Don't Let Anyone Take Your Lunch Money

2020 is here.  Not only a new year but a new decade as well.  20219 was great, but, now that I am 60!!!, I want to ramp it up a bit for 2020.  No matter what your age is, let’s all “ramp it up” for 2020.  Believe me, if you do, when you are 60, you will be thanking me.  

My 2020 resolutions:

• Be consistent with my meditation (https://www.tm.org/)
• Be a great teacher/coach
• Write out my most important goals in my life
• Focus (spend ALL my time) on my goals 
• Train super hard/Rest super hard
• Always be “in-training”
• Ohana first
• Drop, forget, let go of anything I have no control of
• Don’t let anyone take my lunch money

Me at 60 years old, sitting here reflecting back on my life There are a lot of things I wish I had done differently. I am very happy to say that when I look back on my life, while there are regrets, and many things I wish I had done differently, it makes me very happy there I feel my good choices outweigh my bad ones. But with that said, this story I will focus on? Of my bad choices, that I wish I could’ve done differently.

1. Do not cheat on your women!… Without a doubt my biggest regret, and definitely the biggest lesson I would give to myself as an 18-year-old would be not to be unfaithful to my woman. I was taught by example by the vast majority of my peers and mentors while growing up that “banging” many was a sign of machismo and it was greatly encouraged and rewarded. It took me many years, hurting many fantastic and completely undeserving women to finally realize that cheating is unethical, immoral, hurtful, undeserved and self-sabotaging.
2. Only your actions will define you. Not my words, hopes, dreams, promises or thoughts. Only what I actually DO, my action!
3. The sum of your individual choices will dictate the direction and state of your life, so make them mindfully. The choices I made throughout my life is the reason I am where I am today at 60. I can honestly say I feel my good choices outnumbered the bad one, but there is plenty of room for improvement. Thinking about me at 60 when I was 16, 20, 30 and even 40, and making my choices then accordingly would have been nice.
4. Put together great habits and routines, they will give you the momentum to accomplish so many more great things in your life. Our habits and routines help mold us all. They are mainly behind the scenes “mini actions” that build us all to who we are right now, mentally, physically and spiritually. They range from oral hygiene to sticking to a rigorous diet and exercise routine.

With that said, I honestly don’t look in the rearview mirror too much while I am speeding along in my life, I spend most of my time looking forward, so I do not dwell too much on my bad choices, I use them mostly for lessons for myself and others. If there was a way to teach my 18-year-old self, so I would’ve done them differently, but that isn’t possible, so I choose not to spend too much time dwelling on my bad choices, but I do spend a lot of time being grateful for the good ones.

I’m the first to admit I have made a lot bade some bad choices in my life (that’s a different chapter), but believe it or not I have made some great choices as well and that is what this chapter is about.

1. Joining in martial arts gym at 10 years old.

Having the feeling that I needed to protect myself, and that the young age of 10 years old following my instincts to independently research, find, and go sign up for a martial arts school on my own was probably the first great decision I ever made in my life.

Without martial arts, I definitely would never become the man I am today. I think because of martial arts I became much stronger, and disciplined.

I can’t even begin to imagine how my life would’ve been without martial arts, but I definitely don’t think it would’ve been very good. When I look back it’s hard to believe at 10 years old I had enough common sense, independence and discipline to look through the yellow pages and go through the process of signing myself up for martial arts. I thank God every day that I did that.

2. Accepting the challenge to fight Darrell Silva, and fighting him.

This choice definitely could’ve taken a turn for the worse, however, I think winning or losing this fight would’ve been better than punking out, and not taking it at all. Darrell was one of the biggest kids in my grade, and definitely the toughest. Because of my first good choice, martial arts, I was becoming much tougher both inside and out. Because of that, I readily accepted his challenge, and we did fight. Because I did accept his challenge, and I did win that fight, my life changed for the better. I was never bullied again, and I was treated with the utmost respect after that.

I definitely think excepting that fight was one of the best choices I ever made in my life.

3. Saying no to drugs, crime, and alcohol like most of my friends were doing.

Drugs and alcohol were all around me, from my friends to my relatives, to the inside of my own house, but thank God for some reason I never chose that path. A lot of things are connected, and I think my previous good choice of martial arts put me on a path of wanting to be strong and healthy, and that was always the first reason that I was never attracted to getting high. I always wanted to be a strong martial artist, and I wanted to be prepared for anything, and I knew that drugs and alcohol made people weak, and for some reason, even at a very early age I was well aware that drugs and alcohol would make me a weak person.

