Matt Tuckey is a writer from Oldham, England. He covers celebrities, night life, Manchester, fitness, creative writing, social media, psychology and events. Some of this may, in some way, help others. Or maybe it'll just entertain you for a while.
What are nunchucks? They’re an eastern martial arts weapon predominantly used in kung fu and karate. They’re ‘two sticks (traditionally made of wood), connected to each other at their ends by a short metal chain or a rope. It is approximately 30 cm or 12 inches (sticks) and 2.5 cm or 1 inch (rope). A person who has practiced using this weapon is referred to in Japanese as nunchakuka (ヌンチャク家, nunchakuka).’ - Wiki.
I guess I’m a nunchakuka now.
A month ago I explained I was going to practice the basics, and upload a video of the results. I’ve dug out a pair of Decathlon foam covered training nunchucks and spent a month dabbling around with them, following Youtube instruction mostly from Florida-based sensei Matt Pasquillini.
I’ve learned a few basic moves like the Outer Orbital, Down and Up, the Bruce Lee Triangle, the Hand Pass, Figure 8, Underhand Pass, Deflecting Strike, Rip Roll, Under Arm Catch and a combination of a few of these.
I made a demo of the things I learned, in which I predictably forget several of the moves because I for some reason didn’t copy them all down. The ones I missed out are basically warm-up moves. What’s included are the things I needed time to develop.
Also, I followed a few healthy recipes and did cut out a lot of junk. Went from 78kg to 76.2. Sigh. Fighting cravings, learning and focussing on a new task, learning new recipes… all of these tie into psychology, hence this post goes up on #psychologysaturday.
An interesting, fun and utterly pointless project. Looks good though.
Former UFC light-heavyweight champion Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson is the next stage guest. Loud, lairy and a self confessed ‘real asshole,’ Jackson, a former opponent of Chuck Liddell, also in attendance today, opens reminiscing those particular fights – as best as he can.
“I couldn’t have beaten Liddell. Chuck had just fought Wanderlei Silva and got knocked out. Styles make fights. To this day, I still remember knocking Wanderlei spark out.” He looks off into space for a moment. “Give me a sec, I’ve got brain fog. I can’t remember my own boxing coach’s name. I’ve been punched in the head too many times. What was the question?”
Jackson’s Q+A meanders from training in England with (he remembers) Paul Kelly, to his Ultimate Fighter season, in which cameras go behind the scenes and when 2 fighters and their trainees are pitched against each other for 6 weeks.
“I hated every second, hated the guys’ guts,” Jackson admits. He tells us of juggling a court case, training, the TV show, and losing his temper.
Jackson then dipped into the movie business, as BA Barakas in the A-Team remake, picking that project over a fight. Dana White, he tells us, “was not happy. If you do nothing (in pro fighting) for 6 months, it’s hard to get back in.
“I never met Mr. T. He wanted to play BA Barakas again. I’m one of his biggest fans. Mr T Gave me a Snickers bar, (As Mr T advertises on TV) and I ate it.
AQ: Who was the most annoying person you ever fought?
RJ: Jon Jones was an annoying fight, but personality, Chael Sonnen. He’s annoying as fuck! (US-Canadian sports journo) Ariel Helwani got me sued! He cost me a lot of money. You have to use the word ‘allegedly.’ He asked me, ‘Are you in love?’ I said, ‘no.’ It cost me a girlfriend AND I got sued! (MMA fighter) Bob Sapp is rich as fuck, but he’s the cheapest person you’ll ever meet. We went to Thailand to train with him. Sapp is so funny.
AQ: If WWE gave you some training, would you be open to it?
RJ: No, I’m heterosexual. Wait, what? If they trained, maybe, but I’m old (44).
AQ: What were the best moments of (early MMA promotion) Pride?
RJ: They had after parties before the fights had finished. I met this groupie, got her number. I turned around and (entourage member) Gary was playing with her titties. I didn’t know she was a pornstar!
Before the next stage guest appears, I take a browse around the building to see what’s happening. The seminars have begun. A section of Bowlers has been set aside for training seminars, and Matt Hughes is the first guest to teach on the mats, focussing on takedowns.
