The one, the only....

[Szczepankiewicz]

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