Everyone has a plan in life, until they get punched in the face…

Well its my first day back at home and boy did I have the best sleep I’ve had in over 3 weeks! It was a long uncomfortable plane ride, but I did manage to watch Changling without falling asleep. Luckily I didn’t have too many dramas at the airport. Unfortunately I can’t say the same for Denis who lost his bag at the gold coast transfer cause someone else had taken his bag by mistake because they looked identical.

Now that Im back in Melbourne, it feels as though Japan was nothing but last nights dream. I think its always hard to return back to reality knowing that things are going to go back to normal. Not having to work, not being surrounded by negative people in your life, and not having a worry in the world except for what your going to eat for your next meal is the best feeling. This post is beginning to turn into a emo whinge post about life so I’m going to steer it away from that direction and focus on the positives of the trip. For the last 3 weeks I got to train with some of the best grapplers in the world and learn from them. I also got to meet some MMA greats, and up and comers. Alot of people tell me they’d love to do what I do, but can’t find the time or money. I had neither, and if I didn’t do it now I might never get a chance to do it. I want to look back in 40 years time and honestly say I lived a life with no regrets.

I came to Japan in search of grappling greatness, but found no secret technique, no secret way of training, and no ultimate submission. All I found was a bunch of guys with a hard working ethic and a no bullshit approach to training. Across all the gyms that we’ve been to and trained at, they all followed the same simple formula; warmup, drilling, sparring.

Sometimes after a hard day I would hope to myself that maybe the next day would be a “easy” session. I knew I was kidding myself because there was never a easy session in Tokyo. I believe that’s why they are up there with the worlds best grapplers. At Palaestra alot of the guys would do many continuous rounds of sparring and would never turn down a challenge to spar even if they had already done 5 rounds. If it was back home here I know alot of guys would bail after 1 or 2 rounds. That reminds me of the time I trained at a certain gym in melbourne which I won’t mention and I was sparring with a hefty lad. He outweighed me by about 20kgs, but I could feel him wearing out. So instead of pushing on and trying to finish the fight he told me “Oh…what time is it? I have to go back to work now”. For the next 10-15 mins I see him chatting at the front with his other mates. Now thats the fighting spirit I like to see!

One thing I liked about grappling training in Japan was the amount and variety of people there was to roll with. Average lunchtime free spar sessions would see anywhere between 10-30 people at any given day. These weren’t your typical 1 hour sessions but 2-3 hour sessions. Rolling with high level grapplers on a daily basis will see your own grappling level grow by ten fold. This would explain why there are so many highly skilled grapplers in Japan. The other great bonus to training in Japan is having a vast number of people competing in other grappling based sports like Shooto and Judo. I have been very impressed with the skill and athleticism of both the shooto and judoka that I have encountered. 

All in all Japan was a truly memorable experience. Now that Im back at home my mind is still in tokyo, but I guess everyone feels like that when they come back from holidays. 

What was the most important lesson learnt? Have faith in your own skills, and keep fighting for the submission. It could be only seconds away. Sometimes mentally I go into fights or sparring with the mentality that my opponent is better than me. When I have this mindset I preform badly. When I “switch on” and tell myself my skills are far superior to that of my opponent and that I am stronger and fitter than him, the result is much different. 

Most memorable experience? I really enjoyed training out in Yakasuka, mainly because of the atmosphere. You kind of get lost in amongst the crowd when your training in the big gyms in Tokyo. Getting to train with some world class fighters and rolling with Japanese black belts was also a rush!

Toughest part of the trip? Having to eat on the run and not resting properly took its toll on my body. Sometimes it felt like I wasn’t able to recover fast enough for the next days training session. Its hard when your in a foreign country to eat properly on a limited budget.

Is there anything I would change if I took this trip again? Yes, I’d try organise some more comfortable accommodation. When your doing the amount of training we were doing the most important thing is to get adequate rest. Having accommodation closer to the gyms would have meant that we could have gone home to rest during the day between morning and evening sessions. After a long day in the gym, all you want to do is come home have a hot shower and jack back. Spending that little bit extra for where your staying will definitely make any future trips more enjoyable.

Today was the final training session at Palaestra. It’s been a long hard road but a great learning experience. I was kind of glad to be able to get home soon to my own bed but sad that I was leaving the place that I had called home for the past 3 weeks. Today was a technique and drilling day. I’ve found that on these days there are usually more white and blue belts. One of the guys there told us once that people don’t like drilling so they just turn up for sparring. I found this a bit odd as I always thought drilling was one of the most imporant aspects of grappling training.

