Eric Santiago

Grappler's Quest Results

Well my faithful reader(s) you've been waiting long enough for a follow-up to my last post. I went 1 for 1 in the Welterweight (160-169.9 lbs) Beginner division at the 2008 Northeast Championship of Grappler's Quest. I was happy with my first showing.

Lessons learned;

1. Do not get on a 6 hour flight the day after a fight - my coach class flight to San Francisco was made all the more pleasant by a pulled hamstring. I also had the middle seat.
2. Learn the points system - while 4 four minutes might seem like a long time compared to 3 minute Muay Thai rounds it flies by quickly. In my second match, I got absolutely whipped on points (20-0) because I didn't realize that regaining half-guard wasn't getting me anywhere. See also point 3.
3. Move up a weight class - I dropped from 175 to compete as a Welterweight which in hindsight wasn't a great idea. The thought was that I'd compete at the higher end of the class (I weighed in only 4 ounces under the maximum for the division) and fight lighter guys. In reality, its all about the weight to strength ratio. A 5'10" person has a lower muscle to body weight percentage than someone of the same weight at 5'4". I came to this realization during my second match as my much much shorter opponent sat on my chest like a sack of meat. Getting back up to 180 as soon as possible.
4. Pre-fight prep was perfect - The event went just like the karate tournanments I used to frequent; hurry up and wait. I arrived at 10am and fought at 5pm. Expecting this, I came prepared; warm gear to sit around for hours in a cold gym, iPod with Billie Holiday and slow jams to keep the adrenaline in check, time the warm-up as close to the match as possible, then queue the high tempo stuff and Go, Go, Go! Felt peaked and ready when the time cam to get on the mat.

There is some video which I hope to post and viciously critique. Until then.

Fighting this Saturday

The last few months have been fairly uneventful; work, train, sleep, rinse, repeat. So, to celebrate my recent birthday and see if all this training is paying off, I signed up to fight in the 2008 North American Grappling Championship of Grappler's Quest this Saturday.

I've done tournaments and inter-school heaters  before (mainly Karate and Muay Thai), but this will be my first Brazilian Jujitsu competition. I've only been practicing BJJ for a little over a year now. I'm a bit nervous and determined to not be either of the guys in this picture because ... well, one's a loser and the other one's getting choked out. Luckily, I'll have support from my teammates at Ronin Athletics and hopefully I'll have some pictures/video of my impressive victories. However, if I get schooled by some some punk dressed like a ninja ... then we will never speak of this again.

Looking for a fight

Two weeks ago, I showed up at the office looking a bit like Ed Norton's character in Fight Club. I had a nice scrape going diagonally across my forehead to the tip of my nose courtesy of the velcro on my sparring partner's glove during a guillotine attempt. There were a few other scrapes and bruises adding to the whole "tough guy going to court" motif I had going on that day.

Now, for the past week and a half, I've been traveling on business in the Bay area. I'm finding it surprising how much I've been itching for a fight. Certainly, I'm not thinking of trolling dive bars and talking smack about someone's mother but, I was working Google maps to find a place to get a 'quick fix'. Fairtex  - Mountain View is oh so tantalizingly close. If I only had a car.

I often find people have a hard time getting their heads around why someone who isn't looking to go pro and seemingly no obvious psychological issues would be involved in Thai boxing and MMA. Going forward I'm going to suggest they read A Fighter's Heart: One Man's Journey Through the World of Fighting by Sam Sheridan. The synopsis on the book jacket describes how this "Harvard-educated" author moves through the world of Muay Thai, boxing, and MMA. Apparently, the implication from the marketing folks being that Harvard grads aren't crazy and don't need the money, so they must not be your typical thugs. Luckily, the author is much more humble about his education and talent. The early chapters describe his time training through heat and humidity for 8 hours a day at the original Fairtex camp in Thailand. So jealous. The book later becomes an philosophical exploration of the desire and drive to fight.

