Last night 46-year-old Randy Couture fought Minotauro Nogueira in UFC 102. After three full rounds Couture lost to an unanimous decision. Nogueira won the match – and while some moments were closer than others, I think anyone would be hard pressed to disagree with the decision.

I am writing this because I wanted to give a shout out to Couture. Couture was defeated, but he didn’t really lose. I felt Couture showed remarkable heart and toughness. He kept pressing on, escaped some perilous dominant positions against a bigger, exceptional grappler, and fought hard.

Despite the loss for Couture, this is the type of match that made me feel good and inspired. Everyone is familiar with Grantland Rice’s famous quote:

“It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.”

For Couture VS. Nogueira, it’s the spirit of this saying that is most relevant here: the idea that when anyone competes with genuine effort and heart – they are likely to come out a winner of some sort, regardless of the outcome of the match.

Congratulations to Nogueira for a good victory – and congratulations to Couture for giving a great, authentic effort and a good fight.

I plan on periodically posting miscellaneous updates, notes and observations. This is my first such entry.

Next Year I Am Going To The Jiu Jitsu World Championship

This week I had a discussion with a Jason – a Relson Gracie Colorado brown belt and the person who generously kept me updated how the academy was doing at this year’s Mundial – and it sounds like the Jiu Jitsu World Championships are a lot of fun. He mentioned he also learned quite a bit from watching the competition too – which makes sense, considering the level of talent competing.

So I decided next year I am am going. A crew from Relson Gracie Colorado goes every year. It is possible I may compete, too, depending on my progress and growth around the time leading up to the event.

MMA Competitors at Relson Gracie Colorado

Relson Gracie Colorado had an award ceremony this week where it was announced that some MMA competitors will be training at the facility. My impression is that they will be training mostly during the academy’s off hours,  although this may be inaccurate. They are both training for upcoming MMA fights.

I think its great to have this kind of talent around; I hope to gain insights and knowledge from them.

On Being “Injured”

Lastly, some venting. I recently crashed my bicycle, banging up my knee and shin, so I sat out a few days for my wounds to heal up to a point where I roll once again.

Talk about frustrating: it is one thing to be injured from an internal injury that would compel or require you not to roll – it is quite another when your injury is the result of a careless crash on your bike – and is literally “skin deep.”

pic credit(s): http://www.flickr.com/photos/digitaldanger/3526127854/

Anyone who loves martial arts has probably seen the show Human Weapon on The History Channel at some point. One of the things I remember the show doing well was demonstrating techniques with computer animation.

So it should have been no surprise to me to find a short, 21-second clip from the show demonstrating the technique when I was searching for examples of it in MMA competition on Youtube. Check it out:

Obviously, segments like these only show the basic physics of a move. As a learning tool, however, videos like these could be quite effective – the 3d animation, the rotation around the virtual participants, and commentary could all point out specifics very differently than live-action instruction videos.

The show was great and if you missed it you can watch clips of it on Youtube. As I write this I recall that they may have released a DVD of both seasons. I guess I will see if Netflix has it…