MMA pioneer, Erik Paulson, will be making his annual Combat Submission Wrestling(CSW) Seminar visit to Titan Fitness, State College, PA on October 24th and 25th, 2009.  To reserve your spot please contact Paul Zelinka or Bruce Lombard @ 814-235-1015 or info@titanfitness.com.  You can also visit www.titanfitness.com or www.lombardmma.comfor more information.  Do not miss this opportunity to learn from one of the top MMA Coaches and former fighter’s in the world.

Erik Paulson is the former 2-time light heavyweight Shooto World Champion.  He is the only American ever to achieve this title.  Coach Paulson travels around the world to share his MMA knowledge and fighting system.  His seminars are known for the abundance of information, interaction, and charisma.

Erik Paulson is the founder of Combat Submission Wrestling(CSW).  CSW is regarded as the most dominant MMA system in the world.  This fighting system encompasses three areas: kickboxing, clinching, and grappling.  Combat Submission Wrestling is a blend of many systems which includes: Muay Thai, French Savate, Western Boxing, Greco-Roman, Freestyle Wrestling, Shooto, Judo, Brazilian Jui Jitsu.

Erik currently trains some of the top MMA fighters in the world, including: Josh Barnett(UFC veteran, Pride Veteran, Affliction #1 heavyweight contender); Bobalu Sobral(UFC veteran, Affliction light heavyweight); and coach/cornerman for Brock Lesner(current UFC Heavyweight Champion.

Please visit Erik @ www.erikpaulson.com

Kevin Chan, a member of Titan Fitness, recently had the opportunity to travel to Phuket, Thailand to spend a month training at a Thai Boxing camp. Chan is from Queens, NY. and is a recent graduate of Penn State University and majored in accounting.

Thai boxing, or Muay Thai, is a form of martial arts commonly practiced in Southeast Asia and is Thailand’s national sport. Muay Thai is different compared to other forms of martial arts and boxing because more points of contact are permitted. Use of the hands, elbows, knees and shins are allowed, making eight points of contact for fighters to try to take advantage of.

Titan Fitness recently asked Chan, 21, to share his experiences with readers. In this excerpt, he talks about his time training in Thailand.

Titan Fitness: How you got involved with Thai boxing?
Kevin: Since I had been boxing for a while, I wanted to try something different and decided to learn Muay Thai in the country where it originated from.

TF: What is your experience with martial arts?
K: I have been boxing at Titan for a little over a year. I have never fought, but I would like to in the near future.

TF: What has your experience been like belonging to Titan Fitness?
K: I decided to join Titan in the summer of 2008 and instantly discovered that it is a great gym. The gym atmosphere is vibrant and friendly. The instructors have a lot of experience and are very helpful. I also met a lot of other Penn State students and became friends with many of them. It’s the best gym I have been to and I would still be training there if I was at State College.

TF: How did you get the opportunity to go to Thailand?  Did you have any hesitations about going?
K: I had just graduated and wanted to travel during the summer before I started working. Even though I didn’t travel alone, I definitely still had some hesitations as to traveling to Thailand because of the political climate, and because I never had gone to a Muay Thai camp before. All my hesitations went away when I arrived, and I had a great experience.

Kevin Chan, right, with trainer Namsaknoi, who was considered as one of the best Muay Thai fighters in Thailand.

TF: Where did you stay while in Thailand?
K: I stayed at a resort that was close to the Muay Thai camp, which was extremely comfortable and convenient.

TF: What did you do on a typical day in Thailand?
K: We trained twice a day from Monday to Saturday. The first session was in the morning and the other was in the afternoon. Each session lasted for about two hours. I also had plenty of time to explore and visit many different beaches and tourist sites within the island.

TF: How important is Thai boxing to their culture?
K: Thai boxing is the national sport of Thailand and plays a big part in Thai culture from what I observed. The Wai Khru is a great example of it. It is a traditional dance that the fighters must perform before they fight to show respect.

