Beating up old people should be illegal in MMA, sadly it’s still an accepted option for promotions to run out over the hill fighters to fill out a card and to sell a few extra tickets. This weekend Impact FC showcased as their main event Ken Shamrock vs Pedro Rizzo. Ten years ago this would have been a decent fight, but Saturday night’s fight was a sad reminder that once your skills have left you then you are just a punching bag able to take more blows than the average person.

Ken Shamrock has won two fights since 2002 and only four this decade.  One was against a dilapidated Kimo Leopold at UFC 48, and the other was against the recently deceased Ross Clifton who had lost 5 straight before his loss to Shamrock and whose body type resembled Earthquakefrom the WWF circa 1989, also Ken was busted for steroids after this fight.  During this time, Shamrock never got out of the first round. In fact, he had not been out of the first round since his 2002 fight with Tito Ortiz. Usually, he would be overwhelmed by the speed and power of his opponent.

No one wonders why Ken continually stepped into the cage as the answer was directly in our face, he needed the money. Ken and his managers made poor financial choices throughout his career, and today Ken is basically broke. I don’t have a problem with Ken’s desire to continue to fight. That is what a fighter is supposed to do. I have a problem with the continued booking of Ken by any promotion. Every promoter I have ever talked to has mentioned how much they care about the sport and about the fighters involved in it. If this is true, then why do I continually see fighters like Ken stepping back into the ring or cage to fight? I applaud Dana White for standing up against Chuck Liddell fighting again (for now), but I can’t see how he thought he had anything left after the Shogun fight.

I want to remember guys like Ken and Chuck when they were knocking people out and setting themselves apart from the rest of the MMA world. Sadly I am remembering more of Chuck looking up to the sky watching the birdies than him dropping bombs on people, and my son thinks Ken Shamrock is the guy Tito beat up three times. I beg you please stop the pummeling of the legends of our sport.

Come join TheCageDoor.net as we get our UFC 116 fix at Big Woodrows this Satruday, July 3rd.  We’ll be there for the prelim fights all the way up to the main event!

NO COVER!!!!

Who: TheCageDoor.net
Where: Big Woodrows
When: We’ll be there for the preliminary fights and the main card
How (much): NO COVER!
What:

UPDATED AS OF July 2nd at 2pm!!!  Prizes and stuff continue to be donated, so PLEASE DON’T MISS THIS!  There is going to be so much cool stuff available!

Prizes we have available:

• Ride Shotgun on “In the Cage” with Adam Villarreal – You and a friend get to ride shotgun and co-host a future show on In the Cage with Adam Villarreal (ESPN 97.5) – Courtesy of Adam Villarreal.
• 2 Tickets to Legacy ($160 value) – Courtesy of Mick Maynard and Legacy
• 2 Muay Thai themed Shirts  - Courtesy of  Nine Dragons Martial Arts
• Hair Cair Products and a free haircut  - Courtesy of Emmanuel Salon
• 2 $25 gift cards to Big Woodrows (can be used for food and/or alcohol – and can be used THAT NIGHT!)
• Cage Door Shirts and our highly sought after “What Would Joe Rogan Do” Shirts

JUST ADDED (as of July 2)

• 2 Wolfie’s gift cards
• a gift basket from Swisher House Records (including autographed CD’s and T-Shirts)
• Gear from Amber Boxing
• 2 Hour Private with Bob and Jeremy of 4oz Fight club
• 2 Hour Private with Alex Black of Bushi Ban

Also, we’ll be auctioning off a boxing glove signed by close to 20 MMA stars, including Tito Ortiz, Chuck Lidell, Wanderlei Silva and MORE! Courtesy of B3 Sports

Why: We will be raising money for local fighter John Malbrough’s mom.  Mrs Malbrough recently suffered a heart attack.  She is a waitress, she doesn’t have insurance and was denied benefits because she was told she makes too much money.  She was recently sent home early from the hospital due to the fact that she couldn’t pay.

The family has paid what they can but have exhausted their resources, and now, along with her hospital bills, her regular bills are piling up.

We’ll be taking donations all night, having silent auctions for some of the prizes and we’ll be selling raffle tickets for $2 each for the others.

Even if you can’t stay all night, come out and support one of our own within the MMA community here in Houston!