4. Joining the Army.

Basic training in the Army has stayed with me till this very day. The discipline, and camaraderie that I felt while I was in basic training has helped me grow as a man. I also think that the discipline of the military, especially basic training, is very similar to my martial arts training and discipline. I think all young men should either go through basic training or spend a couple of years training martial arts. I think the experience of basic training will help all young men develop into better versions of them self.

5. Getting my degree in the medical field.

Besides being a great job, helping me grow into a more mature man, and help me purchase my first home, I think the main thing that benefited me about getting my degree was just a sense of security. With that degree, I knew whatever I did in life I would always have the security of the job to put a roof over my head and food in my family’s mouth.

6. Being dedicated and disciplined with my training.

At 60 years old, yet I feel as healthy, strong and fit is anyone half my age. I think there is a genetic factor, but I think the real reason I am in the kind of shape I am at this stage is because I was always disciplined enough to keep my diet clean, and train on a very regular basis. Even when I was really busy working, going to college, raising kids, I always found the time to train, and I think it is paying dividends right now.

7. Marrying Heather.

I made many bad mistakes with women. I excepted being treated badly, I treated many badly, and that was unfaithful to most. Heather change my life because I finally found someone that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I never knew what a completely satisfying, totally monogamous relationship was, and tell Heather. Since it is the best feeling in the world, she is definitely one of the best choices in my life.

The hard truth about my fight career, is basically I hated it. Growing up as a teenager I always had a knot in my stomach because there was always a fight coming up, whether that meant this coming weekend, or next month, there was always a fucking fight coming up and I hated it.Why did I fight so much if I really hated it you may ask.  and I have to search very deep to come up with the answer, and the only one I can come up with is I always thought I was supposed to. I never really had a direction, or a passion, or even a goal, I just always thought that I was supposed to be a fighter.

I fought in karate tournaments, amateur and professional boxing, professional kickboxing, I even fought in a few no holds barred fights. I think I get honestly consider myself a prizefighter, but I never really had a direction. I think it all started because where I grew up being tough, and able to fight was more important than being good-looking, smart, or even rich. And looking the way I did, I knew that I had to be either extra tough, or everybody’s bitch, I chose being tough. looking back at it now, it was definitely the harder road, but I think it was the best choice I could’ve made under the circumstances.Always having a fight coming up depressed me, and made me anxious. My mother thought I had an ulcer it took me to the doctor because my stomach was always in knots. I felt very loved at home, and I think my divorced parents were both great, but outside of the home, I felt like I always had to put on an act, I always had to be the tough guy. I could say was phony, and it was an act, but since I was winning the state Golden gloves as a sophomore in high school, I was turning that act into a reality of who I really was. Even though I didn’t feel like my aura fit me, I kept it going, and everybody bought it.

Being the martial arts guy, and the Golden gloves champion, I got a lot of respect from my peers in my neighborhood, and at my school. Even my teachers showed me the respect that the star quarterback for the high school football team would get because I was always in the newspaper. Even though I was the skinny white kid with long blonde hair, I walked around my high school like the big tough guy, I always felt it was an act, but everybody bought it, even the biggest toughest guys at my school, and in my neighborhood. I tried to never be a bully, but I got into plenty of scraps. It was usually with bigger guys that went from my neighborhood that didn’t like the fact that I would not avert my gaze when they were looking at me. Almost all of my fights would start with “what the fuck are you looking at Haole you want to fight”, and I would always say “let’s go”.

Training and sparring for every fight was monotonous, and painful, but I took it to the extreme out of fear, Because losing a fight unlike any other sport is much harder mentally as well as physically, because it seems to take, and question your manhood. That’s a lot to go through as a teenager. But I think the good outweighed the bad, because I got the kind of respect that I never would’ve gotten if I had not become a sport fighter.I think the worst part of every fight was sitting in the dressing room warming up, the mind plays such tricks on you, and it’s so hard to psych yourself up to walk into a ring and defend yourself against someone who is trying to knock you out in front of hundreds, sometimes thousands of people. It’s like putting yourself, your skills, and your Manhood under a microscope. That’s pretty heavy for a teenager, or even a grown man for that matter.  Sparring in the gym, even with my own teammates in the early days, and even when I was on the army boxing team, or as a professional fighting for the Muhammad Ali boxing team, was pretty much as brutal as any fight. There is a lot of macho egos in fighters, and even when your sparring, it turns into a fight more than it didn’t. If you think of it if two guys are runners and they were competing against each other, they both want to win so they both going to run as fast as they can, spiring is not much different, is soon as your “partner“ lands a good shot, you have to land one back and nine out of 10 times it’s going to end up like a real fight. 

