An update for fans of the ‘Mind, Body and Kick Ass Moves’ series, which I posted about a few months ago (I was surprised to note today that that post is the most popular in this site so far this year). Chris Crudelli has got a new show that will premier on BBC3 in the UK tomorrow night at 7pm.

Details:

Kick Ass in a Crisis
A Renegade Pictures production for BBC3
TX: 19.00 SATURDAY 17 MARCH 2007

Martial arts guru, Chris Crudelli is back on BBC 3 – to show you how to survive in a bar room brawl, escape from a marauding gang and how to deflect a knife attack or bottle attack or worse. Using his impressive combo – martial arts and mind tricks – Chris takes a group – among them self confessed wimps and victims of crime and in just five days transforms them into urban warriors.

Here’s an excellent documentary that aired on the Cutting Edge program on SBS on Tuesday night. It has already been shown on British television in December 2006 and was made by Journeyman Pictures.

(be patient, it may take a few seconds to load when you press Play)

The Journeyman website has a transcript of the program.

About the documentary:

Videos of smiling suicide bombers and insurgent attacks have become as important a weapon as explosives in Al Qaeda’s global jihad against the West. The jihadis have seized on the power of the internet and their message cannot be silenced. But who actually watches these videos and what effect are they having on young people in the Muslim world? And – for that matter – on their enemies in West?

Abu Muawiya smiles and blows a kiss to the camera. He’s about to ram his car, packed with explosives, into an Iraqi checkpoint. Hours later, a slick and sophisticated video of his death is available to download. This is the jihadi propaganda machine, designed to inspire its supporters and terrify its enemies. The video is emotional, powerful and – thanks to the internet – you can get it anywhere in the world.

“We use the programme ‘Windows Movie Maker’ to make the films”, explains one jihadi producer. The whole process is taken very seriously. Only when the video has been checked and approved by the group’s chain of command will it be taken to an innocuous internet café to be uploaded. “The CIA can search for ages. Even if they find the café where it was uploaded, they can never find the person”, explains journalist Faris bin Hizam.

Al Qaeda have always recognised the importance of propaganda. When planning September 11th, they filmed the wills of the hijackers against an easily replaceable background. This enabled them to edit in shots of the World Trade Centre in flames later. For them, 9/11 was as much about creating iconic images as killing their enemies. But it was the war in Iraq and spread of broadband internet that turned the trickle of propaganda into a torrent.
[..]

Well worth watching, if you haven’t already.

Mr. T explains his new show:

“My show ain’t no Dr Phil, where people sit around crying, ‘What’s wrong with me, Dr Phil? What’s wrong with me, Dr Phil?”‘ said Mr T.

“You are a fool! That’s what’s wrong with you.… My show is the Dr Phil on wheels.”

Not only is their coming bout this Saturday night a title fight (UFC Light Heavyweight), but it is also a long-awaited rematch between the two, punctuating Sobral’s 10 fight winning streak, since he was last beaten by Liddell back in 2002. In that bout Sobral was knocked down by a left high hook in the first round. Liddell has also had a long run of wins, his last loss being back in 2003 to “Rampage” Jackson.

Sobral (27-5-0) seems to have the fitness edge over Liddell (18-3-0); he’s been working hard developing his stamina with sand and hill sprints, among other things. He’d be planning on using that edge to wait til Liddell tires and perhaps slips up, allowing himself to be taken down. At 30, the Brazilian is also 7 years Liddell’s junior. Sobral is masterful on the ground, while The Iceman prefers to end his fights standing and is known to stubbornly resist being taken down and do so very effectively. As time wears on in the fight it is likely to shift more and more in Sobral’s favour, if he can hold his defence together in the first two rounds, and I think that is what will happen. I am going with a Sobral victory in this one.

The Forrest Griffin (12-3-0) vs. Stephan “American Psycho” Bonnar (also 12-3-0) is another long awaited rematch. Both fighters are coming off a loss, Griffin a close one to Ortiz and Bonnar to Rashad Evans. Their last fight, in the finals of the first UItimate Fighter reality TV show, is considered one of the best in UFC history. That fight is haled with bringing UFC into the mainstream, after their three round toe-to-toe battle reportedly drew 10 million viewers at the peak of the show, up from an audience of 2 million at the start. My money is on Griffin, who has gotten much better since their first encounter, to win again.

The third fight is between the French kickboxer Cheick Kongo and the wrestler Christian Wellisch, known as “The Hungarian Nightmare”. Don’t know much about these guys, or the next pair Hermes Franca and Jamie Varner. In my ignorance I am going with Kongo and Varner respectively. The last fight on the televised card is Nick Diaz (who is replacing Thiago Alves, unable to fight due to illness) versus Josh “The Dentist” Neer. I am going with Neer for that one.

