Enter the McDojo

Just wrote a well-received (100 Facebook likes so far!) piece for CagePotato.com, Enter the McDojo: My Experience With the Bullshit Culture of ‘Traditional’ Martial Arts:

A revolution is something that changes the system in a radical way. It’s an advancement that brings new ideas to the forefront. In many ways, this was what UFC 1 was. Organized by Rorian Gracie, Art Davie, and Bob Meyrowitz of Semaphore Entertainment Group, martial artists from a variety of styles were called upon to prove the superiority of their art by entering an eight-man elimination tournament at a November 12, 1993, event hosted in Denver, Colorado.

Many MMA fans know about the legend of Royce Gracie defeating professional boxer Art Jimmerson, Pancrase fighter Ken Shamrock and Savate champion Gerard Gordeau in one night to be crowned the first ever UFC tournament champion. But now, nearly 20 years after that historic event occurred, how much “truth” about how to effectively train and prepare for fights has trickled down to martial artists across the globe?

Sure, there are growing numbers of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu schools and a resurgence of interest in Muay Thai or other stand-up styles suited for MMA across North America. But the same old “McDojo” styles consisting of impractical or untested methods are just as prevalent today as they were decades ago before the inception of the UFC…

Read the full article here

Review and Q & A via Chris Leslie of MMAFrenzy.com

Many thanks to Chris Leslie of MMAFrenzy.com for giving Pound for Pound a great review:

The book’s opening section on UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre seems particularly relevant in the wake of his recent title defense at UFC 158 and the attacks on the champ’s persona by opponent Nick Diaz.

If you recall the lead-up to UFC 158, Nick Diaz made assertions that St-Pierre had an easy life, saying that he was “pampered,” etc. This, of course, could not be further from the truth regarding Georges St-Pierre’s true beginnings.

Also worth reading, is a great interview that I did with Leslie, made all the better by his educated questions:

MMAFrenzy.com: One of the most fascinating personalities in the book, to me, was that of Fedor Emelianenko’s former manager Miro Mijatovic. What was it like hearing this story?

Brian D’Souza: Miro Mijatovic appeared on the debut episode of the Spike TV show MMA Uncensored that aired on February 23, 2012. This was the first time he really talked to the public about what had gone on in Japan regarding his management of Fedor, Cro Cop and the fall of PRIDE. My own personal takeaway was that Mijatovic had remarkable business acumen, not only in securing the best financial deals possible for his clients, but also in working to increase the amount of leverage and security the fighters he promoted would have well into the future. Like “Tall Poppy Syndrome,” sometimes your reward for high achievement is for people to come at you and try to destroy you, which is what happened to Mijatovic. The Al Capone character in The Untouchables has his famous line, “When you got an all-out prizefight, you wait until the fight is over, one guy is left standing. That’s how you know who won.” PRIDE is dead, but despite the contracts that were put on his life, Miro Mijatovic is still alive.