TF: Overall, how would you rate the experience?  Do you plan to continue to train here in the U.S.?
K: It was a really great experience for me, as I met a lot of nice people and had a great time. I definitely plan to return to the same camp in the future. I will also continue to train in boxing and Muay Thai here in the U.S.

Located in Los Angeles, California, Legends Training Center is one of the country’s premier mixed martial arts gyms. Besides being home to world famous trainers and coaches, who have guided the likes of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Kimbo Slice, mixed martial arts legends, like Bas Rutten, invest in and frequently train at Legends gym. Their training techniques and focus makes the Legends gym one of the most successful in the country and sets them apart from most of the rest. Legends is one in a handful of professional class gyms that can encompass all the aspects of mix martial arts into their training program, and is one of the foremost sought-out gyms for want-to-be mixed martial artists.

Owner Chris Reilly, who co-founded the gym with former UFC heavyweight champions and legends, Bass Rutten and Randy Couture, has a large professional background in boxing and kickboxing as well as an expansive amateur background in Karate, Tangsudo, Hapkido, and Taekwondo, claiming a black belt in all four martial arts. In 2001 Reilly won the “King’s Birthday,” championship in Thailand, being the only American to ever do so, and was crowned the IKKC Junior Middleweight Champion in 2003.

Eddie Bravo, Legends’ Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor, is a North America pioneer in Jiu Jitsu. Bravo is the founder of 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu, a large chain of gyms, that have reached world fame. Bravo is attributed with evolving the sport of Jiu Jitsu to how it is used today in mixed martial arts. 10th Planet Jiu JItsu gyms are located all over the world from Toronto, Canada to Stockholm, Sweden. Bravo is the 2002 North American Abu Dhabi Combat Club champion, receiving “most technical fighter” honors, and is the 2000 Grappler’s Quest champion.

Peter Nylund cofounded the Bomb Squad Gym with Chris Reilly in 2002, the precursor to Legends, and teaches Muay Thai and Boxing at the Legends gym. Nylund was the 200 Swedish welterweight champion in shoot fighting, and in 2001 was the Swedish junior middleweight champion in Muay Thai. He is ranked as one of Sweden’s top 50 athletes.

The rest of Legends trainers and coaches are the best in the business, bar none, and their bios can be found at Who We Are.

Legends has not just changed the way mixed martial arts is trained and studied inside the gym. The Legends mixed martial arts blog has changed the way people talk about and discuss mixed martial arts outside of the gym. Their blog is one of the premiere online sources for amateur and professional mixed martial arts on the West Coast.  the Legends blog gets interviews with up and coming fighters, and keeps fans updated on the latest mixed martial arts news from fight cancelations, to fighter affiliation, and covers the activity of almost all professional mixed martial arts organizations.

The Legends gym is one of the few gyms in the world to reach the iconic status, as a place where champions are bred. Only a few boxing gyms in America claim this status. Gyms such as the Kronk Gym in Detroit, Michigan, and the Wild Card Gym, in Hollywood, California. Even fewer mixed martial arts gyms have claim to this status. Legends, and a few others if any, are among those that have achieved such recognition.

In a matchup of immediate heavyweight contenders, the Cain Velasquez hype train continued to roar towards a UFC title shot as Velasquez shook off the challenge of Cheick Kongo to win a decision at UFC 99: The Comeback.

Cain Velasquez ran over Cheick Kongo for the UD win.

Velasquez felt the heavy hands of Kongo almost immediately in the first round, eating two quick punches by Kongo. However, Velasquez saved himself with a takedown and proceeded to run all over Kongo on the ground, almost finishing with a rear naked choke and slamming Kongo down hard whenever the French striker tried to stand up. In round two, Kongo swung for the fences and staggered Velasquez with a great hook, but Kongo then foolishly decided to clinch, and Velasquez rolled him into another takedown. Velasquez proceeded to pound on the gassed Kongo on the ground, riding out round two with knees to the body from back control.

