UF II Credentials
jal...@pomona.claremont.edu
I know I'm probably breaking Nettiquette by addressing you directly, butthis apparent attack on the common ideals of the San Soo community must be
answered. I never said San Soo was a "secret" style not for the eyes of mere
mortals (your phrase, not mine). One thing I can say, on almost a weekly
basis, Len talks to us about the psychology of a fighter and the meaning of
San Soo. He is constantly trying to impress upon us the seriousness of
fighting. San Soo, according to Len (and Bill Lassiter, for that matter), is
not for play. The things we learn are deadly and deadly serious. We are
taught that, in a confrontation, one must decide if he/she is going to fight
or not. If not, one must avoid conflict to the best of one's abilities. If
you decide you must fight, then you can have no compunctions about using the
art to save your life. Period. Other concerns (such as winning a contest)
are not meant to be considered by someone who practices San Soo.
Your statement about us hedging our bets is pretty damn erroneous. I
really don't mean to be rude, but statements like that are insulting and
inflammatory. The whole point of San Soo (as I've been taught) is for self-
defense. It's not for sparring or contests or gaining power over others or
anything like that at all. To enter a contest, even one which tries to be
as realistic about fighting as possible (e.g. UFC 1+2), is to repudiate the
very basis of San Soo philosophy. We are not in the business of selling our
art; therefore, we have no need to market ourselves. We simply invite people
to watch us practice our art, and if they are interested, we invite them to
join us. We do not try to hide our art or make it some exclusive club. We
only try to surround ourselves with people who love the art and want to
practice it whenever possible. Granted, Len has turned a few people away,
but only because they had the wrong attitude about Martial Arts.
I do not mean for this to errupt into a pointless flame war. I just
wanted to make clear why the San Soo community objects to someone claiming to
know San Soo competing in any arena.
Jonathan
ach...@rose-hulman.edu
Does anyone know the participants of the UF II?
It might be interesting to hear their (or their corners) comments
on the fights...what they did wrong, what they might have done
instead.
-Mukund
bar...@yvax.byu.edu
Yes. As I've said before... Dave Levicki is my SiHing. He has studied wing
chun around a year and 8 months (he's about a year older in WC than me) I have
no clue what he did wrong since the stinking first 8 (oops, non gracie, that
would be 7) fights weren't aired.
I did train with him before the fight though, and wouldn't mind guessing about
what the problem was...
1) he was overconfident (but wouldn't you if you looked like him and had seen
the first fight? :^}) He would train with a "I'll win it and be back
in time for tea" type attitude, all but ignoring aerobic preparation.
2) He trained about an hour a day. This is VASTLY inadiquate training!
My sifu was quite cheezed by this, but it was dave's decision to fight,
not his, so he couldn't really stop him.
3) He demonstrated a MASSIVE lack of Killing Spirit. In training anyway, he
would never think of using techniques that were viscious, I guess he's
just a big 270 lb sweatheart. I would guess that by the time he
ascertained this, it was already too late to be practical. Understand
what I am saying, it's not that he didn't try to kill me... he wasn't
thinking about it for the match.
4) I'm betting he didn't use technique. My guess is he relied on his strength
and size like he did in practice. But then, he's only been studying
Wing Chun for about 18 mo. on and off.
5) He has never been to a competition before. No prior matches to prepare him
for what to expect. Although, he has brawled before, and been a SEAL
and all. that should count for something.
Having GUESSED all this, let me say that dave does have a good heart, as
evidenced by the "longest fight in UF history" in spite of virtually no aerobic
preparation. I think, though can't say for sure, since WOW and the Gracies
gyped us out of the first round of non-gracie fights that Dave made an
excellent accounting for himself, and a decent accounting of 18 mo. of Wing
Chun training. (think about it, that's LESS than one month for every YEAR that
Royce has been training)
Again, I'm just guessing, since I didn't see the fight (except the "ow! my eye"
part) and I hope that if Dave goes again, he prepares more. I think if he
does, he could take the "most improoved" title away from Pat Smith.
The other guy::
Scott baker is sort of like a bastard SiHing to me. He's a crappy kickboxer
(NOT (REPEAT NOT) THE KICKBOXING CHAMP OF UTAH) ("nobody will know the
difference, eh rorian?")
From what I understand, he was a kickboxer first (a bad one) and then took wing
chun for a few years (before my time, not sure about how long) but could never
let go of the kickboxing enough to really learn. I'm surprised Dave didn't
make the first cut, but not surprised at all about Baker. ( I was just
surprised they let him in ) Well, I guess that 5 animal kung fu IS better
than wing chun after all....who would have guessed? (I'm joking (for the
humour impaired) ken)
-Barney
--
Some words to live by...
____________________________________________________________________________
"This is my sister Pepper. She's pregnant, but she can fight like a man"-
-Crybaby (Wade 'CryBaby' Walker)
____________________________________________________________________________
John Cooper
>gyped us out of the first round of non-gracie fights that Dave made an
>excellent accounting for himself, and a decent accounting of 18 mo. of Wing
>Chun training.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I doubt it, unless you consider spending over 10 of those 15 minutes on the
ground with Rhodes on top of him a decent accounting of Wing Chun.
-John