly the adrenalin dump hit me. during normal class, sparring is no problem, but in front of a crowd, suddenly funny things happen. Other members were paired up and they seemed to do very well, I hope our demo impressed the audience.

Next came the MMA part of our demonstration. It was straight into sparring as we were again paired up. The 'Lizard' demonstrated just why he loves it in the cage. A storming cage fight with the big Romanian Remus, the growing crowd seemed to really enjoy the show and cheered loudly. I was next and again paired with Adam and after a shaky start, I managed to throw a few frankly useless punches and kicks. Adam took me to the ground and worked another armbar. Boohoo, game over almost as soon as it finished. At the end Adam finally and deservedly was awarded his blue belt. Thank goodness for that cos he nearly always subs me and frankly its embarassing to lose all the time to a white belt.

So there you go, Meerkat gets his first taste of cage fighting in public and I must say, despite my rather tragic performance, I really really enjoyed the buzz of fighting. There is another chance to demo our skills tomorrow. I just hope I am not too distracted from the buxom eye candy everywhere. If I do, Mrs Meerkat, who has offered to come with me, wil certainly have something to say about that.

Photos to come soon.

Meerkat in the CAGE!

Boy oh boy! What just happened? One minute I'm at home, next, I'm whisked off to the Excel Centre in Docklands and fighting in the c...

21 Sept 2005

Image hosted by Photobucket.com
Jumping head scissors…flying armbars….body wheel…triple spinning, jumping crescent kicks…and many more. These were some of the techniques shown to us privileged club members when our head of association (BH) came to take the mat last Tuesday. It was a virtuoso display of ju-jitsu. Some were staple, but many were jaw-dropping, all taught to a supreme standard. I was worried that a lot of the beginners and novices were a little taken aback by these advanced techniques but I was happily proved wrong as everyone seemed to get the hang of them.
I had the unenviable task of being uke for BH and all I seem to remember was being spun around head over heels in all directions. When BH demonstrated a kicking drill, I got an evil dead-leg and collapsed under the strain. And this was from him just tapping my thigh with his kicks!
Quite a lot of ground techniques were covered. I am particularly pleased that this was so as it gave further vindication, if any were needed, that ground techniques and sparring is the way to go for students of ju-jitsu. BH also showed, for the first time, a new addition to the white belt kata which involved an additional series of kicks and left handed defences. One that will take a while to master I am sure.It was definitely a fun and eye-opening experience for our top sensei to visit us and one I hope to repeat again soon.

Jumping head, Flying scissors

Jumping head scissors…flying armbars….body wheel…triple spinning, jumping crescent kicks…and many more. These were some of the techniques sh...

13 Sept 2005

I had been eagerly anticipating Cage rage 13. I think that I am now officially hooked onto MMA. And the latest show at Wembley did not disappoint. There were a number of excellent fights, several TKO and subs and one outstanding finale. On a personal note, it was great to see BJJ club members Brad and Ramos fight. Brad won with a blistering stand-up game and Ramos made a respectable debut against a much more experienced opponent and with only two weeks notice.
But the highlight for me was watching Vitor 'Shaolin' Ribero defeat Jean 'White Bear' Silva. I saw Vitor in the last Cage Rage (12) and was gobsmacked at his supreme skill at the ground game. Well, he excelled himself this time and kind of made mincemeat of Silva, himself a very experienced fighter. For me, the joy in watching a master like Vitor fight is the fact that his brand of BJJ and ground work negated any need for reckless punching and kicking. It was a technical master class and one I was glad to have spectated at close hand.
Finally, the promo video of the night must surely have gone to 'Cyborg'. A Brazilian fighter who only spoke three words of English, and they were the meanest words you will ever hear in your life. As this is a family blog, I will leave you to figure that one out yourself, suffice to say it was the WAY he said that half scared the crowd, half made them love this pitbull of a fighter.
I look forward to CR14 in December.

Raging in the cage

I had been eagerly anticipating Cage rage 13. I think that I am now officially hooked onto MMA. And the latest show at Wembley did not disap...

7 Sept 2005

Last night's JJ class was one of the best I have ever had the privilege to run. As it was the session after the grading, I thought we would do something a little different and devised a mini-tournament, dubbed 'The IJJC Sports Day'. Two teams were picked by brown belt team captains, David and John. Each participant had to compete in one of four different categories. I made sure there was something for everyone, from the crash and bang of sparring to the red-faced choking of groundfighting. There was also more sedate but no less skilled categories of random attack and syllabus demo. Red verses blue teams battled it out and the atmosphere was very good with each team cheering on their competitor. It was pretty much neck and neck all the way but in the end, blue team won thanks to a good groundfighting match between David and John. Props should go to man of the match Aubrey for a stunning display of sparring skill. We are all still mentally rewinding the amazing leg sweep that sent poor Charles flying. I'm glad the event went smoothly and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I look forward to IJJC sports day #2 soon.

In BJJ class, we are currently visited by a Brazilian cage fighter and BJJ purple belt Henrique 'Lagartixa' Santana. His fight name translates to the Lizard but after five minutes of sparring with him, he was more like a Komodo Dragon! Let me see, I remember shaking hands and then grabbing his gi lapel, the next thing I knew, he put me in a armbar never to escape. It took what must be one second for him to submit me. A club record surely. I fared little better as we continued. The lizard producing a seasoned repertoire of BJJ subs against me while I struggled like a small worm desperately avoiding being gobbled up. It was a great experience since advanced BJJ students are hard to come by. I look forward to more tangles as the Lizard teaches the Meerkat more punishing lessons from Brazil.

Finally, a shout out to club regular Effie, who has given up her job to train for the forthcoming Winter Olympics. Good luck!

No egg and spoon race

Last night's JJ class was one of the best I have ever had the privilege to run. As it was the session after the grading, I thought we wo...

 

© 2015 - Distributed By Free Blogger Templates | Lyrics | Songs.pk | Download Ringtones | HD Wallpapers For Mobile