Chris Jones' MMA Pro Debut

[East_TX_Spa]

As some of you know, my younger brother has a fight school.  One of his fighters made his pro debut a couple of weekends ago in Shreveport.  His name is Chris Jones and he's a great kid!  He's in the black trunks, and although he started out slow, he beat the dog out of the guy in the 3rd round.  His opponent actually tapped out from a guillotine choke, but the ref missed it and he had to end it the old fashioned way...ground and pound:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZP77jSBsAew&feature=related

He took a good long soak in the HotSpring Vanguard after this fight and he's ready to go again this weekend!

Terminator

[Tailhooker]

I see that as the next HS commercial opportunity.  Official hot tub of MMA!

[wewannahottub]

Really cool vid!  Does/did your brother ever fight??

[East_TX_Spa]

Tailhooker, I'm thinking that Limelight Spas would probably be a better fit...a little more flash!

WWHT...my br'er never fought in any organized match in the ring and is getting too long in the tooth.  He was a national Tae Kwon Do champion when he was young, but came to realize that TKD had its limitations in regards to actual fighting skills.  So, he's spent the last 20 years travelling around the country working with some of the best instructors in various martial arts disciplines: Jeet Kun Do, Silat, Arnis, BJJ, Sambo, Shootwrestling, Judo, Muy Thai, Akido, along with training under Hock Hochheim for gun/knife/stick combatives.  The boy just loves all types of fighting and has earned 7 black belts along the way.

He works as a personal fitness trainer during the day and teaches people how to fight in the evenings.  Only one of his guys has ever lost a fight up to this point...that kid just didn't have the whole-hearted drive that is necessary.  His guys are usually the stars of the show.

One of my Jetsetter customers owns the training facility and is the primary sponsor.  They operate under IMEX Fight Club.

Thanks for asking!

Term

[wewannahottub]

HOLY CRAP, CHRIS!

It is unbelievable how many types of martial arts there are.  My son is in Karate, and when people ask me, what type, IDK.  

I often wish I could get into some sort of martial arts  (HEEHEE, I almost spelled marital arts!)  as I feel it would be a great workout for my aging 42 1/2 y/o body, but I definately need a tub, first!!  Not to mention my work schedule.  

I do like to watch the fights on tv; I really like Kimbo Slice--yes I know he is not MMA, more street, but learning the martial arts.  He is one mean lookin' mo' fo'!

[dax]

I often wish I could get into some sort of martial arts  (HEEHEE, I almost spelled marital arts!)  as I feel it would be a great workout for my aging 42 1/2 y/o body, but I definately need a tub, first!!  Not to mention my work schedule.  

I studied karate in my 20's, but with wife and family I got away from it.  Two years ago I started training in Tae Kwon Do and Hop Ki Do.  I'll be 48 next month.  It's amazing the number of people in my age group, both male and female, who have started in that time frame.

I competed in the Keystone Tournament a few months back.  Did both forms and fighting.  Didn't place in forms, but took 2nd place in fighting.  Not too bad for my first competition.

The training is one of the reasons I decided to buy a tub.  Nothing is more relaxing than sitting in the tub at night after a training session.  Excpet maybe doing so in the morning when I wake up and can hardly move....  

Never too old to learn something new, Chrisi.

[Vinny]

I studied Kung Fu about 15 years ago and it was a lot of fun. I stopped because I was getting hurt from the fighting we would do. It was supposed to be controlled but unfortunately you can't control everything. I learned it in the instructor's basement - he was then a 5th degree Master, I believe he's a 8th degree now. I still get the urge to go back to learn it

The one night that stands out vividly in my mind was when we were learning throwing and breakfalling techniques on a staw mat on a concrete floor - after being thrown at least 100 times in the night and successfully breakfalling 2 times - a tub whould have been nice then.

But I was talking to him one day about the Ultimate Fighting Championship (Gracie brothers were coming out back then) and his words to me were 'to go into a ring with someone else of my ability is just downright stupid. We are able to seriously hurt each other and why would someone want to do that'. I have to say I don't understand the logic of getting beaten up as a sport - I been hit seriously twice during training and it just wasn't fun ... but I guess to each his own.

On a side note, sparring with a master is interesting - he got off a kick and threw me about 10 feet and I didn't get hurt; it was unlike any other times where I sparred a black belt or a high ranking brown belt and did suffer from their sparring.

[Bonibelle]

ooooh oooh oooh..I done it too!! but that was way back in the olden days! I was in ninth grade and several of the roughest girls in school decided that my girlfriend and I told on them for smoking in the girls bathroom...we never did. :-/.we couldn't have cared less what they were doing, we played sports and wanted no part of cigarettes. .Anyway they threatened us constantly..and there were 6 of them. They were going to "get us and teach us a lesson"  
A Dojo opened up near our neighborhood, so we joined, thinking we would at least be able to defend ourselves!!. It was Shotokan Karate and the teacher was very very serious. When I see what the kids do now, I laugh. If we flinched or couldn't hold a stance, he would smash our ankles with a huge wooden sword. We literally did hundreds of push ups because we would smile or laugh..it was punishing, no nonsense. And he didn't treat us any differently because we were girls! I can't imagine the reaction of a parent today if their daughters came home bruised from an instructor or other student...we always did!! :-/

So when the gym class did this presentation for the whole school (bouncing balls , and dancing), Diane and I did Katas..in perfect sinc (I must say). Those tough talking girls backed off real fast. They actually made a point to come up and tell us how "good" we looked. I think the real reason was that no one really knew much about Karate. It wasn't common, and certainly wasn't something girls were doing...like I said that was a looong time ago. We looked so threatening in our gis..