I was hoping to get a happy snap with Yuki Nakai on the last day but unfortunately he wasn’t there. Sasa took the class and ran through a number of basic techniques. It doesnt’t seem that classes are structured into beginners or advanced. Everyone just turns up for all the classes and drills whatever is being taught no matter what level they are. Sasa is a quietly spoken individual, who speaks little english but always willing to offer advice or help with technique. Even though we couldnt understand each other, he managed to correct and adjust our technique through the use of sign language, nods and head shakes. Actions always speak louder than words.

I was partnered with another blue belt and luckily he was able to speak some english, because we were about to delve into the dark world of x guard type techniques. I’ve always found x guard type techniques to be quite difficult, it feels as though there are too many steps to get into a position. Maybe because im more into mma orientated grappling. It was a nice easy end to an intensive 3 weeks. I’ve had the experience to train with some of the best grapplers in the world, and walk away with experiences many could ony dream of. OSSSSSSSsss

Today was the second last day of training. Over the past few days I’ve noticed some of the other grapplers make more of an effort top open up towards  us “foreigners”. They seem to be more open to correcting our technique when it came to language barriers, and asking us questions as to where we trained, who we are affiliated with, and how long we were staying.

My first roll today was with one of Palaestras senior black belts. He was a pretty small guy (perhaps around 60kg). I managed to survive about 3 mins without getting submitted but then got caught in a leg bar (i think from memory) from some sort of weird x guard position. Technically this guy was brilliant. Not the strongest of people he didn’t have to rely on it at all. This pure technician was able to move and trasition to position with ease.

Today  I also managed a roll with there 2 resident female brown and purple belts. They both would have only weighed around the 50-55kg mark, but were once again, technically superior. Sometimes it felt as though I could muscle my way out of certain positions using some “big man jits” but chose not to because of the obvious size difference, and the fact that you don’t leanrn much but “muscling” your way out or of a position.

Today I rolled with several blue belts and noticed a big difference in the level of skill. One of them I rolled with twice, and ended up getting submitted twice, whilst the other one I ended up submitting once. They were both about the same size and build but had a noticible difference in skill levels. Im guessing the main reason for this is because the more skillful one had probably been a blue belt for some time whilst the other may have just been given his blue belt. One of the guys I rolled with today was pretty well versed in alot of the Eddie Bravo rubber guard stuff.

Today we decided to spend the entire day at Paraestra. It cost us 3000 yen but I spose its worth it. Today started off earlier than usual, with a technique and sparring class at 10-12pm. Once again no one turned up on time. To start off with it was just Me, denis, and another blue belt. Nakai showed us a neat little submission from mount using the top of your foot to press up against there throat for a choke. The thing I like about this kind of technique is that its versitility for use in MMA and the fact that you dont sacrfice the mount position for a technique your not guaranteed to get. The other thing he showed us was how to turn the oma polata from guard into a arm bar by simply reversing your own ass back into the opponent to roll them over so u sit into a arm bar. Impressive! We were supposed to go to the lunch time sambo class, but when we turned up the guy told us it wasnt on today…dont know why. Now we have a 5 hour wait on our hands for the next class. Next time, when I return to Japan I will definitely do some more research into staying somewhere closer to the gym. Not to mentin staying somewhere with hot water, heater and a shower would be nice too! Even though we thought we were saving quite a bit by staying somewhere cheap, were actually spending more in travel costs, purchasing food while waiting around (we should probably invest in shares at Mr Donut because of the amount of time and moeny weve spent in there), and daily showers at the man baths (450yen).

After killing 5 hours at Mr Donut and the local internet cafe it was time to hit Paraestra again. This time when we turned up I noticed there were alot more white belts than usual, mostly because it was a technique and drilling session rather than a free spar session. I was partnered up with a young little white belt who looked like he had just come from a pokemon convention. Today, Nakai covered a whole series of techniques on how to control peoples legs in open guard to move into knee ride or side control. For the majority of these drills we formed a group of three with another purple belt. The good thing about this guy was that he spoke a little english and was able to explain some the the techniques and make corrections to our own.