Chuck Liddell is next to take to the mats, teaching striking for MMA.
Finally UFC’s Kenny Florian taught some submissions.
I wish I’d been faster and booked onto these, as training with a fighter is a rare opportunity.
Brazilian former Middleweight champ Anderson Silva is the last stage guest of the day. Silva holds the record for longest UFC title reign at 2457 days.
JN: when you dropped Vitor Belfort (with a front kick to the head) what did you think?
AS: I used boxing, then put my leg high. Bam. It worked. When you have a discipline, and train, it works. When you do something, do it with heart.
His stage talk meanders between hyping a fight with shit-talk (“When you talk a lot, about wife or daughter, I think, okay, I’m gonna go kill this guy”) to injuries (“My doctor told me not to fight. Coach said, please put your hands up. I said, ‘I can’t, I’m in too much pain.’ The judges saved my life against Chael Sonnen”). (Former Light Heavyweight champ, now Heavyweight Champ) Jon Jones Silva describes as “my bro! I respect him a lot. It’s a good fight for fans to think about, but it won’t happen.”
Questions are opened to the audience, and a fan first asks about UFC 162, back in July ‘13. On the night, Silva lost his middleweight belt that he’d held since 2006.
AS: I respect (opponent) Chris Weidman a lot. I lost focus, and got knocked out. It’s a tough game. When I win it’s good, when I lose it’s okay. In personal life it’s the same. Sometimes you lose, sometimes you win. Nobody can stop you except you. When I lost my win streak, it’s like something happens to you in one second. It happened to me.
The next audience question brings up his Matrix-like fight style- lots of leaning, arms low, a fluid, kinetic display.
“I grew up watching Bruce Lee,” says Silva. “I tell friends ‘I’m Bruce Lee!’ My friends were like, ‘Bruce Lee is Asian.’ I’m like, ‘I’m black Bruce Lee. It’s the same.’ I’d say, I’m Spiderman!’ My friends would say, 'come on bro, Spiderman’s not black!’”
(Maybe not, although in a recent incarnation Spiderman was half Puerto Rican, and Silva is similarly Latino.)
The final audience question of this Q+A, and of the day: What does it feel like being the baddest man in the room?
AS: I’m not the baddest man in the room! (Silva points to the signing tables at the far end, manned by this weekend’s guests.) There’s a room full of fighters!
In the middle of the day: photoshoot with current welterweight champion, UK's Leon Edwards.
“I came as refugee,” says Mohammed Mokaev. “I now have everything. I’m happy enough. I’ve money.”
Mokaev, born in Dagestan Russia but now a nationalised Brit, is the first stage panel guest at For the Love of MMA, a Mixed Martial Arts convention in Bowlers Manchester. The convention is back for its second year, again featuring a roster of current and former UFC fighters, stage talks, trader stalls, training seminars and photo ops.
(I incorrectly identify Mohammed Mokaev as Islam Makhachev. Apologies – I’m blaming memory difficulties.)
Now ranked 12th in the UFC Flyweight division, Moakev tells BBC’s Jamal Niaz people were nice to him when he arrived, getting a free gym membership, without which he wouldn’t have got the £50K from UFC President Dana White. He tells of his preparations before an MMA bout.
“I get nervous before every fight. If you don’t, you’re crazy. You don’t care about what’s happening.”
Mokaev didn’t get into fighting for fame. He wanted to be as successful as possible, he tells us. “I sent a message to Dana White saying, ‘in 4 years time I’ll be in the UFC.’ I was.” Making the prelims in UFC Fight Night in March this year, Mokaev got Performance of the Night for his submission over Cody Durden, and the London Atmosphere, he tells us, was so good. If his predictions are accurate, there’ll be 2 more fights before a title shot.
Niaz asks about Mokaev’s top fighters – he names Jon Jones and Anderson Silva, the latter of whom is also a guest this weekend. Niaz mentions the other UFC OGs in the building like Chuck Liddell. (More on them later.) Mokaev tells of his understandable astonishment that, a few years ago, he was playing as them on UFC console games. Now he’s appearing alongside the real fighters as a professional himself.