In round three Kongo actually got a takedown to start the round, but it was more of the same on the ground as Velasquez swept Kongo and rained down more punishment. Kongo, however, was not done yet, getting up and then again getting the better of Velasquez on the feet until Velasquez snuffed out the comeback with a takedown, and rode out the round with ground strikes for the UD win.

It was a great display of heart from Kongo, which refused to give up and kept trying to punch back even when being dominated. But his ground game still needs a lot of work if he ever wants to contend for the title. Meanwhile, Velasquez gets his first signature win and dominated the stylistic matchup, but questions about his stand-up now arise after Kongo’s hands found their way through Velasquez’s defense more than once.

In a fight between two left-handed lightweights, Spencer Fisher somehow won a lackluster decision against the returning Caol Uno in their lightweight bout at UFC 99: The Comeback.

In a first round that left the fans restless, Fisher was content to sprawl out of Uno’s takedown attempts and clinch on the cage. For his part, Uno showed no desire to strike with Fisher, instead trying to ride into a takedown. Uno opened the second round with a takedown, but Fisher got back up and the war of attrition resumed, with Fisher sprawling and powering out of Uno’s takedowns but refusing to let his own hands go.

Caol Uno was robbed in Germany

Fisher finally let fly in the third round with strikes, but Uno continued to press forward and wrestle with a tiring Fisher. Uno’s determination finally paid off at the end of the round by taking down Fisher and grabbing mount. Fisher desperately tried to get out but Uno threatened him with submissions and hammerfists to finish the fight in mount. In a decision that for some reason announced with no card score, the judges somehow saw fit to award Fisher the victory.

What was certain was that as far as styles making fights go, Uno’s submission wrestling style and Fisher’s stand-up skills refused to engage each other. One could only wonder why Fisher chose not to force Uno to strike with him until the third round; Uno has had no wins by KO since 2005.

Allison Glenny trains Muay Thai under coach, Bruce Lombard, out of Titan Fitness and MMA in State College, PA.  On April 18, 2009 she had her first amateur Muay Thai fight in Hamburg, PA.  Glenny won a unanimous three round decision in a fast paced battle over a determined opponent from Allentown, PA.

As displayed in the video above, Allison showed amazing poise in her first Muay Thai fight displaying accurate punch to kick combinations and powerful knees in the clinch.  Knocking her opponent down twice with her straight rear cross, plus her relentless high to low attack and dominance with the plumm position, the judges rewarded her the decision with scores of: 30-25, 30-25, 30-26.

Allison Glenny will return to the ring this July.

Kristen Althouse is a Amateur Muay Thai Fighter training under coach, Bruce Lombard, out of Titan Fitness & MMA in State College, PA.  Kristen had her second amateur fight on April 18, 2009 in Hamburg, PA.  Althouse was involved in a highly competitive fight against a very strong opponent, Ally McGinley, that resulted in a draw through the judges eyes: 29-28, 28-29, 30-30.

The video above shows the competitiveness of the back and forth fight.  Kristen showed great heart and will as she withstood the aggressive first round attack of  McGinley.  But, she was able to recover and push the pace the rest of the fight.  Althouse seem to win the end of each round which could have given her the decision in most judges opinion.  She displayed good high to low offensive attacks and attempted to neutralize her opponents effective punching attack with countering front kicks(teep) and a few jumping knees. 

Althouse was able to effectively counter  McGinley’s clinch by using her over/under arm position and returning knees at her opponent.  When Kristen applied her plumm she was very dominant and landed knees at will as Ally could not defend or counter the position. 

This was a fast paced fight against to well conditioned athletes!  Viewers, please feel free to be a judge and give your own opinion on who won the fight!

The Ultimate Fighter: Season 9 USA vs U.K.

In a fight between two of the less-impressive welterweights on the show, Team UK’s Nick Osipczak defeated Team USA’s Mark Miller via a head kick in round two. The finish was ironic due to the fact that prior to the fight, Team USA Muay Thai coach and Pride FC veteran Cyrille “The Snake” Diabaté had told Miller that Osipczak possessed no knockout power in his legs.  

