Andy’s Blog

Great fights last night and in-between entertaining quite a few people at my place and watching the matches, it was good to see BJ, Lyoto and Vanderlie do so well.  I’m somewhat surprised at how Tito looked; it may be an indication of how good Lyoto Machida really is or how much Tito has fallen off, but I don’t care what anybody says, when you can claim a victory over a legitimate legend like Tito Ortiz, you’ve done something.  I liked the way Lyoto was moving in and out and I think other than Chuck Liddell, I don’t recall Tito ever having so much respect for someone’s striking and it looked like that really threw his game off.  Lyoto and the karate kicks…that was entertaining. 

Vanderlei…wow!  Happy to see him get an impressive victory in the U.S. as many people don’t know the work he did a few years back.  A lot of people only follow the UFC and have no idea that he was the man, no wait, THE MAN in MMA just a few short years ago while wrecking shop in Japan.  Good for him and hopefully this puts him back on track for a big showdown with Rampage down the line.

BJ, the man is going to be tough to beat at 155 lbs.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, he was born for fighting.  When you can beat elite level fighters like Sean Sherk without even having to hit the mats, what does that tell you?  When I see guys like BJ, George St. Pierre, Matt Hughes, etc., who can win big time fights in a variety of ways, it really shows how far this sport has come.  I’m not sure who they can bring in to challenge BJ at this weight class, maybe a Japanese import like Takanori Gomi or Kawajiri, but GSP might be his only logical opponent at this point. 

With the big UFC event kicking off Memorial Day weekend, it looks to be another round of great match-ups in Las Vegas for MMA.  The obvious one being BJ vs. Sean Sherk, other great fights include Tito vs. Lyoto and Vanderlei vs. Keith Jardine.

I actually really like both guys fighting for the 155 lbs. title, but I think Dana White said it best when he commented that BJ is the most talented fighter to have ever entered the Octagon.  When you think of the people that have been through those steel entrances, that is saying a lot.  My personal opinion is that BJ is very, very tough to beat at that weight class and his losses to GSP and Hughes was more an indication of how important size is in this sport.  BJ in shape and at the proper weight category is a scary, scary thing.

If anybody can give the champ a run for the money, however, it might very well be Sean.  I was always impressed with his skills and his attitude before and I’m guessing everyone is wondering what difference, if any, will be shown after his long suspension.  I hear people say, “It was the drugs” that made him one of the best.  I know BJ on the show was very adamant about drugs and I think this fight will clearly show who the best 155 lbs. guy in MMA is. 

I’m hearing that this will be Tito’s last fight in the UFC and if that is the case, it was a great run.  Regardless if he wins this weekend, he was one of the guys that helped bring MMA to the forefront and a while back I saw his Cadillac with license plates that read, “MadeMMA” and kind of chuckled, but he definitely has a legitimate claim.  I remember going to one of the early UFCs when Zuffa took over and it was barely half-full at the MGM.  A while later, I attended the UFC 40: Vendetta event that featured Tito vs. Ken the first time and the crowd was absolutely electric.  I used to train at the same gym as Lyoto so am obviously pulling for him, but am hoping this isn’t the last we see of Tito, he’s done a lot for the popularity of the sport.

I wanted to congratulate a couple of guys that were promoted in Taiwan right before I left, which included Dimitri Telfair, Francois C., Dennis Huang, Vaughn Anderson and Warren Wang. Great bunch of guys and it was a pleasure to have been able to work with them and watch their development.

BJJ promotions don’t come along very often so when they do it is a accomplishment for all involved. For the Blue Belts Dimitri and Francois, this is only the beginning for them and watching both of them perform at such high levels during the Hong Kong tournament, it was easy to take them to the next level. Dimitri had probably one of the most dominating performances I have seen in a while, winning four divisions and about 15 matches over a two day period. Francois won his division in the GI and did so in very dominating fashion and we all expect more great things from the both of them in the future.

Dennis, Vaughn and Warren were promoted to Purple Belts, making them the first batch in our club history. All three have been training with me since the beginning fo the club and it has been great to see their games improve and evolve. There are several photos of the tournament and promotion party at www.taiwanbjj.org

This Friday, my first MMA coach, Egan Inoue will be making his return to the ring in Honolulu, Hawaii and I could not be more excited for him. At the age of 42, he’s coming back from a tough loss to Jason Miller a few years back where he suffered some serious injuries during the fight and will be banging with Hans Marrero at X-1.

Egan was one of the first guys that I met who was preaching all-around training back in the early days of MMA and he had us doing stand-up, wrestling, ground as well as strength & conditioning type training. I remember he had us hooked up with an assistant swimming coach at the University of Hawaii and the workouts were unbelieveable, where I thought I was going to drown on more than one occassion. But I always think of Egan as one of the best and most innovative trainers and I’m glad that he’ll be making his return and going on with his fighting career.

Good luck Egan!

This past weekend I attended the grand opening of the new Millenia Jiu-Jitsu training facility in Rancho Cucomunga, CA. and only one word describes it: WOW. From very humble beginnings, the core group of guys has stayed together and led by Romie Aram and Betiss Mansouri, they now have a world class gym that includes a full-sized cage, boxing ring, Dollamur mat area and pro shop. I went wth my good friends Andre Anderson and Steve Magdaleno, and all three of us were blown away by what we saw.

It was also good to see some of the alumni from that team there including Mac Danzig, John Alessio, William Syripai and several others. All great guys to train and chat with and I’m sure with this new training center in place, they will continue to produce top fighters at Millenia.

After two months, my time in Asia has come to an end and I just returned to the U.S. last week.  It’s a strange experience as when I first got to Taipei, I was immediately homesick and missed some of the things that define Los Angeles, namely Taco Bell and In-N-Out burgers, but after a while it begins to feel like home and having such a good group of guys to train and teach definitely makes it hard to leave.

I was very proud of the competitors, however, as we entered 19 athletes at the “Copa de Hong Kong 2″ and walked away with a first place trophy for the No-Gi competition and a runner-up finish for the GI portion of the event.  It’s always great to see guys who train hard and get their just rewards at the end of the day.  I think we ended up winning the No-Gi event by only a point or two so it was truly a team effort and while not everyone won a medal, the effort was total and it all started with the guys coming in on their own time to train and push themselves.

I did a short interview for the folks over at BJJ-Asia and expressed my delight in seeing how much the sport is progressing in that region.  Only a few years back their was hardly any Black Belts there, now it seems like every club has one.  The better the instruction, the better the competition and that will only raise the level of everyone involved with the sport in Asia.  For too long Japan has had a monopoly on the best grapplers and instructors in that region and hopefully the quality of the instruction and competitions will allow for some names to surface from other places like Taiwan, Philippines, Thailand, etc.

But it was a great time, was able to visit a few countries (Singapore is just like Hawaii and Macau is just like what you saw in “Rush Hour 2″) and it reminded me of how important it is to get the most out of my training and competing this year as well.  I’m planning on returning to Asia in December for the BJJ championships and bringing another great group of competitors from Taiwan with me.