After an initially poor turnout of myself & GF, OWA & GF(?), and lama_xy, we were joined by Awtkast and Xango. Later, JABG and Jeice, and other people I don't know showed up around 2PM for fun and adventure.

I thought this one was a little more muted, given that not too many people were throwing down consistently. I was doing round after round cause I wanted to get as many as I could in before I left at 3. And as a consequence, I got my ass kicked repeatedly, especially by Big Black Bruisers (hereafter referred to as the B3s). I'll comment for now on my perspectives from those matches.

Steve vs B3-1: I got my ass completely served to me here with side dishes. He had a few inches, a bunch of pounds, and a whole lotta skill on his side. I was repeatedly nailed by flurries AND single kicks that knocked me back or down, including some vicious kicks that would have felled lesser men. ( *cough cough* ) I have bruises all up and down my quads and one particularly nasty one on my hip flexor.

Steve vs. B3-2: This guys was much more flashy and fast than B3-1. He was nailing me with hits through openings and only by blending with some Hsing-i I learned a year ago did I start to throw him a little off balance. He consistently worked in past my guard and was able to stab out with kicks and hard punches. I found out later that he had trained in Iron Palm cause when I shook his hand, I felt a big-ass callus on the underside of his hand.

Overall, I needed these fights because I have not had people giving me strong-enough ass whoopings back at POW due to the fact most people forget their gear. It was a learning experience, but it was a little traumatic for camerawoman Regina to see me getting the **** knocked outta me. I was hoping to see more fights, but I figured things got warmed up after I left.

btw, OWA, I hope you're alright.

If anyone who went up against me or saw me wants to comment on my matches or technique, please feel free. I say we follow the same deal we had before:

#1. Critique someone only if they said you can do so.
#2. Keep it clean and constructive
#3. Only post footage of people if they said it's ok.

btw, regarding #3, feel free to post all of the available footage.

There were a fair amount of mixups, but overall I would agree it was kind of muted. I didn't feel like doing any striking at all, which ended up limiting what I did a lot. I guess I just woke up feeling like a little bitch or something, but other than a roll with OneWingedAngel that didn't amount to much (although it was fun, and I'll learn a lot from watching the tape) I spent more time training than sparring.

I did roll with Poi-dog actually, which was quite interesting: the drill was to start from the knees, each putting one hand on a single stick. It was also nice to talk with someone who knows his way around stabbing people. Drilled a little bit of standing takedown with justA black guy, and...that's just about all I did, besides some half-hearted bagwork. <shrug>

Sorry to crap out, but at least I showed up...the venue is good and I look forward to going back there. I'll get the clips up as soon as Chuong gets them to me.

Samurai Steve: Don't back up, man. When you're being flurried like that, with that kind of forward force, clinch. Learn to be comfortable in that range. Also, you've got a lot of heart.

Oh, yeah, comment away.

The venue is definitely good. When the Dec time rolls around, I think we should shoot for that location again, assuming we don't go to the South Side. I think the benefit of having bags, a ring, and a relatively large space enhances its appeal.


As for the backing up, that's the one thing I've been trying to work on, and it's gonna take some time. But soon, with some work and time, I'll be doing a little better.

btw, guys, was B3-2 egging on B3-1 to kick my ass even harder? Camerawoman Regina claims that he was telling the dude in the ring with me to step it up when he was already stepped up (especially after a vicious right-thai kick to the back of my right leg), which made her freaked out over the fact that I stepped in with B3-2.

-EDIT-

Injury/Bruise Report:

Sore chin from getting kicked in the chin/throat 10 sec before end of match.
Sore thighs from absorbing thai kicks
Slightly bruised right shin
Bruised right hip flexor from side kicks
Small "mouse" under left eye
Stiff back
Bruised nose from when awtkast nailed me with a bareknuckle (wrapped hands) shot there.

xango,

i can't connect to your site. www.xenetix.net?
PM me directions like last time?

thanks,
cvp

Incidentally, they are Patrick and Maurice, respectively.

Patrick is a bruiser, no doubt about that. Maurice I'd call wiry. I believe Maurice was cheering on his boy, but I don't think he was trying to get him to step up harder. Pat dropped a beating on you, that's for sure; I remember watching the two of you escalate and thinking this wouldn't turn out well for you. Was there video from that?

Still, you get props from me just for staying in there. I'd have probably quit.

Directions PMed.

I hope there was video. I'm hoping I can show the clips to my instructors so they can help me out. With the Golden Gloves coming up, I'm going to be training with the guys who will compete, but I doubt I'll compete myself.

