Sohan

If it were me, I wouldn't do it. To lose that much weight in a month (13% of your bodywt), you'll have to lose a lot of muscle, and you'll probably only lose about 8-10 lbs of fat, so you'll be a lot weaker and feel horrible. Not to mention, your injury risk will be pretty high, too, from weakening of connective tissue and loss of muscle mass. Anyway, you're too tall to go it at 149. Most who fight or grapple successfully at that weight are more ectomorphic than you seem to be. You'll have better luck going around 165-170ish and just changing your body composition. Good luck! With respect, Sohan

Hmm, Karo and Hughes would be interesting, but Hughes has already beaten St Pierre (Oct '04), who has decisioned Karo, so I suspect Hughes would likely defeat Karo too. The fight I would have liked to have seen would have been a rematch against Dennis Hallman, the only fighter to beat Hughes twice. The problem is that Hallman has lost his last two UFC bouts (55 and 48 ) and is probably past his prime---likely he would no longer provide a good match. Same with Jose Landi-Jons, who has also beaten Hughes, but has lost his past 6 out of 8. Once formidable, he is no longer a quality candidate for a rematch. With respect, Sohan

Great idea. What a nice thought! With respect, Sohan

Way to go, Red J!!! With respect, Sohan

coolsite.com (yep, it's real!) With respect, Sohan

I'd be interested to see Diego Sanchez fight him if Diego will stay at 185. I believe his last UFC fight was at 170. Actually, I just realized that Sanchez is going to fight Karo Parisyan at 170 in August. Should be a great fight--but I'm picking Karo. With respect, Sohan

Hate to be simpistic, but you have what is called a "pulled muscle". The problem is that you haven't let it heal and it persistently raises its ugly head every time you use it. Sounds like an adductor muscle, which you're not helping by continuing to stretch it. You may have to bite the bullet and not stretch for at least a few days, let it heal, and then come back less aggressively until your muscles can adapt better. With respect, Sohan

No art and no fighter is invincible. I could get my tail handed to me by a green belt if I'm not careful, and I know some 5th and 6th dans of various styles that I can wipe up the floor with, and even that isn't for sure given a particular time, day, and situation. Though there are those who say cockiness is a sign of insecurity, I actually believe it is a sign of ignorance. One who has truly experienced or is at least consciously aware of the physical danger that exists at the hands of others will never be overconfident in any situation nor with any particular martial style. With respect, Sohan

Sohan I can agree with this statement.Where I train a stand up style is taught but we grapple alot and do alot of mma style sparring.I also have guys who have great stand up and decent ground skills but hate being on the ground unless they're in the mount or side control. I am a better clinch and ground fighter and I have problems with guys not wanting to fight from the bottom even when they have a large weight and strength advantage on me.After a round is up and I have had the advantage on the ground they'll say something about if it was a real fight. My first thought is when that is said is if it were a real fight when I had you in side control I would have kneed you in the head to end it quick.Some also say they like mixing it up sparring and will do what ever it it takes to aviod a take down even if it is running from their opponent for the entire round. So true. It's also funny how many strikers claim that they'll rain punches down on you if you take them to the ground, but then they're so uncomfortable being off their feet that all they can think about is getting back up instead of kneeing or striking. They forget that being on the ground provides plenty of opportunities to win, and the more comfortable you are there the more likely you'll have the confidence to use your fighting skills effectively. I've met plenty of sub grapplers who couldn't connect well with good strikers on their feet, but get them horizontal and who becomes the better striker? With respect, Sohan

Silva has a couple fights on Youtube.com that you can view, including the Leben bout. Someone also put up a highlights video of him. You get a pretty good idea of his ground talents, as well as his standup game. He's definitely a world-class all-around fighter. With respect, Sohan

Not really on topic, but we have a guy in my karate class who REALLY doesn't like the ground. We were doing some loose sparring one day and just for fun I let him take me down (he thought he could wrestle) and put him in my guard, than applied a triangle choke and made him tap immediately. Should've seen the look on his face when I let him up. He's a pretty decent striker, but very tight and hard, so he's easy to manipulate on the ground or on foot, though he thinks he's quite the stylist. It's absolutely imperative a fighter be comfortable in all quarters. Anything can go wrong and you can't always dictate where/how a battle will be fought. It really makes me laugh when some of my karate contemporaries insist that they don't need to learn grappling because they are skillful enough to stay off the ground. As for this guy, we can't get him to go near the mat now and he always insists on no grappling when we spar (I thought he knew how to wrestle?). I feel for him if he ever gets in a real fight. With respect, Sohan

Rick, Oops, there it is. Must have passed over it. Saw your school site. Nice program--isn't Laconia near the lake? Closest I have been to there in NH was Nashua back in 1992. With respect, Sohan