I’m not fighting anymore, and I very seldom spar, and there’s nothing I miss about the fight game. I do not miss the crowds, I do not miss training for my fights, and I definitely do not miss fighting. And it’s weird to me, because most of my fighters absolutely love every aspect of the sport. They love training, they’re very relaxed and even in good spirits in the dressing room, and they seem to really enjoy fighting, I do not understand that, but it makes me very happy to help people pursue their passion and happiness.

One crazy thing is I never had any goals to be a champion, I want a few state titles as an amateur, and even a North American and a world title as a kickboxer, but that was never a goal of mine. I just always thought because I thought that’s what I was supposed to be doing.

When I was about 13 years old, 1973 and training with Godin exclusively I actually got a pulled hamstring. During the early training, I love to throw kicks especially high kicks my hands were pretty much straight punches and then a variety of kicks I hadn’t really introduced hooks into my arsenal yet. Well, the pulled hamstring really hampered my kicking, so I went and asked Godin. Godin told me that I should give my hamstring a rest by going to the local boxing gym and practicing my boxing to give my hamstrings some well-needed rest. 

The local boxing gym was called Palolo gym. So the next day instead of catching the bus to 404 Piko Street, where Godin‘s gym was, I caught the Palolo bus to go to Palolo boxing gym. I remember the first time I walked into this very simple, about 1200 square-foot old-school boxing gym. They were for hanging heavy bags, two-speed bags, and a boxing ring. The trainer Peter Jhun, had a tiny office, this gym was free the boxing gyms in Hawaii are run by parks and recreation.  I walked into peters office and told him the situation, he welcomes me and told me to go get changed I would start my training as a boxer. Palolo boxing gym is situated next to one of the “worst” housing projects in Hawaii. In the next couple years some of my best friends were from there, so it even though I said it was one of the worst housing projects in Hawaii, it was actually one of my favorite places to hang out. Like I said, some of my best friends lives there and has a 13-year-old boy, I love to hang around with my friends. Anthony, Luis, Sam, we’re all great to hang out with they were all local and raised in the projects, but we had a great time and though I didn’t look like anyone from Palolo housing, having long blonde hair and all, they still treated me like family, and I love to hang out there. Probably my best friend who lives in Palolo housing was named Adam, we hung out a lot, I would even spend the night at his house because after training I would go running and I would be too tired to catch the bus home. Adam lived in the housing, and he still does, in fact, his son and grandkids live there as well. I  Took to boxing very quickly, and I actually fell in love with it. Even after my hamstring healed, I continued to train at the gym, in fact, I would juggle training with Godin, and at the boxing gym.

The trainer at the boxing gym actually got me some amateur boxing matches, and I remember my first one was in a town called Waianae, which isn’t known for its hospitality towards haoles, that’s what they called White people in Hawaii. So I was more nervous about fighting in such hostile territory, that I was about my opponent. Adam, myself, and my trainer Peter drove from Palolo to Waianae, and Adam told me he had my back, and if you guys knew Adam you would feel safe as well, he was one of the most imposing and intimidating locals that I ever knew growing up in Hawaii. 

The nerves built as I got closer to Waianae, but like I said since Adam was in the car with me the nerves were very minor. To my surprise when they announced me in the ring there were no boo’s, no cheers, but at least no boo’s.  The bell rang, I ran across the ring through a leaping left hook and knocked my opponent out in the first round. He was from Waianae, and I expected trouble, but the crowd actually cheered for me and all shook my hands as I left the ring back to our car to drive back to Palolo. I’ll never Forget the drive, the fight, and the experience of my first amateur boxing match, even though there were many more, I will never forget that one.

I was lucky enough to meet Tony Robbins in 2005 when Chuck was training for Randy 2.Tony was kind enough to visit our gym. We also went to his seminar in Los Angeles. I became friends with Tony, and we talked on the phone and texted occasionally.

