For those who don’t know, Fred Ettish fought in UFC II…back in the bygone days of bareknucks, no biting, no eyegouges, no finger breaks, no time limits, no weight classes. He had his ass handed to him, and became an MMA whipping boy ever since. I personally fall into the “he had the balls to step up,” category, so I always thought he deserved respect for that.
It’s a good interview, I think. Don’t get me started on the “it takes years of study” thing though. That’s just true for anything you want to get good at.
Good interview. He sounds like a nice guy. However, you have to wonder if he didn’t really learn much of a lesson from his loss. Looking at the picture of him leading the class, it looks like he’s still doing air fighting.
He has a pretty good point about others getting fu(ked up worse than him and not getting ridiculed.
I’ll also respect the guy for having some massive cajones. If he didn’t even expect to fight at all, and then jumped right into the ring, he gets some props from me.
He also doesn’t seem to be making too many excuses, and he didn’t pull the “my art is superior” bullsh1t.
I don’t remember who originally thought of this, but whoever it was had a good point.
Wouldn’t it be great if the whole time everyone was making fun of him, Ettish was secretly training BJJ at Renzo’s, Striking with Golden Glory, and wrestling with Team Quest, and he came back and just kicked everyone’s ass?
Regardless of the fact that I think reality training is key, I find it disgusting that people all over the net keep harassing him. A little bit of heckling is to be expected, but I’m sure this poor guy has had over 6 or 7 years of it now.
I don’t understand people. Leave the person alone.
Do you ever watch Sumo? One of my favorite wrestlers was in dire straits–he was competing with a bad back at the last basho, and was having a hard time keeping his record up so he wouldn’t be demoted from Ozeki. His name is Kaio.
Anyway, he pulled off a beautiful ****zer grip no gi uchi-mata! You haven’t seen wrestling till you’ve seen a sumo wrestler IPPON his opponent. It was a LOT of poetry in motion
As for Fred, yeah, I’ve always thought he was cool. Beyond my initial “Holy CRAP, that guy got the beejeesus beat out of him,” I thought he had a lot of class. And a lot of guts after reading about his circumstances.
Matsumura Kempo is not a true fighting style. The stances are too deep, their knowledge of tuite is severely limited, their kicks are too high and soft vs. whipping, and they learn a diluted version of Shorin Ryu Matsumura Seito principles. It is basically a kumite (sparring) oriented style, and the Japanization of Matsumura’s principles lend to these facts. Still, out of the traditional styles, at least Shorinji Ryu and Okinawan Kempo guys took the initiative, and attempted to test their mettle against some very accomplished pro fighters.
The fetal fighting comment is very funny, but at the same time people love to see others as miserable or more miserable than themselves.
“The curious thing that happened was the vision in my right eye. I kept hoping I was going to get the vision back in that eye because my bell was rung. It never occurred.”
My current sensei (Ron Lindsey) was told by Yuichi Kuda, one of his instructors (and Matsumura Kenpo’s Hanshi), that he Greg Ohl, and Chuck Tatum were the only ones qualified to teach it outside of Okinawa.
Sensei Lindsey has Shihan rank or above in Matsumura Seito (Karate and Kobujutsu), Matsusoken, Matsumura Hakutsuru and Matsumura Kenpo. He refuses to teach the Kenpo principles over the Seito (Orthodox) principles, noting the deep stances, higher kicks and “prettier” kata. He has reiterated the fact that the Kempo form of Matsumura Shorin is a modern approach to the old Matsumura combatives. We have talked at length about the differences. You know, the practitioner has a lot to do with the style’s efficacy though.
I train with many Matsumura Kenpo guys (Sensei Tatum- mentioned above -included). They are good at what they do, but with the exception of Kyoshi Tatum, none of them have the first clue about real life fighting. Many argue with me about my choice to cross-train in BJJ, and their ignorance about fighting is evident when they attempt to plead their case.
Still, Matsumura Kenpo is better than 90% of the “karate” being taught out there. I have nothing but respect for Mr. Ettish’s show of bravery, but question his original naivete. I think Rorion picked many patsies and Fred was one of them.
