Team MAD

After more than three years my lazy butt finally made it out to Team MAD to train, and let me tell you it was a pleasure.  When I got there I was surprised at how small the gym was.  On T.V. it always looked a lot bigger.

                                            Entrance to the gym

There happened to be a television film crew at the gym when I got there doing an interview with the owner and Kang Kyung-ho who just signed with the UFC.

I said hi and gave the owner the vitamin drinks and bananas I had brought and got changed.  The instructor today was Jo “Crazy” Nam-jin, a terrific MMA fighter (bantamweight) who defeated Shinichi “BJ” Kojima back in March at SHOOTO-3rd Round in Japan.

Jo-nam was a very friendly and competent instructor, and made sure everyone understood the techniques he was teaching.  We learned one take down defense, one take down, and two submissions (I learned a really cool triangle from back mount that I had never seen before) then it was time to spar.

Dear readers, this was the hottest gym I have ever trained at!  I was so sweaty that it was an ordeal just trying to sit up.  I was told that there will be an air conditioner installed tomorrow and thank god.  I definitely have a new found respect for bikini oil wrestlers.

I talked to the owner for a bit, and he said Dong-hyun Kim is doing fine.  I asked Jo Nam-jin if the guillotine “BJ” had on him was choking him at all, and he said, “no”.  The T.V. crew had me say a short monologue to the camera, so maybe I will be on T.V.  It was kind of funny, and I got to practice my rudimentary Korean.  It was a good training session even though I almost died from heat exhaustion.

                                                   Master Yang (owner of Team MAD)

                                  Kang Kyung-ho (Road FC bantamweight champion/new UFC fighter)

Jo Nam-jin and I