When doing BJJ gi grappling, the majority of the guys there pull guard and then try to sweep from there. As with most grapplers I’ve noticed alot of these guys have there own “favourite techniques”. Techniques they will always go for and are pretty good with. There was one white belt tonight who I’ve seen a number of times before. You could bet your life that he will shoot for a takedown almost 100% of the time. I think thats why you need to vary up your gameplan in the fight game. Its all good to have a favourite technique but its being a good all rounder that will make you a great grappler. So, I guess the lesson learnt from today is to not be a one dimensional fighter. Vary up your game plan. OSSSSsss

Today was a big day for training. It began with a morning session at Paraestra, and a evening session at wai jitsu keishu kai @ RJW. I was feeling pretty good this morning, had a good nights sleep and wasnt feeling too run down from the previous days training. It was pretty much the same free spar style class today. Only difference was that MMA superstar Shinya Aoki was there. WOW! seemed like a added bonus to us, but just another day in the office for the rest of the people there. Everyday I turn up I seem to notice new faces. Today there was one older guy wearing a karate gi, wearing a white belt. I had learnt my lesson and approached this spar with caution! He wasnt too bad on the fround but was one tough cookie. Normally in australia if someone tells you theyve done karate or taekwondo before you dont expect them to be super athletes, but its a whole different ball game here. People here are quite modest about there training and will always underestimate there skills when talking about them. Recently Ive been rolling with a number of the lighter grapplers but with higher belts. Ive tried not to rely so much on my brute strength but rather technique. It seems like all the top grapplers dont rely on much strength at all, but pure technique. The expression on there faces indicates that they arent really exerting much force at all (or maybe there just really good at hiding it!).

Me and Den with Shinya Aoki

That evening we made our way to RJW in the top that it would be a easier session (but deep down we both knew that theres no such thing as a easy session in Tokyo). When we turned up we were greated by Caol Uno (a mma star with fights against BJ penn, shinya aoki, Yves Edwards, and Kid Yamaoto against his name). He spoke little english but was very friendly towards us and welcomed us to the gym. Later on Yushin Okami also turned up. Wow! all these world class fighters under the one roof. As we began warming up the “big boss” turned up. Everyone bowed when they greeted him and paid him alot of respect. I overheard him asking Uno who we were, and from what I could make out, Uno told him we were from Australia. He was a very intimidating character, and commanded a heap of respect from everyone in the gym. Traning pretty much took the same format as the other night. Warmup, grappling sparring with strikes, take down sparring, standup sparring, and then cardio drills. The intensity of not only the warm up but sparring seemed to be much higher than that of Paraestra. Everyone at this gym were big units. Apart from the girls I think i was one of the smallest ones there. Some of the lads there really seemed to turn it up a notch depending on who they sparred with. I think the good thing about being the new person in the gym is that they dont really “turn up” the intesity on you until theyve sussed you out a bit more. But this rules doesnt apply to everyone because I do recall one guy winding up some big shots on me. Nothing i wasnt used to, but I could tell he was a wild brawler. One thing Ive noticed about Japanese fighters is that alot of them are southpaw. Its a bit off putting sparring a south paw, but once you work them out its pretty much right punch right kick all teh way to the bell. I managed to get a round of boxing sparring with Yushin Okami. He had a good weight and height advantage but I gave it a red hot go. Managed to tag him with a few but i suspect he was taking it a bit easy! Or maybe i was taking it easy on him! haha The odd thing with this gym is that there doesnt seem to be a head trainer? I find it a bit odd that these guys are at such a high level yet they dont really having anyone coaching them. Perhaps weve only been in on the sparring nights? but I wouldve thought there coach would be there all the time. The class ended with a an intense cardio drill of pushups and shadow boxing. The highlight of the night was watching the “big boss” of the gym light up a ciggarette in the middle of trainig IN THE GYM while everyone was sparring. Maybe its the norm here, but Im just not used to that kind of stuff. People smoking in restaurants and bars is already off putting, but in a gym? haha thats a first. Although, you might think that this guy had total disregard for the fighters health, but your worng. He actually provided a huge fruit platter for everyone at the end of class, so I guess that makes up for smoking in the gym. ha!

Me and Den with Yushin Okami

Den and Caol Uno

Over the weeks we’ve seen heaps of cool tshirts with some pretty bad english translations. One of the better ones we saw a guy at the gym wearing was “who said strikers can’t grappling?” fucken awesome!

