Fighters Only

Issue 083

December 2011

Bearded Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Daniel Rodriguez experienced massive semantic confusion in October when he demonstrated an armbar submission as part of a skydive. The Santa Monica-based instructor, who is also an avid skydiver, jumped out of a plane at around 5,000 feet, gi and all, and slapped an armbar on training partner George Abrao.

Usually performed on terra firma, a flying armbar is a maneuver that involves launching oneself into the air while holding an arm and swinging the legs into the position of a standard armbar. A Pan American gold medalist at brown belt, Rodriguez filmed the entire thing from jump to landing and posted it on YouTube. Rodriguez’s effort is thought to be the world’s first true flying armbar.

Pyongyang, North Korea: 72-year-old Irishman makes orth Korean martial arts Hall of Fame

First off, yes, the secretive, communist nation of North Korea has a martial arts hall of fame, and it just inducted its only European to date, Irishman Robert Howard. The 72-year-old Dublin man is a grandmaster of taekwondo and in addition to his entry into the North Korean Martial Arts Hall of Fame was awarded his ninth-degree black belt in a ceremony during the 17th Taekwondo World Championships in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Many MMA fighters either began their martial arts career with taekwondo or trained in the strictly striking-based discipline before entering the ring, such as UFC fighters Dan Hardy, Anderson Silva and Ben Henderson, and even UFC color commentator Joe Rogan as well as former NFL running back turned some-time fighter Hershel Walker. Howard started learning taekwondo in 1966 and told the Belfast Telegraph: “When I started in taekwondo back in the ‘60s I never thought I’d be still training today, and still with my original instructor, Grandmaster Rhee Ki Ha.”

Amount of UFC events boosted to 34 for 2012

The world’s leading MMA promotion, the UFC, will significantly up its calendar of events in 2012, aiming to put on a massive 34 shows. It’s an increase of 26% compared to 2011, which at the time of going to press was due to close with 27 total UFC pay-per-views, Fight Nights and Live cards. Although there are tentative plans for a number of cards in 2012, only two had been reliably confirmed at the time of going to press, a February 26th event in Japan and another scheduled for the same day in Las Vegas.

WWE’s CM Punk slams Triple H UFC assessment

Anti-hero WWE wrestler CM Punk slammed the opinion of fellow star Triple H that the UFC needs to evolve. Triple H, who is the on-screen chief operating officer of the WWE, told the AOL film website Moviefone that the UFC and MMA needed to evolve, saying: “They just have fighters who walk in wearing T-shirts and shorts and just stand there and then they fight and then they win and then they go, ‘Thanks, I’d like to thank my sponsors,’ and then they leave.”

Speaking to internet radio show The MMA Hour, longtime MMA fan CM Punk said: “Triple H just doesn’t get mixed martial arts. He doesn’t watch it either. Saying the UFC needs to evolve, I guess he’s not wrong, but I think he’s missing the picture that the UFC is evolving. There’s only one other sport entity in the world that has production rights to their own material on network and that’s the NFL. UFC has just bartered a huge television deal (with Fox). That’s evolution.”

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Nick Diaz missed out on a seven-figure payday when he lost his UFC welterweight title shot against Georges St Pierre, according to the Wrestling Observer