I don’t know what it is. Maybe I make bad decisions… well, I guess I know I do… but still; sometimes it feels like I am just a Shit Magnet. A few weeks ago, my current girlfriend and I came to a thermo-nuclear end. You know, the kind where you write off the majority of your belongings as casualties of war. Yea, it was like that. It’s kind of been like that since Iraq. Lonely. In love. Too much too fast. Break up. Lonely…. Rinse, wash, repeat. It would probably help if I didn’t like my girls to be born around 1986… but oh well. I like to call that an “occupational hazard”.

The call on Wednesday night woke me out of a stupor. Albeit an Irish Whiskey fueled stupor (it’s how we Irish meditate, mind you!) It was like getting the Warning Order about a mission. Suddenly you feel alive, renewed with purpose and vigor. I was running in the mornings, training in the afternoons and really slamming my cardio.

Sunday saw me down in Galveston for my best friend’s little sister’s (So, MY little sister!) birthday. It was a fun time. We had sprinklers and some strange horse-shoe-like game with two balls on a string. I really don’t want to talk about that one too much. Just trust me on that.

I was being pretty introspective. I didn’t really feel like being too social, bit I was still enjoying the vibe of the party. That was when she showed up. Dread washed over me. She was a cute little Irish number wearing a Betty Paige style red and white polka dot one piece and a bandana in her hair. I was doing just fine until she hit me with those eyes. Light green like the sun reflected off the dew on the morning grass.

Forget this. I’m outta here.

I head out along the beach. It’s an overcast, slightly windy day. The water is choppy and warm. The sand feels good so I start to jog along the beach, which is pretty much deserted. I’m working up a good pace. Filling my lungs with some good salty air. And Gulf pollution. Awsome.

I’m pretty far away from the group now. I wade out, chest deep in the gulf. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the ocean. The small waves take me back to Basic Reconnaissance Course, and the countless boat raids I did with Fox 2/1 back in the fall 2000 – 2001. Countless. I think about steaming towards Kuwait from Hawaii. Inevitably, I think about the Red Cross message that my mother had died and the long trip home followed by a long trip back to my comrades.

I thought about where I come from and the kind of person I wanted to be. Then a spark ignited, and the thought that I could win this fight came into my head. I felt good out on the water, far enough from shore that I could cut land out of my peripheral. I felt focused.

Walking back to shore, filled with energy, I started shadow boxing. Jab, circle left, straight. The shallow water added a really cool element. Kind of like ankle weights. I start working on footwork. Jab step, circle, pivot. Fun. Sprawl! (Splash!) Very cool. It was probably one of the best workouts I could do!

And then I saw them.

My family. My Friends. Watching me. All. Eyes. On. Me.

I look at them, looking at me.

The wind carries their applause to my ears.

I flip them off and continue sprawling. This is what I do! This is work for me!

I stayed at the party for a little bit longer. Had a burger, drank a pint. I love my little sister, and it brought peace for me to be around such groovy people. Oh, and as for the Irish girl…

You like apples?

Well… I got her number. How do you like them apples?

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Ranger Up – www.rangerup.com

Forty Thieves – www.fortythievesclothing.com

Emmanuel Salon – www.emmanuelsalon.net

Rich and I want to say thank you to all of you that came out and supported us!  We hope you had as much fun as we did.

Thank you to all of our sponsors who donated prizes:

• Adam with “In the Cage” on ESPN 97.5
• Mick with Legacy
• Arturo with Nine Dragons Martial Arts
• Mike with DFC

A very special thank you to Tim Credeur for coming out and hanging with us as well!

Enjoy the pics!

Prize Winners:

Guest Host Spots on “In the Cage”
WE WILL BE ANNOUNCING THE WINNER TONIGHT LIVE ON AIR, SO TUNE IN FROM 7-9pm!

2 Tickets  to Legacy FC on July 31

Nine Dragons Martial Arts Gloves

DFC Shirts

Bad Boy gloves

TCD Shirt

More Pictures:

So there I was. Sitting in the living room of my new man-cave, puffing on a stogie and sipping some Irish Whiskey. My pretty little lady friend and I were having a great conversation, the music was low, the mood was right. Then all hell broke loose. By which I mean my iPhone started clattering atop my glass coffee table like an ultra-pissed R2D2. (Yup. I said R2D2) My pretty lady friend raises an inquisitive eyebrow. I grin slyly as I look at the screen. It’s my manager.

“Hey.” I ask in a tone that is almost a question.

“Can you make 145 by next Thursday (May 27^th)?” She asks. If there is a point anywhere around, my manager will get right to it.

“Absolutely.” I reply in a tone of absolute confidence.  I haven’t been 145 since I was in 10^th grade.

