Sunday, February 6, 2011

7th-Degree Aikido Black Belt Credited for UFC 126 Win

"In one of the biggest fights of his illustrious career, UFC middleweight Anderson Silva dug deep into his bag of tricks and unleashed the most devastating front kick in MMA history. On the wrong end of the highlight-reel strike was Vitor Belfort's face, and it appears he can thank Steven Seagal for it.

The actor who starred in martial arts classics like "Above the Law", "Under Siege" and "Out for Justice", is the man responsible for schooling "The Spider" in the art of the front kick.

"Steven Seagal helped me perfect that kick. That was a kick we were working on before." Silva said at the UFC 126 post-fight press conference.

Seagal is currently a 7th degree black-belt and Shihan in Aikido. The 58-year-old moved to Japan in his late teens and became the first foreigner to operate an Aikido dojo in Japan."

*article taken from www.5thround.com

See you on the mats!

Sensei John Carter
www.aikidoacademy.com
senseicarter@gmail.com
803.546.6079

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Ryron Gracie Seminar Review

I recently returned from a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Seminar in Conyers, Georgia. It is a 3 hour drive from Columbia, SC and well worth the time and money spent. We went over some basic arm bar and triangle defenses, some details on how to get, improve and recover arm bars from the guard, a nice arm bar setup from mount and general training advice, philosophies and strategies. The learning environment was great. The hosting academy was professionally run and my training partner for the evening was easy and helpful to work with. Ryron was very personable, full of energy and eager to assist. There were about 20 participants, so we got alot of one on one attention. In fact, throughout the course of the seminar, I was able to work on almost every move with Ryron personally. I would definitely recommend attending a Ryron Gracie seminar if at all possible and I look forward to training again with Ryron soon.

See you on the mats!

Sensei John Carter