Here’s the full card:

Live PPV Fight Card:

Chuck Liddell (c) vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral (BRA)
Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar
Cheick Kongo (FRA) vs. Christian Wellisch (HUN)
Hermes Franca (BRA) vs. Jamie Varner
Nick Diaz vs. Josh Neer

Pre-PPV Preliminary Card:

Wes Combs vs. Wilson Gouveia (BRA)
Cory Walmsley vs. David Heath
Rob MacDonald (CAN) vs. Eric Schafer
Yushin Okami (JAP) vs. Alan Belcher

And now for some bad news – the fight between the current PRIDE champ Vanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva and Liddell (current UFC champ) that was announced at UFC 61 for November has been called off. The reason given was “negotiation issues” between PRIDE and UFC management.

Here are a couple of videos to refresh your memory.

Stiffman1 has made a “Bonnar Griffin tribute”, in anticipation of their rematch. Check it out, it shows their previous three round stoic battle.

Part 1:

Part 2:

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I completely missed this before, because, to be honest, I did not look that far down the Fight Card, but it has now come to my attention that there is an Aussie fighter on the card – Anthony Perosh, from Sydney will be making his UFC debut. Anthony is the training partner of Elvis Sinosic, who had a great debut back in UFC 32, submitting the No. 1 light heavyweight contender Jeremy Horn, but has not done so well since. Together they run the Sinosic Perosh Martial Arts school in Sydney.

Anthony will be fighting Jeff Monson, who has much more MMA experience, having fought several times in the UFC, with a couple of wins under his belt. Monson is by far the favourite in this fight, with Perosh seen as pretty much an unknown newcomer.

Anthony’s last MMA fight was at Warriors Realm 5, on the 25th of February, on the Sunshine Coast, when he beat Ross Dallow by submission. He has won the Australian BJJ Championships many times and has been making his way up in the world of MMA for several years.

Here’s a video you can dowload of his MMA highlights.

While looking up some info on Anthony Perosh I just came across 2 petitions to get the UFC back on Australian Pay-per-View. It used to be shown here a couple of years, but I guess did not get enough support. Surely its time to reconsider!

Sign the petitions here:

UFC Pay Per Views in Australia at Petition Online.

UFC on Foxtel at Petition Spot.

Best of butt-kicking luck to Anthony Perosh tonight. And I’ll just say it one more time – damn, I wish this event was being broadcast in Australia.

Last year UK’s BBC THREE network aired an excellent 12 part series on various Eastern martial arts, called “Mind, Body and Kick Ass Moves”. Hosted by Chris Crudelli, himself an experienced martial artist, the show followed Chris around the Far East as he visited various Masters and Grandmasters, talking to them about their, at times seemingly superhuman and even supernatural, abilities, coercing them into giving demonstrations and stepping in as a bit of a crash test dummy to cop a hit or 11. Some of the featured Masters will be well known to martial artists – like Ip Shui (Southern Praying Mantis), Leung Ting (Wing Chun) and the head of the Bujinkan Sr Masaaki Hatsumi. Others are hitherto completely unknown publicly, at least in the West.

The show was aimed not only at martial artists but at a wide audience, including viewers completely ignorant of the subject. The down to earth Crudelli went around doing impromtu street performances, demystifying various martial arts feats by explaining the science behind them and offering, perhaps somewhat irresponsibly, self-defence advise to strangers. The show could have probably done without Chris’ party tricks, but the team can be excused for trying to reach to a wider audience. There’s enough of the real deal in there to keep the most snobbish martial artist interested, while still keeping the average BBC punter entertained and perhaps a little amazed.

All 12 episodes of the show have now been released as a 2 DVD set. So far there is only a UK release, which is a PAL format region 2 2-disc set. I purchased mine from Amazon.co.uk and I’ve seen a couple of other sites selling it also. No word as to whether the show will be broadcast in Australia or anywhere else or when an international DVD release may be coming out. Another British channel, UKTV People, just aired the series and it has been very well received, so I am sure we’ll get it out here sooner or later.

You can read a couple of reviews of the series here. Scroll to the end of the post for a full list of the martial arts masters that appear on the show.

Earlier this year BBC THREE screened a follow up 6-part series, called “Kick Ass Miracles”. Here’s the official edisode guide on the BBC THREE site. This time the focus is not on martial arts but various other indigenous esoteric traditions from around Asia that seem to challenge the Western notion of what is possible within the laws known to science. The show features various monks, Qi Gong Masters,
more martial arts Grand Masters,

warriors possessed by spirits, healers and yogis. No DVD has been released as yet.

Here are links for episodes 1, 3 and 4 from the first series in full and a few clips from both Kick Ass Moves and Kick Ass Miracles. There are too many to embed in the post, so follow the links. And there’s plenty more on the show than whats in these clips, the first series alone totalling nearly 6 hours.

Mind, Body and Kick Ass Moves, Episode 1 (Google Video)

Mind, Body and Kick Ass Moves, Episode 3 (Google Video)

Mind, Body and Kick Ass Moves, Episode 4 (Google Video)

(Click more for a few clips from both first and second series and a list of the martial artists in the first series.)

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