She tells me the money. I haven’t been in the gym on a consistent basis since Ray Blodgett tried to rip my arm off like the opening scene from Cat People. Still… a loss will pay the rent and keep the power on.

“I don’t care who I’m fighting, I’ll take it.” I state with conviction. OhcrapOhcrapOhcrap.

My pretty little lady friend is all smiles. She wants to know what that was about. I look at her, puff the stogie, take a sip of the Nectar of Eire and say, “Well Darlin, looks like we gotta work on Cardio.”

Seven Days and a Wake Up

I take a run in the morning. Three miles among the abandoned warehouses of East Down Town. It’s not as hard as I thought it was going to be, but it’s a LONG way from being combat effective.

Home. Shower. Shake. Gym.

I weigh in at 157. This is good. I’ve got to concentrate my training. On a regular schedule I would be ending the sparring phase and entering my maintenance and rest phase. My rest day will be the day of weigh-ins.

Holy ring rust, Batman. I was in Jits class and some homeless guy wandered in from the parking lot and Gogoplata’d me.  Then a thirteen year old Kung Fu kid jumped up and kicked me in the face. One of those is true.

Lots of hammer swings on the tire. Kettle bells. Calisthenics. Protein shakes and celery. Chicken breasts and rice. My body has no idea what to do with itself. Healthy already? Craaaaaap.

I’m exhausted, but I’m motivated to win this thing, and that means it’s going to hurt.

TO BE CONT…

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Forty Thieves – www.fortythievesclothing.com

Shelton Law – http://sheltonlaw.us/

Click here to RSVP on Facebook.

Location: Buffalo Wild Wings – 11803 Westheimer Road Houston – MAP

Come join us for our first ever UFC watch party (we’ll also be celebrating Barry’s birthday)!

Joining us after his seminar will be UFC fighter Tim Credeur.  He’ll be signing autographs all night (big thanks to Adam Villarreal for the hook up with Tim).

We’ll be giving away all kinds of stuff, including:

Ride shotgun on ESPN 97.5’s In The Cage With Tapout Magazine’s Adam Villareal

You and a guest will get to ride shotgun with Adam for the full two hours as you talk about MMA in Houston as well as the National Scene.  Catch Adam’s show every Tuesday from 7-9pm on ESPN 97.5 The Ticket.

Mick has stepped up big and is providing 2 tickets to the Legacy FC fights.  Check out the card here – For more information, including tickets and fight videos head on over to http://www.legacyfights.tv – and be sure and register so you can see all the fight videos and be updated on the latest news about Legacy FC and Lonestar Beatdown.

If you are training or are thinking about training, Nine Dragons Martial Arts has all the gear you need.  The best part is, you don’t have to pay ridiculous shipping charges.  They offer free pick up in the Houston area.  Show them some love and grab some gear today - http://www.ndmartialarts.com (Yours truly picked up some King Shin Guards on clearance. Couldn’t be happier!)

Courtesy of Mike over at Damage Fight Company.  Mike’s been a friend of the site for a while now, and continues to not only support us, but the local fighters and the scene as a whole.  He’s got a new website launching soon, so be on the look out.

Bad Boy MMA is getting in on the action and has provided us with a pair of sparring gloves!

Click here to RSVP on Facebook.

Motivation is an interesting beast.  We relish the perseverance we have when we have motivation, and flounder helplessly in its absence.  Just when we think we have things figured out, it will slip through our hands leaving us sitting on the couch groaning about going to work out.

Motivation, especially as it relates to emotion, is an amazingly involved sub genre within psychological studies. Every single living thing has motivation. Whether it is to breath, eat, mate (wink wink, ladies) or do Sudoku (which is way beyond me). Motivation, or the lack of it, will motivate two otherwise identical creatures in completely different ways. The will to live can be an amazing thing!

So what separates us from E. Coli?

Self-Awareness?

Certainly.  When self-awareness and motivation collide, the end result is Emotion. Or at least I think it is.

Emotion is that bitter beast that closes the field as you’re rounding third just because you called her Leslie instead of Lisa. (I mean, really?!?!?) Emotion and Motivation are so closely intertwined that in many fields it is argued over where the line between the two are drawn… if, in fact, there is one. Top it off with the fact that motivations and emotions are in a natural, constant state of flux.

Very complicated, I know, but you have to trust me. There is NO WAY the Bad Man is going to leave you hanging. Motivation is constantly changing. Rather than question ourselves, we just need to adapt our way of thinking. Set goals. Emotion is trickier. Sometimes we just don’t feel like succeeding.