After all that time I can still do several of the Katas (other styles call them forms), and probably could remember some of the defensive moves if I was jumped in a dark alley!  :-?

[wmccall]

I've been studying marital arts for 27 years!

[wewannahottub]

[size=20][glow]marital[/glow][/size]

[East_TX_Spa]

I guess I was wrong....that was his last amateur match.  Tomorrow night is his pro debut.

Here's a nice article about CJ in his hometown paper today:

http://www.kilgorenewsherald.com/news/2008/0717/sports/012.html

Terminator

[BauerN]

Very scrappy fella.

Needs to tighten his guard and hooks up...but for 8 months training...WOW!!!

I'm sure he'll do your brother proud.

[East_TX_Spa]

Dad gum it's been busy today!

What a GREAT time in Shreveport last night!  CJ ended up being the first fight.  His opponent's father told one of our guys before the fight that "it's good ya'll are here to help your guy lick his wounds after my boy kicks his ass"... .

We closed the stores early and 6 of us loaded up in my love van to make the hour drive over the state line.  I planned to drive over to Louisiana and our service tech Ronnie's brother, a part-time preacher, was going to be the designated driver on the way home:



The casino is giving away a Lamborghini in a couple of weeks.  All of the guys were awestruck by it, but since I drove a DeLorean in high school and college, I just saw fit to quietly chortle at their school girl fawning:



We arrived right on time at Binion's.  Our waiter was fantastic as I only had to order one Guinness beer the entire evening, but I was never sans beverage:



As always, I started off with the wilted spinach salad with sliced egg, bacon, and vinegarette dressing.  Then, the 38 oz bone-in cowboy cut ribeye with taragon and garlic butter.....medium-rare, of course:



We skipped dessert and made our way to the Riverdome for the fights....

To be continued.....

[East_TX_Spa]

First stop was the bar:



The bartendresses showed excellent form in pouring our drinks:




I saw my br'er come through the lobby heading backstage.  He said CJ was really nervous and uptight:



I could certainly understand why!:



By the time the fights started, it was standing room only.  The fight girls were a good mix of pretty and homely, as you'd expect in Louisiana:



Ronnie tried to make time with one of the other fighter's gals, but his girl-fu was weak this night:



A sign came on that said "No Picture Takin' During the Fight", and being the law-abiding type that I am, I acquiesced to the promoter's wishes.

"Fighters....prepare to fight!"

To be continued.....

[East_TX_Spa]

CJ was the first fight of the night.  He weighed in the day before at 155 lb, but he had cut weight and was up to 165 lbs by fight time.  His opponent was a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter out of Dallas with a 1-0 record.

Just looking at the two fighters, it looked like it would be no contest.  CJ was massive and shredded while the other guy was slender and gangly.  Everyone thought it was going to be a massacre, but I've learned over the years that you NEVER underestimate someone's appearance, whether it's in the fight game or the selling game.

As the fight started, CJ landed some good shots early that seemed to hurt his opponent.  His nervousness was apparent when he did not seize the opportunity to finish the guy off.  He looked very lethargic and unsure of himself.  They grappled a little while and the first round ended without much being done by either fighter.

Round 2 was horrible for CJ.  The other guy went to the ground and CJ got worked over by the guy's long arms, legs, and sharp elbows.  He managed to land an elbow to the top of CJ's head that left a small, deep cut.  He got CJ twice on triangle chokes that nearly ended the fight.  The bell saved him on the last one as he was just about to pass out.

Needless to say, we were all stunned.  My br'er chewed him out in the corner and told him to beat that guy silly or he was going to lose the fight.  It evidently worked as CJ destroyed the guy in the last round.  He got him on the ground and started pounding away on the guy's face.  The ref finally stopped the fight and declared CJ victorious.  We all went wild and then noticed his opponent just laying there.  CJ rushed over to help and we were all yelling "Somebody help that kid!"  They finally got him backstage.

My br'er came out later and told us that the other guy had a broken jaw and was laying backstage with blood running out of his mouth.  His face was severely swollen and he could not speak.  During the fight, he had tried to tap out but couldn't control his arms and when he tried to tell the ref to "stop the fight", it was slurred and barely audible.  It was a brutal beating.

CJ was very humble, gracious, and felt embarassed by his performance.  He had a tremendous amount of support from his family, friends, and co-workers and by the end of the night, was back to his chipper self.  I gave him and his wife some money for dinner and the whole entourage went to IHOP for all you can eat pancakes.

The rest of the fights were great!  One guy got knocked out in 3 seconds by an uppercut-hook combination that shattered his jaw and sent him into convulsions.  They carried him out on a backboard.

Here was CJ and my br'er Anthony after the fight:



Everyone wanted their pic made with CJ, including this nice lady:



All of our guys were pumped and ready to fight!  We were going to enter Senor Tony in a fight, but he became disinterested when he learned that he could not bring a knife:



The lady beside me boobses kept touching my arm, causing me to shy away:



Ronnie made another attempt....strike two:



Strike three was celebrated with a crossing of the beers:



We had a great, great time.  Our designated driver got really drunk, so I had to make sure everyone got home OK, which they did.

Terminator