hi. i'm very impressed with your knowledge in this sport. seems like you've been around for a very long time. your comments and statements that i have read in the past on this message board is pretty much right on.

========Thanks for the kind words Mel. I have been around a long time. Where does the time go? I will be 60 on March 22. I last fought in the late 70's in Japan. We did not have Thai boxing in America then, althought i believe it reached the UK in the early seventies. Or if we did, I certainly was unaware. I remember just "full contact karate" (idolized Bill Wallace, Bob "Thunder" Thurman, Howard Jackson, my home town boy, Joe Corley etc ) I took up and competed a few times in full contact karate at age 28 after 16 years in sport judo, and TKD. (a little late to really excel-too stiff by then)
Then, I went to Japan to really hone my Judo skills , and visit the Kodakan, etc. I really love the country the people and the culture. I took the TKD, the full contact karate and the judo to Japan, where they liked to have these precursors of MMA. They would call them "handicap" or "special challenge" matches. (They actually weren't really supposed to even practice martial arts before 1975 according to the ridiculous armistice terms) But, we still had small events, contests, etc, like judo vs karate, and all types of variations. I suppose it was really closer to shoot boxing than anything. punching, throwing and yes, even knees, sometimes. no one had heard of Gracie (of course) or Vale Tudo. at least not by that name. Athough they certainly had a form of Ju Jitsu which was actually what I called Judo with a mean streak. (ie self defense applications of the sport.) So we had judo vs karate, boxing vs wrestling, and all possible variations of those.
And that continues to some extent there until this very day,. They will even have women's wrestling on the same card with a legit women's Muay Thai match, then an MMA followed by another fake wrestling match. or a big girl vs a smaller one with the big one wearing 16 oz gloves and the small one fighting with anything from normal sized gloves to almost bare knuckles(basically little more than handwraps)if the size disparity was really great- and the crowds love it all. the real and the fake. (show) Funny, in America it is totally different consitituences. etc. Biggest regret: I wish I had made the effort to really learn the languge then, instead of waiting so many years. ========


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i've been told by many great people that one of the greatest things you can pass on to others is knowledge. you're doing a great job of giving good information to those who don't understand much about this sport.

======thanks. Those who can, perform. Those who can't, teach. we need both. Most of what I learned was the hard way-because i was really bad about not listening to people who were older, wiser and smarter.. or learning from OTHER people's mistakes. I used to think old people were clueless.I still teach a judo class to underprivileged boys once a week.
I am pretty much in awe of the fighters today. they seem to be so much better-maybe there are just so many more participating today, and everyone has pooled their knowledge-and you have places like AX where people come together and share their experiences-and so everyone knows more today. I just collect it all, catologue it and try to remind people of what they often actually already know but maybe forgot. ==========


hopefully Marlowe will have a good year this time. when she's confirmed for a fight, she trains harder than most professional fighters that i have met.(and i'm not saying this just cuz she's my wife.) she is one of the most dedicated and best disciplined student i know.

=======I believe she will. In all labor there is profit. and training is LABOR. Hard Labor.I think the women's side of the sport is waking up. In fact I see it getting really big in a couple of years.They put on great show,with a unique style, and everyone who sees them becomes a fan.

This is for everyone-I really like to hear a man compliment his wife. It is an investment in another human being. A very significant other human being. A man who respects and honors his wife can't possibly out give her. Women love to be noticed, appreciated, and to hear it verbalized. often. If you give her that, she will do you good all your life. I wish I had learned that earlier in life... ==========


marlowe is to fight mid March at a local show here in San Diego.

====keep me informed on that, and best of luck.======

dan