Chris Clugston, Comhrac Bas, real deal?

[rallen88]

Hey All,

I actually know Chris Clugston... I actually came across his name due to my being a big MMA fan and thought back about the time that I worked with him.

I met Chris when I was working the door at a college bar in Tulsa, OK back in 95-96. I know he is an intelligent person and a hell of a good fighter (from what I actually witnessed). As to the claim of 10 languages, I can't say that I can verify that, but I believe that he did go to some sort of language school in the U.S. Army back in the late 80s or 90s.

As to the tapes, I got the first group of tapes he did on JKD (don't know the exact name of them) but there is some really good, practical training info in them. Seriously. If you've never fought before and aren't much of an athlete, if you had a partner, you could use the stuff in these tapes. You weren't going to go bust up the Gracie Family Reunion or anything but it might keep you from getting your ass kicked if you got in a tough spot.

I expect that the Comhrac Bas tapes will be along the same vein as the JKD ones. Like anything else, you'll get out of 'em what you put into it. Probably great for those that are beginners or novices and probably not much new for more experienced practioners of self-defense.

As for his intent, I think he's probably quite sincere in delivering a quality product. At the time that I knew him (haven't seen/talked to him in probably 6 years) he was quite determined to put together a style that "worked" in multiple scenarios. All I will say is that before you decide to discount him as making unreasonable claims in his ads (I admit, the ones in BB were pretty, uh, tall) that at the base of it all, there is some good stuff.

Anyway, that's what I know about Chris. I know he's not out to rip anyone off. If you feel that his tapes don't live up to the hype, then post it. But personally, he's a good guy (not a close friend, haven't seen him in years) and is worth a chance.

[TaeBo_Master]

Thanks for the story 5 times over...

--A poor band player I was, but now I am crocodile king. --

[DJeter1234]

story:

Small man in labcoat and glasses is working at a nuclear facility. He has taken the gladiatorial training and has sucesfully used it to kill Animal Rights activists who complain about his lion-killings. Anyway, a middle-eastern woman brakes into the powerplant with stick of dynomite strapped to her chest and tries to run towars the reactor. He gets in the way, and she, being a subject of Abu Dhabi, naturally shoots. He opens up his mouth like a snake and swallows her whole. The dynomite explodes, and he belches loudly. Coworkers gather around.
"You sure do kick ass"
"Yeah, I'm Glad I Ate Her"
(much laughter)

"I may not agree with what you have to say, but i'll fight you in a no holds barred fight to the death for your right to say it"

[TaeBo_Master]

Now THATS Real ultimate power.

--A poor band player I was, but now I am crocodile king. --

[The Wastrel]

but I believe that he did go to some sort of language school in the U.S. Army back in the late 80s or 90s.

WOW! I can't imagine what this mystery army language school is like! Amazing...WAITAMINUTE!! Yes I do.


"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - for ever."

[Sam Browning]

hi rallen88:

Thank you for writing with your take on Chris. For all I know you are correct that he is a good fighter and has a decent system which very well may be some version of JKD combined with bouncing experience. A bunch of guys also have such systems and supposedly provide decent martial arts instruction. For example Matt Thorton of the straight blast gym.

What makes Chris stick out from the pack is that he insists on making these gladiator claims in print without any proof. Normally a little tall tale telling is understandable, say over a few beers after practice. When such claims are made in order to sell product then it becomes Bullshido because a false statement is used for commercial purposes.

Now if Chris could substantiate his gladiator claims, by revealing to the world who his teacher is, what the linage of the art is, perhaps show some neutral parties actual documents (say in Latin) that substantiate his claims then doubters like myself would have to give him his props, but until then I hope you'll understand why people who aren't his students say, "WTF?" whenever we hear such claims. It makes it hard to trust the truthfulness of an instructor when they make one incredible claim and later on invariably back up their instruction based partially on their other experiences.

