|
FIGHTER INTERVIEWS:
MATT
FUREY INTERVIEW 1-26-02 This
month we our fighter interview is with the always controversial Matt
Furey. People seem to either love or hate this fighter and he
provokes some of the strongest opinions out of the mixed martial arts
community. If you don't know who Matt Furey is here is a short
bio of him. He is a former College Wrestler and NCAA
champion. He is the first and only American to win a gold medal
in shuai-chiao (Chinese wrestling). He trained with the legendary
Karl Gotch who is credited with starting shoot fighting in Japan.
He is an author of numerous martial arts and fitness books. So
enough of the nice bullshit lets get to the interview. Leglock
Staff:> Matt I want to cut through the bull and ask you some
hard hitting questions. I don't know if you remember the
first time I came to your school.... Matt>
I sure do. You looked great in that suit and tie (laughs). Staff>
You know I actually came over there with the intention of taping your
butt out. I had heard so much bullshit about you and just wanted to
roll with you. Now things didn't go like I planned I remember you
tapping me at least 5 times the first time we rolled and many more
after that. Damn you pissed me off Matt>
Hehe (laughs). Well, at least you're willing to admit it. And now as a
result, you're a lot better off. Staff>
Their was one really big lesson I learned that day. You go for the kill
right off the bat. I think you caught me a couple of times with
leglocks off of the takedown. I had never seen it done that way. Where
did you come up with that go for the kill style. Matt>
The "killer-instinct" is something you either have or don't
have. It can be taught, no doubt, but if you have it to begin with, the
learning process is much easier. Basically, whenever a move is
developing I'm already thinking ahead to where you'll be even more
vulnerable if I move with speed and have proper timing. Most
people simple want the takedown. I don't. I prefer to get a takedown
that goes right into something painful, nasty and brutal. If you take
people down with the single-leg dives that I teach in my Farmer Burns
video course, you'll never have trouble seeing the opportunities again. Staff>
Now you have pissed a lot of people off saying that you don't like the
guard. Is that because of the many leg attacks that can happen if you
are in the guard. Matt>
Not at all. First off, though, let me say, why would someone be
pissed off because I don't like the guard. If you don't like doing
headlocks or duckunders, or tying up in an over-and-under position, I
could give a crap. Who died and made "the guard" a law. Last
time I checked it wasn't written in stone that you have to use it. And
there are some BJJ champions who will agree with me. Now, about the
guard - the first trouble I see with it is that it makes far too
many grapplers passive. To me, it's dumb to lie on your ass and waste
time simply trying to hold someone when you could be attacking him,
rocking the boat, off-balancing him, making him miserable and
uncomfortable the entire time; not to mention dog-ass tired. Second,
the guard bores the shit out of the audience. That's why
at so many grappling tournaments, other than the other competitors
and a few die-hard fans, NO ONE is there. The guard may be a
complicated strategy to some, but the audience is whom you're selling
tickets to and so far I haven't seen 15,000 screaming fans at a BJJ
tournament here in the U.S. Third, the guard is not as safe as so many
people think. It's only "safe" because most people want to
pass it. If you don't think about "passing" and instead think
about the fact that your opponent has given you two limbs to rip off,
then your perspective changes - and so does that of your opponent. Make
the sonofabitch scared when he's on his back - not comfortable. Staff>
Now I have seen you work off the bottom. I would call it kinda a
aggressive power open guard. I guess the best way to describe it is
like watching a really pissed off cat fight. Now do you use leglocks
off of the bottom position, too. Matt>
Well, you could call it an open-guard but that would be sort of like
coloring reality to fit a limited perception. If I end up on my
back, I'm attacking any way I can. First, the job is to
off-balance you and once that happens, submissions miraculously appear.
They may be leg locks they may be wrist locks, leg sleepers or arm
bars. Other than that, I would say that being on your
back is a scramble position. There is no reason for me to stay there if
I can't get what I want. Why not bridge you off or go for an
escape or reversal, which leads to a fresh start. Staff>
Lets talk about "set ups". I read one of your instructionals
on leg attacks and you said that setting up the leg attack correctly is
the most important part of the move. Why do you say that. Matt>
The moral of this story is, "Don't go fishing without bait ... and
keep rocking the boat." Why simply dive for the legs? Why not set
the guy up with off-balancing moves that make your job much easier and
expend far less energy? That makes sense, right? The same goes on the
ground. Make your wrestling as easy as possible. Staff>
People are saying that leglocks are not good when the opponent can
strike (i.e. no rules/vale tudo fights) what do you think about that
statement Matt>
Strike from where? When we're on the ground and I have you in a
Farmer Burns stepover toehold? How you going to strike me? Or a Gotch
toe hold? And so on. This is just lame excuse making for not having the
balls to learn something new. The deal is that what is new is often
scary to others. Everyone wants to believe that what he learned FIRST
is truth - and it may be partly true - but it ain't absolute
truth. For example, let's say in the first grade you were
taught that the earth was flat and you believed this for 10 years
because that's what you heard. Then let's say someone comes along and
says, "No it's not. It's round." Now, you would be a rare
human being if you didn't get pissed off and think the person with the
new information is an asshole. That's the way it goes. When someone
introduces something new, or in my case, something that is as old as
jiu-jitsu but hasn't been around, what are you going to think when you
here a contrarian view? If you're like most, you'll say the person is
wrong. Now, you thought I was full of shit until you came to the gym.