So I had a blast, despite coming out a little worse for wear. I agree with a muted comment, although it wasn't so bad, and there was plenty there to do(thanks poidog). As far as my stuff went;

Before most of the people got there, when we were still in the aerobics room, me and lama_xy mixed it up, standing and grappling. He got the better of me in standup, where I was once againg reminded to watch my kicks vs xing yi guys. Rolling, he managed to get me into an armbar, but overall we were pretty even. And on a side note, fighting on thoseaerobic mats, as they kept shifting, was quite a challenge. The kind of thing I'd imagine ninjas do.

After we moved into the real room with the room, things got better. Mixed it up with Steve, we had a fairly even match until I caught a kick to the floating ribs and went down. There's some interesting tape of it, we're going at it, he kicks me, I throw a couple punches back, the just colapse. But I'm cool, there's just a little red on my ribs. Like I was yelling during your various matches Steve, you have to work your circular movement more.

Xango, fun as always to roll. As you pointed out, you gotta work submissions more. A couple of times you had good position, but couldn't finish it and I was able to reverse position. Not much on the comments other than that.

Poidog, who really stole the show. He brought out the sticks, and we worked on technique and did some grappling, where I learned grappling takes much less time when there are sticks involved you can choke someone with. As Xango already pointed out, the one stick/two people grappling drill was awesome. And I've got a very neat red circle of blood on my cheek where poidog accidentally hit me with a stick while grappling. I'm at work right now, and my boss already asked about it. I feel like I'm in fight club; "yes, these marks are from fighting. Yes, I'm okay with that."

And in the end I went about twenty seconds with JaBG's friend(sorry, can't remember his name), which was ended quickly when he landed a good blow on my already sore nose, causing it to bleed more. But it's all cool.

So I ended up sore all over, with a slightly swollen nose, a nice red mark on my cheek, and really cut up arms(from what, I'm not sure). The gf massaged out the worst of it, but work does suck this morning.

steve,

Was the spinning backfist your "secret weapon" against ppl bum rushing? I saw you tried them a few times.

I hope you ain't massaging bruises dude...
'Big Black Bruisers ' ??? Who?

They were friends of this guy from Emptyflower. :) I assume samurai_steve was making some sort of ironic reference to the "big black backyard boxer" thread about Kimbo, although it's hard to tell with that Hip, Happy Hebe.

Also, special for Pizdoff: afterwards, several of us went out for eats (two of whom have yet to register on this particular board, otherwise, lama_xy and yours truly). We had, of course, sushi and noodles. Looks like we're turning our Throwdowns into a monthly thing, although if I have anything to say about it we'll keep giving them goofy names and number the lot.

steve,

Was the spinning backfist your "secret weapon" against ppl bum rushing? I saw you tried them a few times.

It works well when you're trying to slip and weave because it's already cocked and with a orthodox stance, you can weave to the inside, then spin and hit with the right, which hits with a circular punch that wasn't expected.

It worked a few times. I try not to do it often because it leaves you vulnerable.

The "secret weapon" I mentioned before didn't work. Given I just learned it, I have to practice it live more. Drills don't do ****. :(


As for my bruises: Cool shower and stretching. I'm gonna hold off on IB for another day and see how I end up.

steve,
just a tip...bring your other hand (the one that's not used to do the spinning backfist) up to cover your head when you are doing a spinning backfist. the last UFC had two guys getting KTFO when they tried a spinning backfist without covering their head.

as for the spinning backfist itself....i used it mainly to cover my center when my back is exposed when i get spun around by the opponent.

Xango,
the files are on your server.

Awtkast,
If you are looking for Wing Chun around the city...here are some options for you:
http://www.windycitywingchun.com
http://www.chicagowingchun.com
Sorry I stopped, because I didn't want to keep on tagging you with the right hook. Wasn't too confident with my control yesterday.

OWA,
I used ZERO hsing-i techniques when I was sparring with you. Alot more lama. Will try next time. Sorry my control was a bit off yesterday.


I ended up working w/

Jeremy/OWA
Angel/awtkast
Aaron/JABG
Jeremy/JABG wrestler friend
PoiDog
"chi-sao" w/ Maurice (the guy in the red bandana)


i will get a power adapter next time so that we don't have to worry about the battery on my camera going out.

Can't wait for the footage. :)

I hope you ain't massaging bruises dude...


Of course not, you massage sore muscles.

lama_xy, I really can't distinguish between the actual schools. I just know that anytime I end up working with a CMA guy, I end up with them catching my kicks. just one more thing to work on, I guess.