Who was you toughest opponet during the old days? Was it one individual that seemed to have your number every time you meet at a tournament? Did you ever overcome them at any point in your training?
Toughest opponent
- Thread starter terryl965
- Start date
There was a former FMA guy who switched to preying mantis who just had my number. He moved in a weird way and I never was able to adjust to him. Paper, scissors, rock...
Xue Sheng
All weight is underside
Not competition but I can tell you toughest was that I use to spar in the old days.
a Southern Preying Mantis guy
a Southern Preying Mantis guy
Mine was Northern mantis, but perhaps a pattern is developing!
OP
- Thread Starter
- #5
For me it was a guy named Butch Davis he was part of the Old PKA and man I knew what was coming but was never ever really ever to get out of the way. He was not that good but he beat me 11 times over a two year period, the only person I never beat inside the ring.
Aiki Lee
Master of Arts
My younger brother is 3rd dan in Isshin Ryu, and we used to compete in local tournaments in Illinois. I never did very well, I was never suited for sport fighting, but he excelled at it, and now has an interest in MMA.
Any hoo, Whenever he and I would spar MMA style he'd kick my a$$ from here till sunday; it was totally my fault though I tried fighting him everytime using his own methods. As my martial art is combat oriented and not sport fighting it was no surprise that I couldn't win trying to fight like a UFC guy. It wasn't till much later that I actually started moving the way my martial art was teaching me too move. I had stopped sparring with him by then. He now serves a good training partner for me to experiment with and test my knowledge of strategy. I guess he was my rival in a sense, but not anymore.
Any hoo, Whenever he and I would spar MMA style he'd kick my a$$ from here till sunday; it was totally my fault though I tried fighting him everytime using his own methods. As my martial art is combat oriented and not sport fighting it was no surprise that I couldn't win trying to fight like a UFC guy. It wasn't till much later that I actually started moving the way my martial art was teaching me too move. I had stopped sparring with him by then. He now serves a good training partner for me to experiment with and test my knowledge of strategy. I guess he was my rival in a sense, but not anymore.
HS wrestling...... the guy I had the most problems with went on to win our weight class at state my junior year. He was just too smart. No stronger or faster than I, but he was much more experienced.
I never was able to beat him, not once.
I never was able to beat him, not once.
Shinobi Teikiatsu
Green Belt
For me it was this guy who trained with us a few months back.
We both had about the same skill level, maybe he had a bit more since he was in the marines, but here was our problem
I seem to be almost inhumanly flexible. I can bend into positions and into a technique that not even my teacher thought was possible, but I still do. This guy that I trained with was just about my polar opposite, but he was pure muscle. If he ever landed a hit, it was almost certain to snap something.
Anyways, because of this, we made ideal training buddies, because he could try as hard as he liked to outmuscle me in a technique, but my flexibility allowed me to just bend out of the way, and I could try as hard as I might to bend him into a position, but he wouldn't do it either. We could go on for almost ten minutes trying to do something until our teacher called us out on account of exhaustion.
I'm pretty sure he still has my number.
We both had about the same skill level, maybe he had a bit more since he was in the marines, but here was our problem
I seem to be almost inhumanly flexible. I can bend into positions and into a technique that not even my teacher thought was possible, but I still do. This guy that I trained with was just about my polar opposite, but he was pure muscle. If he ever landed a hit, it was almost certain to snap something.
Anyways, because of this, we made ideal training buddies, because he could try as hard as he liked to outmuscle me in a technique, but my flexibility allowed me to just bend out of the way, and I could try as hard as I might to bend him into a position, but he wouldn't do it either. We could go on for almost ten minutes trying to do something until our teacher called us out on account of exhaustion.
I'm pretty sure he still has my number.
kaizasosei
Master Black Belt
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My toughest opponents....hmmm, had plenty in early highschool. One time i got slammed on the ground, knee hurt in grade 7 by a big guy named Dwain. Pulled some wwf move on me or something. Dude had an attitude problem or simply didnt like me or something. That was probably one of the things that got me thinking about ma.
Funny thing, Dwain simply disappeared as he changed school. Many years later after getting kicked out of all schools in the province, the only school that would foster me as i was to graduate through correspondence, was the waldorf school. And that's when i met Dwain again. He was much nicer as it seems the waldorf worked some kind of social miracle on him. As i was now older and had trained lots by then and was bigger though not as big as he was but at least i had reached an fair level of maturity cause while i was in grade 7 dwain was in grade 8 or 9 , Dwain seemed calm and sane but eager to challenge me again.
Hell he probably remembered times he'd pick on me as a little one. So one day in in the Waldorf room, we had a friendly wrestling match, with spectators. Dwain went down. Slowly, like a big tree at first but then like a sack of potatoes. we both go down and the second he turns his back on me, i get him in a rear naked choke and before long, he's tapping...talk about justice coming through. That was that. One shot. He was a very good sport about it and we remain as friends though i havent seen him since then.
Had plenty of those...weirdest thing is the few cases were the most feared enemies became truly valuable friends.
At the moment, my greatest challenges in the fine sport of mma are for one the formidable trainer Jorge Balarin.
Also there's one guy in particular at the gym called Markus that is kindof a sportive challenge for me. Although he got me to tap a couple of times, i couldn't get him yet...****, he's been at it for longer and is more muscle, i had rolled with several people a number of times but he was fresh...yadayada, no excuses, he probably would still have gotten me even if i was fully charged....??Next time will be glad to try again. Have been moving house recently and been skipping mma training as well as bjj and aikido.