Tokyo Tower

On day 12 I met up with some long lost relatives that I hadn’t seen in years. I made a plan to take a trip down to Scramble gym in Shibuya http://www.shibukichi.com/ Directions looked easy enough but when it came down to finding the place it wasn’t so easy. I had no address, no phone number, just a set of directions. After searching high and low and all the surrounding streets I gave up. We headed down (or up to) tokyo tower to do some sight seeing. Amazing views but would’ve been better if the day was clearer. I then decided to make a trip down to Masatos Gym – Silver Wolf, just for the sake of having a look. My cousin actually had a friend who trained there and gave us another set of directions. OH NO not more directions!

We found the place pretty easily as it was on a main street and the fact that it had a GIANT king kong statue reaching its arm down the building. I went inside to have a look. There were a few people in there, 2 on pads and others on bags. Looks like they had a thai trainer there aswell, but not 100% sure? No Masato in sight but I thought I’d enquire about some training. I didn’t expect the guy to take me too seriously as he probably gets heaps of people coming in to train at Silver Wolf. He told me the prices 10,000 yen joining fee and then 13,000 yen per month. Pretty steep! So i thought Id take advantage of there first class free offer. Didn’t do it right away but plan to go back this thurs to have a crack.

Masatos Silver Wolf Gym

DAY 13
Today was MMA day at Paraestras. All no gi grappling and some full mma sparring. As soon as I got there I noticed a few of the guys putting on some mma gloves…wooo hooo I got excited because I wanted to punch people. I’ve noticed one little Japanese guy (probably around 60kgs) who is a pretty good all rounder. Some good stand up and decent submissions. Not to mention some pretty cool ink on his arms (you dont see very many japanese with tatts on visible places like there forearms) Pretty sure hes from another shooto gym but don’t know which one. Thought Id have a bit of a scrap with him first. Started off slow, but then as the pace picked up he was pretty fast with his hands. I was able to catch him with a few good knees but when the fight hit the ground he manged to out grapple me and get top position. GAME OVER. I also sparred another guy (perhaps a wrestler, judging from the shoes he was wearing) landed some good shots, and was able to sink in alot of knees from clinch. I noticed alot of the Japanese fighters don’t really throw many knees from the clinch. I find it such a useful tool particularly in that clinch phase of the fight when both opponents are fighting for underhooks. Its pretty difficult to get underhooks when people are sinking big knees into your rib cages.

Today was laundry day….fun! Had a pretty good nights rest and was contemplating whether or not to go training. The good thing about Japan is that they run classes all day and everyday. And there’s always an abundance of people to train with. You’d think that Sunday wouldn’t really attract many people, but it does here.
We turned up to class an hour early as we thought it started at 1, but it actually started at 2. Once again no one ever turned up on time. Everyone came in dribs and drabs. The class started off with positional sparring, and one of the brown belts told us people don’t like to do positional sparring and that’s why they turn up late.

We then kicked off with some free spar. I’ve noticed at the gym if that someone wants to spar you, they usually “check you out” or watch you for a while. You can usually feel eyes on you or even catch a glimpse of them eyeing you off. Once the buzzer rings they’ll come up to you, do a little bow with palms together but slightly open to give you a hand shake as a way of asking politely “are you ready to get tapped out?”

There was one white belt there today who was amazing. He was taping out purple and brown belts with ease. Apparently he has even tapped out Shinya Aoki on several occasions. He comes from a submission grappling background and has trained in Brazil a number of times. The other amazing thing is that he is apparently a doctor. He is what I’d call a gifted grappler. He seemed to have a real unorthodox style of grappling, with an ability to transition into a bad position into a good one with ease. Hard to describe with words because I had never seen anyone really grapple like that before. He had a real fedor like disinterested kind of look on his face. Similar kind of style aswell you could say, relaxed…then suddenly attack with precision. That’s the thing at Nakais gym. Just because he’s wearing a white belt doesn’t necessarily mean he’s inexperienced, just means he hasn’t been graded under a Bjj grading system.

Found this little video article on Hector Lombard CFC 7 on the net today. Managed to find a few pics of yours truly in it too! woo hoo, I guess that makes me a X grade celebrity now. Im glad they included a pic of my slam.

http://player.video.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/#I6Jxmzbs14_tkFOGIJcewj0I5h5po8da

Saturdays is usually the big day at Yuki Nakais place. Today there was so many people that I lost count. It was a sea of endless bodies in a tiny little room. Im guessing there was well over 30 people in the tiny little basement gym! The class started off with some technique and then drilling. An arm drag from seated position to take opponents back, then arm drag opponents arm through your leg to get a arm bar by putting your weight on his elbow, and rolling the opponent onto his back to get a weird kind of gi/forearm choke. Ive got a few hours to kill after this so going to try make some more detailed notes and picstured that ill post up.