I remember one time I was depressed about a couple different things, and he heard about it through a mutual friend. I got a call one evening from an unlisted number and I answered the phone I heard Tony Robbins saying in a very loud and scolding voice, “what the FU#@ is the matter with you I heard you’re acting like a little bitch! Tony asked me what was going on and we talked for a while, along with being very REAL,he was very caring and helpful. When we hung up I looked in my phone and we have been talking for 55 minutes. I remember thinking how lucky I was to have someone like Tony Robbins calling me and giving me “advice” (mainly strategies) personally.

Tony and I talked a few more times on the text, and I ended up going to see him in Toronto. He was always very hospitable and kind to me, he is a very genuinely kind person.

A few years later I was in Florida helping Glover Teixeira train for a fight at American top team.  At the end of one training session, I got a text from Tony Robbins saying he heard I was in Florida and he wanted to know if I wanted to come to his house for coffee, would anybody on this planet say no to that? He told me he only had a half an hour before his next appointment, and after he gave me directions I realized it was about a 25 minute drive, but without a doubt driving 50 minutes to spend five minutes with Tony Robbins was definitely worth it, so I didn’t hesitate, and I started driving to his house.

Pulling up to Tony Robbins house was so real, it reminded me of the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas. Tony met me at the door and invited me in and give me a quick tour of his house/mansion. The only other person home with his personal assistant, but he brought me into the backyard and sat me down.

We didn’t waste much time with small talk, and even though he has a hell of a lot more going on than I do, but even though, the first thing he did was look at me and asked me how I was and what was going on in my life. I started telling him things that were going on in my life with my gym my fight team, my family, my personal training. He seemed to really care, and he asked me what my challenges were, so I told him, he turned to his personal assistant who was on the other side of the backyard doing some paperwork and he told her to cancel his next appointment. Tony Robbins sat next to me for the next hour and a half talking to me about my problems, my challenges and giving me solutions, and ideas how to make my life better. You heard me correctly, THE Tony Robbins spent the next 90 minutes sitting next to me giving me real-life advice and strategies on how to make my life better. this was all done out of the goodness of his heart, there was absolutely nothing in it for him but to help me.

I remember him walking me out, showing me his cryo-chamber and having me sit in it for two minutes, then walking me outside to my car. I remember driving home thinking how surreal the past hour and a half was. I was driving down the street thinking “Tony Robbins just took an hour and a half out of his day to help me make my life better”. I even thought what the $ value of that “therapy” session would be. Again, the only word they kept playing in my head was surreal.I follow all Tony Robbins programs and videos, and there’s a reason he’s the most successful life strategist in the world. There’s a reason that he’s worked with about 10 presidents, the US military, practically all of the pro sports teams in the world. He’s a regular on every morning show, and Oprah, and is written many best-selling books, and he travels around in his own private jet. Yet with all of that, he took an hour and a half out of his day just to make my life better for absolutely no ulterior motive, he asked for absolutely nothing in return. 20 Robbins is definitely one of my favorite humans on this planet… C

I remember some of the details like it was yesterday, and some of the details just run into each other. I remember it wasn’t too long after I had my first child, Suzanne, and I was working in Venice California as a laborer, taking some classes, in training and fighting. I kept hearing about the Iran hostage situation, for some crazy reason I felt I should join the army, like my father did in World War II, and go over there and fight. By the way things were looking in the news, it seemed like it would just be a matter of time before a war broke out and we will go over there, so I went down to the local recruiter and joined the army.  The recruiting office was in Santa Monica California, and for some strange reason when I told the recruiter I wanted to be in the infantry he seemed very happy about that.  I wanted to be in the infantry, because that’s good job my father had when he was in the army.