Well, that’s why we introduce the third side of our triangle, discipline.

When all else fails; discipline will win the day. It means getting past the emotion. Yea, it sucks. Deal with it, we have work to do.

Get your fat ass off the couch. Stop making excuses no one cares about anyway. Besides, the day you don’t want to train is the day you learn the most.

That… and chicks dig fighters.

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By the time you read this… I’m on the road headed back to Houston!

I am anxious to get home. I learn so much whenever I am at Jackson’s. For the most part, however, it seems I learn more about myself than fighting. Which is cool.

Everyone showed up…   well, I was going to say one specific moment but I realized that they (being the Jackson crew) are ALWAYS showing up! Wherever one has a fight or function, they all go! Take, for instance, an amateur boxing / kickboxing smoker being held at a community recreation center. A strong local crowd had turned out to urge on their neighborhood fighters. This town LOVES it! I get to watch a kickboxing bout between nine year olds! They loved it! Throughout the night fighters of various experience levels squared off in competition. Heather Clark made her kickboxing debut in stunning fashion with a TKO victory. That the Jackson’s fighters did well is typical. So is the fact that they all turned out. Bones. Guida. Villasenor. Holm. Dotson. DJ, Cowboy… pretty much everyone showed up to urge their team mates on. Coach Winkeljohn personally coached most of the Jackson fighters, many of whom where engaging in ther first combative contest! Occasionally a kid or two would come from the crowd looking for an autograph from Guida, Bones, Cowboy or the many other A-list fighters in attendance. From the most beginner of students, to the most experienced of pros, I was struck by the close sense of family. I was then “struck” by Ryan Webb (who is fighting in Frisco on April 4th!!) when he slapped me and took away my diet soda. I frowned like a spoiled child. I had not had a soda on well over two weeks (shut-up Derek) Ryan wagged his finger at me and shook his head. We are a family. We look after each other.

It is the morning when Clay and Jon are leaving. They are not flying. A sponsor has bought them a motor-mansion. I don’t mean a motor home I mean mansion! On wheels! Inside the gym, all the trainers, training partners and team mates have gathered to see Guida and Jones on their way. The two fighters are taking the time to shake the hands of the team mates that have helped them prepare. They reach into their bags and begin handing out hats and t-shirts. They are pieces of free schwag sent to them by a variety of manufacturers in the hopes that someone will see them waring it and decide to buy their product. They take a few pictures and then head out to their palace a go go. After they are on the way, the thing had a FOG horn, most of the Jackson Team hangs out in the parking lot. Damacio Page tried to race a car that looks like a viper. They line up on the street and pull a short drag run, squealing tires and kicking up smoke. The Jackson team laughs and cheers. After a few minutes, everyone drifts off in groups or on their own.

I decide to make my way over to Conrad’s Barber shop. Conrad Padilla is an amateur fighter and professional barber. A little over a year or so ago he was fat. I don;t mean chubby, chunky, big or portly. I mean fat. F – A – T, fat. He cut Chris Luttrell’s hair once and said he wanted to fight. Now he is a shredded 145er! He’s a great dude and many Jackson fighters make it a tradition to get their hair cut by Conrad before a fight. His shot is an MMA museum. Framed, autographed pictuhe res on the wall represented a “who’s who” of MMA. A former Soldier, he has coins and memorabilia displayed throughout the parlor. Tail pipes from a long lost chopper are mounted to the wall. Comfy couches add to the chill atmosphere. My hair is shaggy, and so is my beard. Conrad hooked me up with an old timey straight razor shave! My only complaint is that they play chill, head bobbing beats in the shop. HEAD BOBBING. Am I the only one who sees a scary problem with this?!??!?!

We discuss fighting, MMA politics and life in general. It’s a great way to begin the focusing process. I look strange without my scruff.

I meet my old cop buddy for dinner, we reminisce about some crazy calls we had together. Good times. We end up discussing more about the future than the past.

I feel fantastic. I feel like I am absolutely where I am supposed to be in my life. I am at peace like I have not been for a long long time.

I am now a sponsored fighter!!

Clothing company Forty Thieves (Named after the first Irish gang in America) www.fortythievesclothing.com offers some of the best fight shorts I have ever worn. Period. The have an understated style and can be worn anywhere… yet are MADE for fighters. Binh is also a really cool dude who cares more about WHO the athletes that represent their brand are than how much he has accomplished. Also, their shirts are bad ass. No cartoon skulls or birdie wings. No aggro ultra violent images, just an understated sense of blue collar toughness. Check them out if your tired of wearing clothes that look like a Dungeons and Dragons game.