Wasnt really feeling 100% today (probably from lack of quality sleep). Picked up a few good techniques but didnt do much sparring. Thought Id conserve my energy for the big session tonight. Sasa should be taking the class tonight because Yuki Nakai may be doing weigh in or press interviews for Shinya Aokis fight on Dream on the Sunday night.

Yuki Nakai actually did end up taking the class later that night. We started off with technique. Passing half guard with variations, and the firemans carry then ended up sparring. I’m glad I’ pretty familiar with alot of the techniques shown because it would be very difficult trying to learn a new technique being explained in another language. A lot of the things he teaches; I’ve either seen before or tried. He adds variations here and there, and makes minor adjustments to little things you wouldn’t normally do.

It seems like the people at the gym are beginning to open up to us a bit more. At the start it seemed as if they didn’t really acknowledge we were there, but now they seem to be interested in where we’re from, where we train, and constant requests to spar us. I’ve noticed alot of them tend to focus there gazes on Denis when hes sparring, with the occasional Wahhhhh and Ohhhhhh.

There was one young white belt there tonight who was super keen to spar everyone, and i mean EVERYONE. White, blue, purple, brown, black…. He didn’t really care who you were, he just wanted to spar. He wasn’t the best of grapplers but he had fighters heart. I think I would have sparred him at least 3 times and Denis at least 2 or 3 as well. This is what you tend to see alot of here. It’s that drive and determination that make the Japanese world class grapplers.

Saturday night was a very uneventful one. We were both pretty tired and run down from training and suffering from the cold. One interesting experience we did have was our trip to the local bath house. Its pretty much a huge bathroom with a heap of showers along the sides, and 3 extremely hot baths in the middle. Men and women have separated rooms and the thing about these bath houses is that you have to go in fully nude and bathe with other men. After the feeling of visual violation subsides you tend to adjust and not feel so uncomfortable.

One of the most noticeable differences in a Japanese MMA gym is that the classes don’t seem very structured. It seems to be a shit load of sparring with little technique drilling or teaching new technique. This format of training was employed across all the gyms that we’ve trained at. I seem to keep asking myself “how the hell do they become such good grapplers?” One explanation is that alot of them start off with a Judo background in high school at a very young age. Total Combat MMA gym also offered kids wrestling and grappling classes. This would explain why some of these 18 year olds and monsters in the grapple.

Day 8 in our training at Yakasuka began with an epic 8 hour wait for class. The reason for this being was that technically we weren’t really allowed to stay in the gym. Yamashiro (Fought in the European K1 in Poland 2008) who was the manager of the place said that we could stay there but we just had to make sure we hid, or not be in the gym from 11am-3pm because that is when the actual owner of the building comes in to look around at the gym. Our class didn’t start till 8pm either so we spent the majority of the day hanging around mister donut, Mc Donalds, Ramen noodle shops and an Internet Cafe. Waiting around really makes you tired.

Me sparring Yamashiro & Yamada

Den sparring Yamada the 18yr old grappling prodigy

Todays class seemed to have alot more people. Shibuya (ex Pancrease fighter, & currently still fighting on ZST, GCM or Deep promotions) was holding pads for a few of the boys. The others were either sitting around, shadow boxing, or hitting the bags. Training seemed to have a “do what you like” attitude. There was no one there to tell them they had to train, they pretty much did what ever. I noticed a few guys had mashed up ears, and that usually means they are decent grapplers. After Shibuya had fed pads to most of the guys there, grappling sparring began! I had a few good rolls, and a few not so good. Had one good roll with a decent lad, who I later found out was only 18 (yes another one). He was pretty nifty with the flying arm bar which we asked him to show us later on, and we managed to film him doing it to. Ill post it up at a later date. Also manged to film one of the guys pull off this awesome little roll under a standing opponent sweep transitioning into a heel hook. Not sure what the moves called but impressive none the less.

Me & Den with Shibuya the MMA coach

Sengoku Promo

I managed to get a roll with Yamada (the guy whos fighting on the upcoming Sengoku show against Ronnie Mann) but this time with MMA gloves and striking allowed. This time I felt like I did much better because I was allowed to punch him in the face everytime he tried to submit me.