It is unfortunate that the chapter in which Sheridan outlines the crux of his insights, "gameness", is also the chapter that describes (with too much affinity) his experience with the deplorable world of dog-fighting.To paraphrase, gameness is the willingness to push oneself and test the limits of their ability. It is the fighter who comes back strong after losing a few rounds. It is the marathon runner who keeps going after hitting the wall. While the concept can obviously be applied to any sport there is a unique aspect to combat where two opponents are actively engaged in taking away each others gameness through attrition. Moreover, because of the close proximity, if not intimacy, of the ring, fighters share greater respect for each other than in most other sports. Observe how many other sports end with opponents embracing. The camaraderie gained through this intense shared experience is genuine. So, the desire to fight is not born of a desire to destroy, but of a desire to live.

Postscript
My issue with the number of pages Sheridan devotes to dog fighting is less one with animal cruelty but more one with spectators of sport who overly identify with "the man in the area". As T. Roosevelt put it, "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly,... so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."  There is little honor in fighting by proxy, whether through man or beast.

Back in training

I finally got so sick of just fighting inanimate objects, that I joined a new gym. For seemingly forever, I've been debating joining Five Parks Fitness which is renowned for its Muay Thai instructors and students (many of which compete). Unfortunately, they are way downtown at Canal and Broadway (Manhattan) which is inconvenient for someone working in Midtown and living on the Upper West . I've taken a few classes there and I think they well deserve their good reputation.

Instead, I found a relatively new place at 37th and 8th; Ronin Athletics.  Run by Christian Montes, Ronin is associated with Straight Blast Gym International. Aside from being only two blocks away from work - not that I can drag myself from my desk on time anyway - this gym had a positive atmosphere that I liked right away. I'd toured a number of martial arts schools in the Midtown area that were lacking in this regard. On the downside, the focus there is more on Brazilian Jujitsu than Muay Thai. Though for someone who already has a MT foundation and is looking to keep sharp on conditioning and sparring, there is enough to keep you happy.

On the upside, Jujitsu is a lot of fun. At first, I had to put aside my ego. When you consider yourself a fairly good stand-up fighter, it's disconcerting at the least to get constantly schooled on the mat by everyone and anyone. There has been progress. While a few weeks ago, I could only imitate a flipped turtle now I can actually last 2 minutes before tapping out. Baby steps, indeed.

My Left Foot or How I learned to love the bag

Now here's an interesting post outside of the normal tech sphere.

The other day I went to the gym. I know, *gasp*, tech people go to the gym?! You should see the reaction I get when I tell people I practice Muay Thai kickboxing. Talk about stereotyping.

Anyway, I digress. I started with martial arts about 15 years ago when I would let one of my high school buddies "show" me his Tae Kwon Do moves. You don't have to be a punching bag for too long before you start to pick up some techniques. Since then I've studied Kyokushin Karate, Jeet Kune Do (which Bruce Lee made famous), and Kenpo at various periods in my life.

I got involved with Muay Thai about 3 years ago, first through Columbia University's Kickboxing club and since have practiced on my own. Currently, I'm evaluating several NYC schools. Pickings are surprisingly slim. I like Five Point Fitness and even though they are all the way downtown, I may make that my new home.

Practicing on my own has been OK, but everyone's natural tendency is to get comfortable in a given routine and not push yourself towards your weaknesses. This bring me to the original reason for my post; my left foot.

Unlike some of the other styles I've studied, Muay Thai does not chamber its kicks and the leg is straight through most of the kick. It's the reason Muay Thai is renowned for a very powerful martial art. However, after so many years of doing chambered kicks, its difficult to completely adopt a new technique. This is doubly true for your non-dominant leg.

So here's where technology come back in play. I started browsing YouTube and Google Video for Muay Thai clips.There are some really decent ones like this match, and some junk, like this clown. But, in all, I was able to glean some things from watching experienced fighters. Then, I decided to make my own video in order to evaluate my own performance. Truthfully, my original intention was to keep this for private viewing only, but A) putting it online gave me an excuse to play with Flash, which I have not done for awhile, and B) it makes me appear cooler that I actually am.

So, narcissistic tendencies aside, you can see my latest endeavor in the Flash player to the right. I don't know exactly how it started, but I'm pretty sure the bag said something about my Mama. It knows better now.