Since you used to bounce with Chris I would like to ask you one question so I can verify some of his other claims he's made in print. In one of his ads he claimed that he typically got into three nasty fights a weekend while bouncing. was that true for the location that you two worked at? If this was the case, could you please tell us the name of the bar in Tulsa, I would love to confirm that part of the story, perhaps by calling the local PD station, and asking them if this matched their memories of the place. thank you for writing in.

[verdad]

I have researched a lot of reality fighting and self defense systems. I think I can give you your dream come true. That is I found on Comhrac Bas site something that must have been about all of this talk here or some of the other boards from 1990´s until now. I think there was talk about Comhrac Bas on nearly every MMA board in the 1990s.

Anyway, here is the link as it is on a hard to find board on the EzBoard network.

http://p199.ezboard.com/fcomhracbasf...picID=18.topic

[Sam Browning]

Same old Chris Cluggston Spam. Just another guy trying to explain why his interpretation of JKD is more combat oriented then everyone else's

By the way, do you have his super duper secret latin combat lineage on you? You know the one tracing his combat system, master by master back to the Gladiators.

[Red Sauce]

Now I hate this saying, but pages like that one, actually make Baby Jesus cry.

[Dsimon3387]

Hi everybody:

Originally when I opened this thread I thought that Chris might be claiming a reading knowledge of 10 or more languages. With a dictionary he could translate a newspaper article. When I reread the website posted by his associate, this associate claimed that Chris SPOKE 10 languages which is a lot harder to do.

I would be interested to hear from JKD Chick how the seminar went and if any information of value is taught. I agree with blade, Clugston looks tough but even if he can pound people into the ground this does not mean he is telling the truth about other matters. If such abilities ensured truthfulness then Frank Dux would have actually won the Medal of Honor and spied for the CIA.

From memory I remember that one of chris's Black Belt ads mentioned that he had trained with a band of the most fearsome unknown fighters around who descended from the gladiators. I am very suspicious of Chris's gladiator claims for the following reasons.

The Roman empire crapped out in 476 AD (though some historians argue about this date, moving it a decade or two) The only institution that had any affiliation with the later empire that has lasted to the present day is the Roman Catholic church which had the following advantages 1) tens of thousands of followers, 2) hundreds of churches, monisties (spelling error) and other institutions spread over a wide geographic area. If the barbarians sacked one monistary, it wasn't the same as destroying the one Shaolin temple.

In contrast the gladiators were organized in guilds and clubs of less then several hundred members. They did not have the institutional support for surviving the 'dark ages' that the R.C. church did. But lets suppose we take Chris at his word that some of these fighters decided to stick together. Why is there no trace of them in the historical record? Remember in China the triads and other secret societies participated in the Boxer rebellion and other insurrections leaving their mark in official documents penned by their enemies, the central goverment.

It is unbelievable that one of these other people who belonged to this group would not have come out of hiding to make some money. Look at how many people are now claiming to teach SEALs hand to hand combat. The unknown band of fighters story makes no sense.

I have a way to get to the bottom of this matter. Chris claims that he speaks ten or more languages. I live near Yale where there are lots of linguists and I would issue the following challenge. If Chris will tell me which languages he speaks I could pick say 4 or 5 of them and arrange a conference call in which my linguists would see if he could hold a sixth grade level conversation in their particular language. Other rules would be:

I get to pick which of the 10 languages I test without prior notice to chris. This conference call would be tape recorded by both sides so that 1) We can make sure it is actually Chris if this issue later comes up. 2) chris will have a record if he wants to claim the test is unfair, i.e. someone tests him by using obscure scientific terms which I agree would be unfair 3) To avoid future disputes about what happened, no bullshido.

What do people think?

Samuel:

I had two years into my PH.D and I have a master's degree so I am responding to your request with some understanding of the territory. Pick 2 or 3 languages using the same controls you speak of. You will either show incontravertably how absurd his claim is, or if he can actually speak two or three languages fluently that is commendable unless:

He comes from a culture based in Malaysia (I have Malaysian friends who actually do speak almost 10 languages!), India or Africa.