From the time I enlisted, until basic training, there were a lot of sleepless nights, while I worried about getting killed overseas, and never seeing my family again. I did my basic training at Fort Benning Georgia.  I’ll never forget my two drill sergeants, Sgt. Gillette, and Sgt. Beard (kind of weird, one was a razor, and the other was a beard)… I did very well in basic training and actually learned a lot about myself. Since I was used to training all the time, I felt it wasn’t physical enough so I would walk around with my pocket unbuttoned, so the Sgt. would punish me by doing extra push-ups, It turned into a little game, and before long the sergeants would just say just button your fucking pocket. I told Sgt. Beard that I wanted to do some extra training, so he very willingly obliged me, in fact, he what is the main creator of what is a now famous Pit workout called blackjack.  After basic training, I was lucky enough to get stationed in my home-state of Hawaii.  Schofield Barracks, 25the Infantry Division, 1/27 Wolfhounds. Where we continued to train and do other military maneuvers. I moved my wife and small child from California, and we moved into a small apartment on Oahu.  I really liked the army, and I excelled, making “soldier of the month” more than once.  I loved the physical training the most, the PT, the 12-mile road marches for time, and I always went to the gym after work to hit the bag and do my other martial arts training before I would go home.  I also like the camaraderie of our platoon, our company, and even our division, but I didn’t like to stay on base and drink and socialize after work because I wanted to get home to my family.  things were still tense, and we were on pretty high alert, because the hostages were not released yet, so we spent every day going through military maneuvers, both at the base, Where we spent a lot of time at the shooting range, and we would also go into the field, sometimes for weeks at a time. Then it happened, the hostages were released, and I had a huge sense of relief, and then confusion. What am I going to do now, I am in the Army infantry for one reason, and one reason only, now that reason as gone what should I do now?

Well I made up my mind and I should be out of the army now since they won’t be a war, So I went into my first sergeant’s office and told him that since the hostages have been given back, I would rather just get out of the army now and get a regular job since there won’t be any war, well after he stopped laughing first Sgt. Wery, who was also from Hawaii, told me that he recognize me from fighting in the golden gloves, and he asked me if I would be interested in fighting for the all Army boxing team, I told him I would love to, Where do I sign up. First Sgt. Wery was a great supervisor and a huge reason that I was able to try out for the all Army boxing team.  now all I had to do was actually”Make” the team, Which happened to be the best boxing team, with the best boxers in the United States at the time.

I made the team.

Walter Godin was far from a saint, in fact from most people’s perspective, Godin would be more the Cobra Kai Sensei, than Mr Miyagi. Godin spent time in prison a few times, and he did have some definite violent tendencies , I know this for a fact.  Though I saw Godin’s flaws, he always cared for me, and was a true leader and mentor to me (though not always by example).  Even when I was very young, I knew I wanted to be tough and respected like he was, but I knew he had a bad side, that I did not ever want to emulate.

He was an extremely pragmatic martial artist.  I remember once when I was young, and I wanted to do some weapon training like I would see other martial artists do, he told me the only weapons he believed in were; a gun, a baseball bat, and knife, and a roll of quarters.  To appease me, we came up with a weapons kata which included a toy gun and a cowboy holster, and he actually helped me work on it.  Godin taught and performed the street defence forms, called Grab Arts and Punch Tricks like his “partner” was his “enemy”.  No one ever wanted to be his training partner, or even worse, his demo partner.  He would even brutalize his board holders.  I have seen him put his partners to sleep, bust their lips,  break their ribs, and dislocated joints, and this was just in training, and demos.  I saw him do a lot worse to people who he thought did him wrong.

It’s weird because even though objectively and logically, I knew what he was doing was wrong, and that I never wanted to do the things he did, or treat people the way he did, I still idolized him and I always felt he loved me like family.  Godin was very charismatic and funny, but when he would snap, he would get very brutal.  Then go right back to laughing and joking with people like nothing just happened 10 seconds ago.

I remember once he had me enter a sparring tournament. I was about 12 years old, and he gave me explicit directions to punch in the face. I was a little confused on the rules, but I did as he said, and I got disqualified. He later grabbed my hand, and brought me to the Head of the tournament, an older Asian man. He told them that he thought it was stupid that I was disqualified, because in any kind of martial arts tournament you should be able to hit in the face, because that’s the way a fight was. The tournament director told him that he would not reverse his decision, so Godin called him a few choice words. Then grabbed me, and we left the tournament.  He congratulated me for doing a great job.  Another funny story, was when I was about 16 years old, and I had a no holds barred match coming up. He wanted me to stay at his house for the final week, so he could help me get mentally prepared. It was funny because he smoked a lot in his apartment (so I got his second hand smoke), yet the reason he told me he wanted to stay in his apartment was he wanted me to stay strong, and not have sex for the final week before the fight.

I think my biggest takeaway from his yin and yang, was that I saw him as a very kind and protective mentor, someone that I always felt had my back. I looked up to him because he was so tough, and he had so much respect from the people that he dealt with. Toughness and respect was a really big deal for me growing up.  I owe a huge debt to Godin because I think he shaped, molded, and brought out the toughness in me. I think I translated that into confidence, which I feel made my successes in life possible.