Later on in the evening the old man who owns the gym and bank rolls everything came into visit. Everyone payed him alot of respect. He spoke to a few fighters who recently had fights and even gave them an envelope with money in it I presume, not sure how much but most likely a decent amount.

The night finished off with some stand up sparring with some of the grapplers and with Yamashiro. We did a drill where one fighter would be on offence and the other would be on defence. This is where I could practice some fancy strikes knowing that I won’t get punched in the face for trying! LET THE FUN BEGIN… We ended up finishing at around 1230am that night! It was a long night of training but it didnt feel like it. Time doesn’t seem to be a issue with people here at the gyms in Japan. They seem to turn up when they please and leave when they want. That’s what made me kind of wonder did most of these people work 9-5 jobs or go to school? I know if I was back at home and i’ve got a early start the following morning I’m pretty much out of there as soon as I can. The good thing about being on a training holiday is that you don’t feel that urgency to leave to get your beauty sleep.

After training we said our goodbyes to people and had a chat with Yamashiro. He told us we were welcome back to his gym any time and would let us know of dates for upcoming mma events like Tribulator. A small mma show in Tokyo but would be an awesome experience to fight in the land of the rising sun!

Our audition pic for the next Dragon Ball movie

DAY 9 pretty much ended up being a catch up on rest kind of day. I’m feeling pretty run down, not from the training but not sleeping properly at night. Sleeping in a ring isn’t the most comfortable place to spend your night. Rest is such an integral part to any intense training program. For me to function properly I need a minimum of 8 hours quality sleep. We’re back at Joels place tonight so lets hope we get a good nights rest because tomorrow is going to be a big day at Nakais. OSSSSsssss

The lovely view of the cemetry from our bathroom window

Yesterday we moved into our new place in Nippori with Joel. Its a traditional little japanese style house with a beautiful view of a cemetry from the back toilet window. A bit morbid, but peaceful. Nippori itself itself seems like a very traditional and cosy little place. Small streets, and a quiet eery feeling as you walk the streets. The place were staying at doesnt have a shower, but there is a local communal bath nearby. A bit strange but I guess thats how things are done around here.

Later on in the day we made a trip down to Denis friends gym in Yakasuka called the Total Combat Gym. Yakasuka is about 1.5 – 2 hours away from tokyo. At first impressions this gym was the nicest weve been to. Entirely matted, a ring, and 3 heavy kick bags set up. We arrived pretty early and the official start time for class wasnt until 8pm (pretty late by australian standards). Masa had informed them of our arrival, so they were expcting us. They currently have a young lad called Yamada fighting on the upcoming Sengoku show against an opponent from the UK called Ronnie Mann. Yamada only just turned 18 and is a very talented grappler. Hes able to transition into positions so smoothly and effortlessly. At only 18 he will be a forced to be reckoned with a few years time.

Our living room/bed room

Our street in Niporri

Ken grappling

When we turned up to the 8pm session there was 2 people there. Ken, an experienced shooto fighter and ex rugby player and another young boy who left before we started grappling. We decided to do a few rounds on the bags as a warm up (it felt good to punch and kick something after not having done it for a couple of weeks) and then straight into grappling. Once again I got schooled in grappling by another top level Japanese grappler, Ken. This guy was truly skillful and Im sure he was taking it easy on me aswell. After a few rounds I grappled with Yamada, who also made me feel as if today was my first class of grappling. I still cant believe he was only 18. One thing I noticed I seemed to get caught by alot was when i ended up in opponents guard and they would trap one arm and work from a submission from there. (mental note to self – STOP LETTING THEM TRAP THE ARM!)

After the grappling we did some standup sparring. I sparred with the manager of the gym who has a upcoming shoot boxing fight. I think he comes from a karate background. I felt comfortable in the stand up and didnt feel like a retart when sparring. I was able to land some good shots and control the rign the majority of the time. Ive noticed that these guys have a very unorthodox method when it comes to stand up. Alot of stance changing, that im not really used to when it comes to sparring people. Yamada was a southpaw so I employed my anti-south paw fighting techniques of right punch right kick. Seemed to work very well against him.

Total Combat Gym

After training we spent the rest of the night having food and drinks from the 99yen shop downstairs. The night finished off with a few bad jokes and commentry about english words used in Japanese advertising, and tehn bed time in the ring. Ahaha yes we slept in the ring. Pretty comfortable actually because of the matted surface and the heating going. OSssss

Our beds for the next 2 days