Finally, Niaz asks about coping strategies for things going wrong.
“Nothing goes right!” jokes Mokaev. “I was sick and waiting for my visa before my fight. If you want success, you have to go through stuff.”
Next up, returning to the stage – and to the event – is last year’s headliner, Canadian middleweight Georges St Pierre.
Niaz asks about a planned fight against Anderson Silva, a bout that didn’t materialise.
“I feel like I want to go back,” claims GSP, “but then I go home and I’m like, nah. When I was young I’d liked to have fought the best, to be the best. I was crazy. If the door was closed, I would have kicked it in. I’m not that guy now. I’m happy and healthy.”
JN: What was your most complete performance?
GSP: BJ Penn was the best fighter I fought, pound for pound. The performance was worse, I don’t know why. You don’t control it.
Niaz opens the questions to the audience. The first question is, like last year, in reference to GSP’s role in the Captain America movies.
GSP: I know (titular actor) Chris Evans; to share a screen with him is great. People don’t give stunt doubles enough credit. They make scenes look so good.
AQ: Would you consider a grappling match against Silva?
GSP: I’m not the same person I used to be. It doesn’t mean I’ll never compete again. Maybe for charity. I train not for performance but for longevity. The reason I train now is to increase quality of life, to make me feel better.
AQ: What's your advice for your younger self?
GSP: I would tell him it’s okay to be scared. Every fight is bigger than the previous one. Don’t over-train. ‘Train hard’ is a cliché. The trick is to train clever. Otherwise you can get injuries and depression. It’s better to be under the line than over. Do too less rather than too much. When I fought Bisping I got sick. They tried to get me to fight. Then Khabib retired. A few years later Dana White asked me to come back. It’s always like a chess match. What will be the outcome? With a few years out of performance, I still said ‘let me think about it.’ Next day his agent was still trying to get me to fight. I knew it was all a blag. It happens a lot. To be successful, you need to be aware of it.
AQ: Why did you change your walkout song?
GSP: I changed walkout song when I fought Matt Sera (another guest at the convention, as it happens), and he beat me. I’m not a superstitious man, but now I never use the same song twice.
AQ: How do you handle bad days?
GSP: Many days I feel like shit. These are the days that matter the most. It’s easy to be successful on good days, but you’ve got to be willing to put in the work on bad days. Try to be objective, not subjective. It’s done no matter what.
AQ: Any advice other than hard work?
GSP: You gotta have fun. When you have fun, you’ll learn. I stayed educated so that if it doesn’t work out, you’ve got something to fall back on.
On the blog this week: a white collar boxing match, and some predictions about the world.
Happening in the city: this week sees the return of For the Love of MMA, a Mixed Martial Arts convention in Bowlers Manchester. I’ve got a ticket for a photo with welterweight champ and fellow Brit Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards. There are still tickets. Last year’s debut event was superb.
It’s also a bank holiday so I’m keen to do something… although what?
Book
off your Friday! I'm taking a group to
Socialite, Club LIV's Thursday night party. Great music,
décor and clientele- possibly including the odd celebrity. You can
get involved through the Manchester Cool Bars
Meetup.
We're meeting in nearby Albert's Schloss.
3am
on Saturday morning sees the finale of MMA competition The Ultimate Fighter 23.
I'm still looking for a place in Manchester that shows MMA fights
like this one and UFC. As all these events tend to be Stateside, and
hence aired in the early hours of the morning in the UK, a lot of
bars are closed. The casinos are slow to get back to me. Do you have
any suggestions?
I've
got a house party on Saturday night and a Writers Connect meeting
Sunday Morning, so it'll be quite a packed weekend for me. I need
your feedback on the next instalment of my script. Swing by Nexus ArtCafe and find out all about it, from
1pm.
As
a result of this I'm skipping UFC 200, which has an explosive line-up
despite recent adjustments to the schedule. No
Holm v
Rousey, rematch, no
Diaz v
McGregor rematch... but even the
prelims have good names attached. Sage Northcutt is a rising star and one to watch.
I'll have to Youtube UFC 200 later on.
