Some Sumo Size Shenanigans

Yokozuna, which is the top rank of sumo (think “black belt”) comes with a lot of responsibility. You can’t just be awesome at wearing giant g-strings and slapping fat guys in the face.
You’ve got to be a fine, upstanding citizen, must always talk in a low grunt, and must never, ever act in a way [...]

Submissions Spirits 2

Just to let you dudez know another perk of living in Japan… totally wicked awesome sweet DVD magazines with the latest shiznit from the world of BJJ and grappling.
Here is Submission Spirits volume 2.
I’m reading it now. Actually, I lie. I’m looking at the pictures and trying to figure out what all the squiggly lines [...]

BJJ 25th May

Taught a class on Sunday, and it went pretty good despite having to hop everywhere.
I chose the bow and arrow choke because I have been using it a lot lately and find that I’m able to work it from just about any position.
It ended up going really well, I taught it from the back, from [...]

BJJ Class, May 24, 2008

So I hobbled along to BJJ last night to cover for my instructor who is in Tokyo getting his ass whupped in preparation for the Mundials.
I did get a few strange looks when I came into the dojo on crutches with my gi pants on and a cast sticking out of the bottom of them, [...]

Off Topic: JapanLOL

Japan makes me laugh sometimes.
It’s like the entire country has a mazacon (mother complex), an Oedipus Complex.
Everywhere you go, there is a soothing female (sometimes male) voice reassuring you that everything is fine.
Example:
Elevators. This is an example of your average elevator journey in Japan (translated, naturally.)
Good morning! Welcome to the elevator. Please step in. The [...]

Headspace, evaluation, bollocks.

I had started to write a big post about my situation and my headspace and other early-90s pop psychology terms, but the words of Hywel Teague echoed in my head (sounding surprisingly like those gents from Dirty Sanchez and saying something like “You’re thinking too much, Matty boy. Leeks. Cardiff. Sheeeeeep.”) and I thought, bollocks [...]

DREAM matches!

I’ve just cast my votes over at the DREAM website for who I think should fight next in the middle and lightweight GPS.
You can do the same!
Head here for the middleweight matchups, and here for the lightweights.
It’s really easy, the fighters’ names appear in the dropdown menu in the same order that they appear in [...]