My students and I are a direct lineage from Walter Godin, and I hope he is proud of what we have become… The Pit Ohana.

As a child growing up in Honolulu Hawaii, I remember hearing stories about “Kill Haole Day”, and how it got really bad an intermediate school, which was grade 7 through nine back then. I was a skinny boy with long blonde hair, Not the kind that could be mistaken for anything but a haole. I remember practicing fighting techniques in my bedroom on Sunday evenings while the rest of my family was watching Carol Burnett show. I became infatuated with fighting techniques, So I started looking through the Yellow Pages for a martial arts school where I could learn Real fighting techniques. The first one I found was a traditional Shotokan School which was close and classes were held in the YMCA. I did train there for a little while, maybe close to a year, but I never really felt like I was learning how to fight. I kept looking in the Yellow Pages, And I found a really cool ad, It was a drawing of someone doing a kick to someone’s face, it was called “Godins School Of Self Defense”.  I got the address and I caught the bus there after school the next day.  I remember having to transfer buses, and I got off the bus on the corner of Piikoi and Kapiolani. From there it was about a 10-minute walk to 404 Piikoi, up the stairs and into the 600 square foot room that changed my life forever.

The room itself was a very basic room, with dark tile floor two punching bags, hey makiwara in the corner, and a small office, and a small storage room with a tatame mat in it.  The drinking fountain and the bathroom were down the hallway. The gym was one of about four little businesses on the second floor, including a small art supply store, and a water bed store (remember waterbeds?).  I remember it being extremely hot, especially since week always wore our gi’s when we were training, but Chief, that’s what his Piikoi students called Walter Godin, most others called him Professor or Walter, he did not like us drinking water during practice, during breaks were allowed to go outside and swish and spit the water, he says that drinking water during training would take away from our conditioning, and give us a side pain.  Sometimes I would get so thirsty during hard training, with no water allowed, by the time I got home I would down I half gallon of guava juice in one sitting.  I would usually catch the bus right after school, and train for about three hours, then I would catch the bus home.  I remember always caring my gi in a Pan Am bag. I would usually train Monday through Saturday.

I remember when I went into Godin’s office and gave him my $15 first month’s dues (it was my last as well), I felt though he was very intimidating and mean looking, I felt he was on my side, and that everything would be fine.  I felt safe there. I instantly knew that I belonged there and it was exactly what I wanted and needed.  I was with Walter Godin from that day circa mid-1970 until he died in 2001… and I am still loyal to him till this day.

In 1990 when I moved form LA to Arroyo Grande, I was getting busier working the ER making money and winding down my fighting career   I still did like to train very hard and liked to try and find the toughest guys around to train and spar with, and in the process got kind of a reputation. That reputation rubbed some of the local wanna-be tough guy martial artists the wrong way.

One of these martial artists actually had a school, and had the “nerve” to call me and let me know he did not appreciate the name I was giving to martial arts. He told me he had a traditional martial arts school, that taught a very street effective art. He told me that my sport fighting gave traditional martial arts a bad name, and that his style would beat me in a real street fight. I suggested that we conduct a friendly test on whose style was better. I offered to come to his gym and we could “spar” with no rules, simulating a street fight, and see who style was really better. We agreed on time, So that Friday at 6 PM I jumped into my black Chevy pick up truck, I brought my dad so he could watch, and I drove to his gym in San Luis Obispo California.

When I got to his gym I realized it was a very nicely decorated Dojo with a Japanese theme. I walked into his office where we had a semi cordial introduction. We were definitely sizing each other up. He then proceeded to explain to me how his back has been acting up, so he could not participate in our “sparring match”, however one of his top students would fill in for him. I said that that was fine with me, however I was a little surprised that the student I was to “spar” with had a mohawk, I thought to myself who has a mohawk?”  Obviously this instructor had gotten cold feet, so he decided to send his top gun in to show me why his style was so much better than mine. The instructor started to go over the rules for our “match”, however I reminded him that this was supposed to simulate a street fight, so we didn’t need the rules.

Well after 15 or 20 minutes of “sparring”, that instructor’s Mohawk’ed student, was now my student. Chuck Liddell was a huge part of The Pit from that day until now (over 20 years later), and the Pit, his life, my life, MMA, and the UFC were either directly, or indirectly affected by that “sparring match” in San Luis Obispo California…