Silva sure doesn't look 185, nor 5' 11". He looks lighter and taller--he must have the densest musculature on the planet. I'd love to see him go against Franklin. As far as Leben goes, I've never cared much for him and always thought him overrated. Funny to hear his comments before the match and then he goes out and gets destroyed in less than a minute. Sloppy preparation, and sloppy execution against a world class fighter. With respect, Sohan

I agree with Mizuryu. Pressure point fighting is likely far more effective for ground fighting than standup. I have a guy in my class who's nuts about pressure points, but he seems to eat my knuckles an awful lot while he's trying to get JUST the right spot: Him: Haiee! Me: What the...? Him: Me: What the heck are you doing? Him: Didn't you feel that? Me: Uh, no. Him: One more try. Haiee!! Me: POW!!! Him: Ohhhhhhh. With respect, Sohan

Patusai, unfortunately in our system we aren't permitted to share the Kyoku kata outside our school. Kind of silly, I know, but that's our tradition. Up to recently they weren't even performed in public! We have a secret handshake as well, but if I showed you, then I'd have to kill you. With respect, Sohan

Interesting site--you seem to be part of an organization with a lot of integrity. Also, Grandmaster Rose seems like an extraordinary person. I found it fascinating to peruse his personal sites as well as his karate-related sites. Would be curious what your lineage is to Kanken Toyama, Shudokan's founder. I couldn't find it in the site, but I didn't have time to look through everything. With respect, Sohan

He's probably talking about this: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8287852760566478331&q=karate+kung+fu With respect, Sohan

If you watch the video closely, you will see Ultimate Fighter runner-up Stefan Bonner when they go to the FitPlex gym. He appeared somewhat bemused by his participation. I certainly wasn't surprised that they couldn't get quite the same results when they tried their "techniques" on other martial artists and the reporter: "Gosh, you're scared. Relax, I'm not going to hurt you." Then he smacks her in the head. Hahahahaha! "You just hit me in the head!" Certainly seems like a bit of a martial arts cult to me. I noticed a similarity between what the sensei was doing and what TV preachers do when they "heal" their flocks. And I loved how they ended the program by inviting skeptics to come try a "free week of classes." as well as the skinny little guy who says "come on down and we'll be more than happy to knock you out"---wow, you're REALLY intimidating, kiddo. He might want to hope that none of the FitPlex guys take him up on that. With respect, Sohan

Wow. 11 weapons kata for Shodan. We only require 2, but 31 other empty handed kata. We study Shobayashi Shorin Ryu, as I see you study Kobayashi. Even if you take the Shudokan kata out, we still have about 23 kata from Shorin Ryu--sounds like we have about the same empty hand kata. That's a lot of weapons work. Sounds fun, though. With respect, Sohan Well, there is a five year minimum to shodan from ju-kyu. They need to have something to fill it up . Also, that still leaves plenty of kata, especially weapons kata, for after shodan. The "BlackBelt-Only" weapons include tonfa, kama, eku bo, more bo, and more nunchuku, not to mention several more empty handed kata. Shobayashi Ryu, I've heard of it.....breifly....Just out of curiousity, does your Shorin Ryu class have any contacts in Okinawa? Methinks me just had an idea for a new thread. Yes, Eizo Shimabuku is our grandmaster for Shobayashi Shorin-ryu and he lives and teaches in Shuri. I have not met him, though he has been in the US many times over the years. He is about 82 now, and I suspect he will not make another trip to the US, so I may have to travel to Okinawa if I want to meet him. I was curious, who is your current grandmaster for Kobayashi Shorin-ryu? We have in our school's history notes Miyahara and Nagazato, but I suspect this may not be valid, and I am trying to make some updates. With respect, Sohan

Actually, the low round kick is one of the hardest kicks to catch/trap. That's one of the reasons you see it some much in the UFC, almost to the exclusion of all other kinds of kicks. I'd say 9/10 kicks I see in MMA are low round kicks.It can be difficult if the kicker is fairly quick and you don't move in on it. When you move in, catch the leg closer to the knee and it has less impact force. Then just pull it up and quickly press and roll the thigh. If the kick is very low, say the bottom half of my shin, I simply lift my foot without shifting my weight and counter. The higher the kick comes, the more likely I'll move in and trap. But you have to train for such a move just like anything else---I often wonder having watched UFC and Pride whether many fighters really train well to defend the low RH kick, or anything else. With respect, Sohan

Welcome! With respect, Sohan

Welcome, Kevin! With respect, Sohan

Good to have you back! With respect, Sohan

Nice website you have, Robert. Congratulations on your BJJ black belt and the rest of your achievements. With respect, Sohan

Welcome, Melissa! With respect, Sohan