In all fairness to Diabaté, Miller’s height disadvantage and sloppy hands left him pretty open to be put to sleep. It was a puzzling matchup choice by USA head coach Dan Henderson; Osipczak had a five-inch reach advantage on Miller, who never had much of a ground game to rely on in case he got out-struck.  

Overall, it was a sloppy yet exciting fight where both men only sparingly listened to their corners. Osipczak at least showed the capacity to fight in both a “southpaw” (left-handed) stance and a traditional stance, a fact that Team UK head coach Michael Bisping used to his advantage. Neither man showed much takedown defense or head movement during their fight.  

Two fights are slated to air on next week’s episode; if teaser footage is to be believed, it seems as though Frank Lester will be called on to be one of the fighters competing.  
 

TUF Top 3 

Which of the fighters are the front-runners to winning it all? Early days for sure, but it’s never too early to be keeping tabs on the early standouts.  

Lightweight 

1. Richie Whitson – Team USA (Previous rank: 1) 
   The red-haired Alaskan, already nicknamed “Carrot Top” by internet fans, defeated Paul Bird via first round submission to earn the right to represent the USA. The Team Quest prospect showed good takedown defense and quick hands in his victory, making him the top standout so far from 155.
2. Ross Pearson – Team UK (Previous rank: 2) Pearson looked quick and spry in his slugfest victory over AJ Wenn, battering Wenn with knees and punches until picking up a 2nd round TKO. On this week’s episode, Pearson was showing taking exception to Team USA members drawing on his wrestling shoes. 
3. Jason Dent – Team USA (Previous rank: 3) Dent’s win over Robert Browning was expected, yet not exactly impressive; faced with an undersized opponent whose best move was the Chuck Liddel-style hand-wave distraction, Dent came off as tentative to engage before stuffing a Browning takedown attempt and then teeing off with punches and knees until he got the TKO. However, Dent is the most experienced fighter on the show, and with two previous UFC fights on his resume, his experience in the big time against big opponents shouldn’t be overlooked.  

Welterweight 

1. Demarques Johnson –Team USA (Previous rank: 1) So far, the lightweights on the show look much more promising than most of the welterweights, but for now Johnson stands out with his quick G’n’P win over Ray Elbe in the prelims. An interesting dynamic on the show is that Johnson is shown to be the only American so far who seems to be actually affected by Bisping’s trash-talk.
2. David Faulkner – Team UK (Previous rank: 2) When your own coach says that you’re “mentally weak”, it’s a red flag on your credentials that’s hard to ignore. Faulkner quickly finished James Bateman with a heel hook, but we won’t be able to see what the Wolfslair prospect is really made of until he’s put into some kind of peril inside the cage. An interesting note: his only professional MMA loss came against his current Team UK teammate Dean Amasinger via DQ in 2007.
3. Nick Osipczak – Team UK (Previous rank: n/a) The first winner on the main show didn’t look overly impressive in doing so, but he showed a good chin in dealing with Mark Miller’s punches in the first round. Osipczak so far has not shown much technique, and instead seems to be coasting on his physical talents alone. Now at least, his KO win should make the other welterweights respect him a little more. 

Dropped out: Frank Lester – Team USA 
 
Notes: 

• Besides Diabaté, the other notable coach is Team UK’s BJJ coach Mario “Sukata” Neto, whos 10-5 MMA record includes fights with Gary Goodridge, Dan Severn, Kevin Randleman, and a win over Kimbo-conquerer Seth Petruzelli. 
• He was only briefly caught on camera, but the man in the black cap and leather jacket sitting next to Dana White during the fight between Osipczak and Miller was Japanese MMA star Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto. White has said many times in the past that he hopes to bring Yamamoto stateside, most likely into the WEC and its featherweight division. Kid is scheduled to face Joe Warren at DREAM 9 in May.