Andy’s Blog

I’m sure I have mentioned it before, but I am a huge college football fan and after playing tackle football from the age of 9 until adulthood, it’s definitely as much a part of me as MMA or any other sport.  In fact, I coached one year of high school football at North Torrance HS when I graduated from college and it was a pretty cool experience.  Ironically, one of the players that was in the program at that time in 2001 was Lyle Moevao who is now the starting QB for the Oregon State Beavers; the same team that just upset #1 ranked USC this past Thursday.

After watching the full slate of games today and yelling and screaming at the TV it occurred to me that football conditioning was some of the toughest I had done in my life and so called up a few friends, went to the local Big 5 and bought a football and we went out and threw the ball around.  I can tell you this much, running up and down the field at the age of 31 is not nearly as easy as it was when I was 16 0r 17.

Some of the big games and upsets today were Georgia losing to Alabama (sorry Ryan!), Florida being beaten by Ole Miss (Tebow is still fun to watch) and Wake Forest losing to Navy (go Seamen!).  Great games and here’s hoping for some more to come in the following weeks.

Hermes France and Jeremy Stevens stopped by to train the other day at UNDISPUTED and we had a great training session.  Both of them are very, very professional and nice to train with.  Hermes moves incredibly fast on the ground and when you lock up with the guy, you can feel the experience he has.  He’s considering moving out to San Diego full time for teaching and training and I know  could definitely benefit from being on the same mats as him.  Jeremy is also a tough UFC-veteran and a very strong guy with heavy hands.  I only got to go with him once but we had a good run and he trains with Jens Pulver in Iowa and any friend of Jens is defintiely a friend of mine.

Just got back from the American National Jiu-Jitsu Championship and after some tough matches spread out over two different divisions, am glad to be home.  The UNDISPUTED team did well, lead by Baret Yoshida’s impressive matches where he submitted all five of his opponents by impressive fashion.  I finished 1st in the Black Belt Master weight class and 3rd in the Open division and it felt good to be competing again.  Below is a picture after the medals were awarded and it always feels good when the hard work pays off.  Next up will be a MMA match in November and the Asian Championships in Tokyo.

I heard the news about Evan’s passing, and while I never had the chance to train with him, it was sad to hear that one of the best fighters of our era passed.  When I think of Evan, I think of his fights with Phil Baroni and David Terrell where he rose to the occassion to beat some tough and talented guys in impressive fashion. 

MMA and the fans lost a great fighter and somebody that should not be forgotten. RIP.