At the mma gym, i'm guessing plenty of the people i haven't even rolled with yet are quite tough too. Only one was to find out.
Thing is that when we roll and all....many of my moves wont work well without atemi because the opponents are too cautios, too strong and have good instincts as well as excellent techniques.
I am now studying books by Steve Scott. Groundfighting pins and breakdowns is most valuable and great foundation(although i got myself armlocks, leglocks, and strangles&chokes. Also refreshing my groundwork judo so as to be able to cope better.
j
Funny thing, Dwain simply disappeared as he changed school. Many years later after getting kicked out of all schools in the province, the only school that would foster me as i was to graduate through correspondence, was the waldorf school. And that's when i met Dwain again. He was much nicer as it seems the waldorf worked some kind of social miracle on him. As i was now older and had trained lots by then and was bigger though not as big as he was but at least i had reached an fair level of maturity cause while i was in grade 7 dwain was in grade 8 or 9 , Dwain seemed calm and sane but eager to challenge me again.
Hell he probably remembered times he'd pick on me as a little one. So one day in in the Waldorf room, we had a friendly wrestling match, with spectators. Dwain went down. Slowly, like a big tree at first but then like a sack of potatoes. we both go down and the second he turns his back on me, i get him in a rear naked choke and before long, he's tapping...talk about justice coming through. That was that. One shot. He was a very good sport about it and we remain as friends though i havent seen him since then.
Had plenty of those...weirdest thing is the few cases were the most feared enemies became truly valuable friends.
At the moment, my greatest challenges in the fine sport of mma are for one the formidable trainer Jorge Balarin.
Also there's one guy in particular at the gym called Markus that is kindof a sportive challenge for me. Although he got me to tap a couple of times, i couldn't get him yet...****, he's been at it for longer and is more muscle, i had rolled with several people a number of times but he was fresh...yadayada, no excuses, he probably would still have gotten me even if i was fully charged....??Next time will be glad to try again. Have been moving house recently and been skipping mma training as well as bjj and aikido.
At the mma gym, i'm guessing plenty of the people i haven't even rolled with yet are quite tough too. Only one was to find out.
Thing is that when we roll and all....many of my moves wont work well without atemi because the opponents are too cautios, too strong and have good instincts as well as excellent techniques.
I am now studying books by Steve Scott. Groundfighting pins and breakdowns is most valuable and great foundation(although i got myself armlocks, leglocks, and strangles&chokes. Also refreshing my groundwork judo so as to be able to cope better.
j
mozzandherb
Green Belt
By far my toughest opponent is myself..haha. But when I was a kid I went to a lot of tournaments and I was always getting beat by the same kid, I still remember his name it was Richard Stocia. Anyway this kid was good. Last I heard though is he quit TKD because the felt there was always too much pressure on him to excel and win and if he came in 3rd at the Worlds, well I guess that wasnt good enough
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Cirdan
Senior Master
Oh, I`ve had many of those. It took a lot of time and work but I always got to a level where I at least could put up a good fight and sometimes beat them.
A Wado and Tai Chi guy. Technically brilliant, quick and very good at reading you. Solution: be deceptive and counter with quick simple techniques.
A suprisingly agile 300 pound wrestler. Solution:Think and move quickly, go for the neck.
A skilled and athletic Jujutsuka with lots of experience from real fights. Solution: Be patient, stubborn and conserve your energy. Play it like a game of chess.
However it was this one guy I never had a snowball`s chanse in hell with. His rooting was unbelievable, I might as well try to throw the empire state building. I think he is involved with training the Norwegian JJ team now.
A Wado and Tai Chi guy. Technically brilliant, quick and very good at reading you. Solution: be deceptive and counter with quick simple techniques.
A suprisingly agile 300 pound wrestler. Solution:Think and move quickly, go for the neck.
A skilled and athletic Jujutsuka with lots of experience from real fights. Solution: Be patient, stubborn and conserve your energy. Play it like a game of chess.
However it was this one guy I never had a snowball`s chanse in hell with. His rooting was unbelievable, I might as well try to throw the empire state building. I think he is involved with training the Norwegian JJ team now.
Guardian
Black Belt
I never did the tournament bit, my training was strictly defense orientated military wise. We did allot of sparring and I had one dude over the course of 4 years together that I could never quite get the better of, he was a skinny little dude that moved like a dang nuisance fly that you just can't quite swat LOL. In fact, he's the one that's going to make me have surgery on my knee one day when I retire for the 2nd time.
There have been others that have been tough to beat, but he was the one that gave me fits.
There have been others that have been tough to beat, but he was the one that gave me fits.
Mind you this is wayyyyy back,
I had a real good friend who was also a competitor like myself. Literally we would meet every weekend for a couple of years at one tournament or another. He had started competing earlier and was in sync quicker so it took several years to eventually over come this. (he really had my number for awhile) Then we were pretty much on par. Both of us were fortunate to have won a ton of championships.
I had a real good friend who was also a competitor like myself. Literally we would meet every weekend for a couple of years at one tournament or another. He had started competing earlier and was in sync quicker so it took several years to eventually over come this. (he really had my number for awhile) Then we were pretty much on par. Both of us were fortunate to have won a ton of championships.
kidswarrior
Senior Master
The ground. And it never misses. 
Seriously, my wrists are still not right 23 years after losing my balance on the street while 'rescuing' a fair maiden (not so much, really). And still have the scars on my palms to prove it.
Seriously, my wrists are still not right 23 years after losing my balance on the street while 'rescuing' a fair maiden (not so much, really). And still have the scars on my palms to prove it.
