Just how tough is Steven Seagal, really?

[W. Rabbit]

This was posted to Wikipedia days ago:

On May 5, 2011, Seagal appeared on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “It’s Time” show with Bruce Buffer and spoke about his relationship with Silva and Machida as well his training methods. He explained: "Anderson had originally sent me a little postcard saying, 'Please teach me your lethal stuff'. Because a lot of my students know that a lot of the stuff I have is punishing or effective, shall we say. They left a number, and the number was Jorge Guimaraes, the manager of those guys in Black House. He said, ‘Yeah, man, the guys all want to learn from you.’ I went over there and began". In regards to his teaching of the kicks he said: "With Lyoto, I came in probably five days before the (Couture) fight, something like that, started working on different kinds of elbows, different kinds of punching, different kinds of feetwork... but particularly the kick. I think against a lot of the guys who have spent a lot of their energy on wrestling, they’re not exactly what I would call great strikers. The kick can be very effective. This kick is different. This kick, the thing that's deceptive about it is that, the normal (technique) where you lift up your knee and you kick, this one I'm kind of trying to teach the guys to lead with the foot. I don’t want to say too much about it because I don't want to give it away completely to the world. It's different and it’s hard to see. It's very difficult to see coming, and that's how my guys have been successful with that."[14]

[W. Rabbit]

Rough as usual babelfish translation of DCS's bolded Portuguese for those of us like myself who cannot read it. I've fixed it up it best I could based on context.

Maybe DCS/Hiro could verify?

Silva:

"confessed that he did not learn with Steven Seagal"

Machida:

"my father (Yoshizo) passed me some kicks to train, and spoke to use in sparring, but always very carefully because this is a kick that hurts,"

and

"The approach of the two was in the reality a maneuver of marketing produced for the agent of Anderson, Jorge Joinha, to give greater visibility to its champion in the American media. "

[niteai]

i think your all jealous of him

i wonder who he is going to help next

[Rene "Zendokan" Gysenbergs]

Not my business to prove or to defend; but with the early 80s movie toughsters, I tend to take ranks, especially if given before the actual movie career, more serious than fight records. It's easy to pick on Seagal because of his many flaws, but I don't think he is necessarily a bullshitter.

Claude Goetz's Centre National de Karate is still one of the better schools in Full Contact/American Kickboxing.
While it isn't the "hardest" style of Kickboxing around, none of the competitioners coming out that school deserve the "point-sparrer" tag. Not now and not in the 70s or 80s.

IIRC, JCVD challenged Steven Seagal at a Sylvester Stallone party in the early 90s. Steven didn't took the challenge.

[Hiro Protagonist]

Maybe you could understand...

Yeah, sure that's the point. I read a passage where there was a concrete reference to an upcoming documentary by/about Anderson for which Seagal had been hired as an advisor. (Which must have been "Like Water", I guess.)

As to THE KICK THAT SHOOK THE WORLD (TWICE),
the hubbus made about it just shows how direly uneducated most MMA journalists are:

It's a common mai geri (sp?), which I think is tested for the first time when you get your Shotokan yellow belt.

So, no reason to discuss the nature of the entire affair.

To see a karate-man (Machida), and his sparring partner (Anderson) use a karate technique, well that shouldn't be that big of a surprise.

And that so many comment on this talking out of their asses,
just shows how many athletes even today just train with very one-dimensional camps.

[Hiro Protagonist]

Claude Goetz's Centre National de Karate is still one of the better schools in Full Contact/American Kickboxing.
While it isn't the "hardest" style of Kickboxing around, none of the competitioners coming out that school deserve the "point-sparrer" tag. Not now and not in the 70s or 80s.

IIRC, JCVD challenged Steven Seagal at a Sylvester Stallone party in the early 90s. Steven didn't took the challenge.

Fair enough, but I hope you understand that my point was that I don't take the curricula of any the b-movie martial arts squad too seriously (Chuck Norris being the only exception). JCVD being a legit kickboxer would be something I would welcome.

Now, as to Seagal, what is he, really? A glorified dojo owner,
who doesn't mind to exploit his fame for some shits and giggles with the MMA community?

That in particular doesn't make him look bad on my watch.

[Rene "Zendokan" Gysenbergs]

Now, as to Seagal, what is he, really? A glorified dojo owner,
who doesn't mind to exploit his fame for some shits and giggles with the MMA community?

That in particular doesn't make him look bad on my watch.

[Permalost]

This. I've also heard:
-Got pissy with Donn Draeger, who was hired to be the sword adviser for a film that Steven was also working on (because Steven thinks he knows better than Donn about swords...yeah)

-Has quite a history of sexual harassment, including Jenny McCarthy during an audition.

-At an autograph signing in a mall, Dan Inosanto and Francis Fong stop by, and when Seagal shakes his hand, he also puts Dan in a joint lock. After this, he tries it on Fong, who slaps Seagal, knocks him over and he ends up on the ground. Fong commands Steven to stay down or he'll kill him, so Seagal stays on the ground. Who the hell puts Dan Inosanto in a joint lock in a mall for no reason?

-Broke Sean Connery's wrist while training him for Never Say Never Again.

-Steven's known for cranking on locks and doing random cupchecks for stuntmen on the set.

[Hiro Protagonist]

Okay, didn't know that. YOU GUYS READ TOO MUCH TMZ!!! :D

*Runs.*

[GulfCoast]

forget steven seagal, where can I learn zero gravity monkey ?ung fu?

What the heck movie was that? I thought I had seen every cut-rate martial arts movie. Obviously, I musta missed one!

[bobyclumsyninja]

-At an autograph signing in a mall, Dan Inosanto and Francis Fong stop by, and when Seagal shakes his hand, he also puts Dan in a joint lock. After this, he tries it on Fong, who slaps Seagal, knocks him over and he ends up on the ground. Fong commands Steven to stay down or he'll kill him, so Seagal stays on the ground. Who the hell puts Dan Inosanto in a joint lock in a mall for no reason?

note to self: always give Seagal a pound.

[Larus marinus]

Seagal teaching Machida-kun the deadly - including The Kick.

Also, he reveals his Mongol samurai ancestry.

[theTRASHman]

Whats the deal with his CIA background? Has anyone ever heard him state this? I am not aware of him having any military background whatsoever. Has he ever claimed this?

[ChenPengFi]

I'd like to thank Steven Seagal for a lot of the moves I did here today.

- Marcelo Garcia epic comment after winning BJJ Worlds today.

[bobyclumsyninja]

interesting fact.

In the 2.5 years since this thread started, Seagal's bawls have dropped another 2.5". Soon, he'll be able to wield them like a mace (pair of maces).

It's an uncanny statistic, like Lincoln/Kennedy numerical similarities, but gross.