Manumission is a complete line of facial skin care products designed to work especially for fighters. Their soaps are antibacterial as well as having special moisturizers designed to help the skin from getting cut.  They are offered atwww.fightceuticals.com!

I am also now a proud member of the Ranger Up! Team. Developed with the military mindset involved,

RU caters to military MMA afficiandos. Have a looksey at www.rangerup.com

Lastly, if you know anyone that needs a defense attorney in Texas please go to Sheltonlaw.us!

See you soon!

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Shelton Law – http://sheltonlaw.us/

I know a lot gets made of the fact that I am a Jackson fighter, and for good reason. Greg Jackson, and especially Chris Luttrell, have been mentors of mine. Not just within MMA, but as “older brother” type figures. The Jackson-Winklejohn team is, and always will be, my family.

However, I am blessed with dual citizenship. Sam Hoger has been a source of amazing knowledge and guidance to me. He has allowed me into his school and always been accepting of my experience. I have grown more in the year and a half I have been in his tutelage than I have in any other time in my life. I gain from him a skill set that is not available at Jackson’s.

I’m not from Texas, but I’m a Texan. I enlisted out of Dallas when I was eighteen, and even though I was born in Buffalo, New York (and I still talk like it sometimes) I graduated Allen High School and I say with pride that I belong to the only state in the Union allowed to fly their flag level with the Stars and Stripes. Houston kicked my ass my first two years here. However, it was the through all that crap that I was really able to grow. Now I love Houston, and I’m not leaving. I have an amazing woman (www.sheltonlaw.us) and I am on a great team. Artenas Young is one of the most gifted fighters I have ever trained alongside. He has become not only my training partner, but one of my best friends. You WILL be seeing him. His name WILL be known. Mark my words. And he’s just the other “Pro”! Ola Siyanbola has just started making his mark in the ammys and will soon join the growing ranks of Pros in the pack. We haven’t even lifted the veil off of 205 pound fighter Ray Burgos. We can’t find anyone willing to fight him, so he hasn’t even made his amateur debut yet! We have a host of other amazing fighters and I could probably write a novel on how bad-ass they are.

So, while I know it’s cool that I train with and alongside some of the biggest names in the sport – and it’s fun as hell to write about all that – I just wanted to make sure all my brothers, on both my teams, get the credit they deserve!

I am proud and honored to represent Jackson’s when I fight, but Houston is the home of the Hoger Wolfpack, and I am the Cobra Commander.

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Coming to Albuquerque is always a humbling experience. There is nothing like feeling confident in your abilities only to have that confidence stripped rudely away from  you. Case in point… I get absolutely crushed out here. By everyone. Learning is very quickly paced. The more experienced fighters look out over the controlled mayhem of Kickboxing practice giving corrections, encouragements and admonishments where needed.

I am GASSED. The altitude is awesome and I just went four rounds of getting my face kicked in. I strip off my headgear and collapse on the edge of the mat/ Cowboy Cerrone looks down on me and with an emotionless voice asks me if I am done already. Admonishment. I lift my tired carcass off the mat, strap on the head gear and wade back into the mangled throngs of sparring pairs. Every round we find a new partner. Which means that every round I’m getting beaten in a whole new way.

TapouT sponsored fighter, Travis Marx (15-1) is sparring with me. I land a right hand, but Travis responds with a quick flying knee. Out flies my mouthpiece. I drop to a knee.

“You ok?” He asks
“Oh yea” I grunt. I scoop up my mouthpiece, throw it back in.

I engage with a combo that I am fairly proud of. Travis kicks me in the head for my efforts. Out goes my mouthpiece. Dangit. Why did he kick me in the mouthpiece?

I feel bad. Then I watch the Machine Gun [Artenas Young] get suplexed by [Jon] Bones Jones. Suddenly I don’t feel so bad. I return my attention to getting beaten by Travis as I hear Bones Jones and the Machine Gun laughing like maniacs as they continue sparring.

After a day of getting beaten, I am talking to Coach Chris Luttrell. After coaching me through the morning’s workout, he thinks I need to be at 145 to be truly competitive on the national scene. Sam Hoger and I had the very same conversation only a week before. I resisted then, but after getting smacked around by BIG guys that are 155 fighters… I start to see the wisdom.

So I think I will fight at 155 for a couple more fights… but don’t be too surprised if I move down a class.

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