But you were the rare guy who not only got inflamed, but still had that
spark of curiosity. Most don't and that's why they stay stuck and don't
make much improvement. Staff>
Now you have developed a boat load of unique defenses to leglocks. Why
have you developed so many different defenses? Matt>
Because it's important to know how to defend not only what you know,
but what everyone else is trying to do. Staff>
How is your style different than Shooto and other Catch Wrestling being
shown today. Matt>
Hehe, well, from what I've seen, most have lousy if not
totally non-existent takedowns. Some people have them, yes, but
they're not the way the old pros did them and let me say, if you don't
know the old-pro method, you're missing the train. As for the
submissions of these others, many are impractical, flat out don't work,
and a ridiculous show-holds. They presume your opponent is a lifeless
idiot drinking a coke while you work him over. Staff>
I trained with you one day and I think we did at least two hundred
takedowns that flowed into an immediate progression of leglocks and
submissions. I could not walk the next day I was so damned tired. Why
do you insanely practice these flow drills and multiple submission
combinations. Matt>
Because it's essential. If I only spoke in one-word sentences we
wouldn't have a very lively interview here, would we? But if, on the
other hand, I string together some poetic phrases that grab attention,
then that's more interesting. Well, the same with training and the same
with competition. Show me people who do one move, rest, do another,
rest, do another, rest - and so on, and I'll show you a boring athlete
to watch. Being able to string together a series of moves makes you
incredible. No matter what your opponent does to counter, you have an
immediate answer and he's in trouble the entire time. Staff>
Now you have made people mad since you charge a "premium
price" for your instructional materials. What is in your
instructional materials that would convince our readers that they
should purchase them. Matt>
Those who have my products don't complain about the price, in fact,
they continue to buy over and over. The ones who cry are the very
people who wouldn't buy them in the first place, regardless of the
price, so I'm not going to try and placate them. I don't want cheapo
customers. I prefer to deal with first-class people. In regard to how I
set my prices - that's very simple. They are based upon the
value of the information and the scarcity of it. Find me someone else
who can teach what I teach. You can't. You can buy a Honda anywhere -
but if you want a Rolls Royce you gotta pay more and drive
awhile to find the dealership. Staff>
Remember I come from a pure BJJ background. I hear people complaining
that catch wrestling is unproven in competition today. How do you
respond. Matt>
Well, there are two basic things to understand about catch wrestling.
One, there are the amateurs and there are the pros. Those who are
trained in the amateur method of catch wrestling are those
who competed in high school and college. And how have these
men done? Well, we have Mark Coleman, Mark Kerr, Tito Ortiz, Randy
Couture and Sakuraba - who beat four of the Gracies. Those
are some pretty tough hombres, don't you think? Now, imagine if these
same men knew the professional style of catch that I know. It would be
a massacre. I don't even want to think what Mark Coleman and Mark Kerr
would do with this knowledge. Or Tito, holy shit. So if people want to
say catch is unproven, they can say it all they want - but it's not
true. Amateur catch wrestling mixed with some boxing and some
submissions from other styles is pretty hard to beat. Take those same
men and feed them catch for twelve months, then turn them loose, and
the world would be saying what people who learn from me say all the
time, "I've never seen anything else like it." Staff>
Alright I want you to give readers of www.leglocks.com some type of
secret that they can use to get more taps on the mat....No
bullshit, No fluff....give them something that will set them apart. Matt>
The most important thing people could benefit from is this: Stop being
so damn nice when you grapple. In practice, in a spirit of
friendship, you can still rough each other up. Grind with your
elbows. Knock each other around. Rock the boat. Off-balance
him. Never let him be comfortable. Never let him simply hang on to you.
Anytime someone lays a hand or leg on you, make him pay. Then when you
get into competition, do the same and you'll be amazed at what opens up
to you. Staff>
Thanks Matt. So if you want to learn some really mean
leglocks go to www.mattfurey.com or
www.farmerburns.com
and check out some of Matt Furey's stuff. AS
ALWAYS.........TRAIN HARD and NEVER QUIT
A.J. Comparetto
|
