In the 233 years that have come and gone since its birth, America has served as a beacon for ingenuity, hope, courage, democracy and blue-collar toughness. The men and women who represent the nation in the sport of mixed martial arts embody those traits as well as anyone. To that end, Sherdog.com compiled a list of the most memorable All-American moments in MMA.

Read Full Story on Sherdog.com

Story and photos by Todd Hester

Josh Barnett and Erik Paulson

If there is a dynamic duo in today’s diverse world of mixed martial arts it is Erik Paulson and Josh Barnett.

Widely regarded as the best American cagefighter, and one of the top three or four top fighters in the world at any weight, Barnett is currently living in Fullerton, California and teaching and training out of Erik Paulson’s Combat Submission Wrestling Training Center at 4080 North Palm Ave.  #801, Fullerton, CA 92835. 818-915-3225.

Barnett is a rare breed of fighter who combines size, strength, agility, and quickness and who is known for his power submissions. Former world Shooto champion Erik Paulson, the Butch Cassidy to Barnett’s Sundance Kid, is one of the most technical no-gi submission experts of all time with a worldwide following.

Since both fought for years in Japan, it is no surprise that their techniques are heavily based on the Karl Gotch influenced submission style. Because of this they share very common grappling traits that utilize power submissions from a strong base position.

For information on training with Erik Paulson and Josh Barnett at the CSW Training Center, or arranging wordlwide seminars, email erik@erikpaulson.com

Bottom Position Key-Lock

Josh Barnett is caught on the bottow with his opponent passing his guard (1). As his opponent moves to cross-side, Barnett traps the wrist (2). Securing his opponent’s arm with a double-wrist lock (3), Barnett then rolls onto his back and bridges upward while applying pressure for the submission (4).

Cross-Side Bent Arm-Lock

Erik Paulson controls his opponent from cross-side (1). He traps his opponent’s right biceps (2), controls his head with his knee (3), then moves to north-south position with a double-wrist lock (4). He then releases the grip while controlling the forearm (5), keeps his opponent from escaping by pressuring his head (6), underhooks the elbow and traps the wrist with his knee (7), and then leans back (opposite view) to lock-in the submission (8).

North-South Bent Arm-Lock

Erik Paulson controls his opponent from cross-side (1). He overhooks his opponent’s arm and controls the wrist (2), then grabs his own wrist for the double-wrist lock (3). Quickly releasing the grip, Paulson grabs his biceps (4), and then spins to north-south position for the submission (5).

Top Control Ankle-Lock

Josh Barnett controls his opponent with an underhooked double wrist-lock (1). Barnett steps over the head to prevent an escape (2), then releases the position and slides down to grab the leg (3). Wrapping both of his legs around his opponent’s leg to trap it (4), Barnett squeezes his legs together and then leans back and extends the knee for the tapout (5). As an option, Barnett can also reach around the foot for a toe-hold submission (6).

View In PDF Format

(originally published in Gladiator Magazine – 2007)

As a martial athlete I think it is very important for us to be able to write down and actually see what we are doing to and putting in our body. It is always a good idea to get a journal or book of some sort to record our daily thoughts and what we are doing on a daily basis, especially when we are preparing for a fight  or trying to achieve any goal of making ourselves better. I have always found this very useful and I recommend it for everyone. Below are some of the things that I write down in my personal journal.

Write down what you eat no matter if it is good or bad! I try to maintain a strict died but I’m human and when I write down everything it keeps me honest. I don’t cheat as much when I write it down.

Write down what time you go to bed and get up. It helps me see if I’m getting enough rest. You can jot down little personal notes to see what is keeping you from getting the 8-10 hours I recommend when you’re getting ready for a fight.

Write down the vitamins and minerals you’ve taken for the day. When you’re training, your immune system takes a major hit so make sure you keep up on all your supplements. This includes any protein supplements or additional amino acids to what should be your six to eight meal a day diet. I take Sport Formula, CQ10, Vitamin C powder, glutamine, and a glucosamine/chondroitin mixture with MSM.

Write down what your mindset has been for the day. When you are on a rigorous diet and training routine I feel that you should write this down because you can see if you have a good mental outlook and try to adapt if you don’t. Your diet can have a major effect on your outlook and when you’re getting hit over and over again your mentality sometimes changes. A fighter’s attitude doesn’t always work on the home front. So if you see that you have a poor attitude or are neglecting your family life it helps you change it.

I also utilize a performance chart to help me keep a balance with my daily checklist. This helps me stay accountable for all my daily activities and actions. My chart contains the following checklist, and this plays a very key role in my development as a human being.

1. My social life: What I’m doing when I’m not training.
2. How my academy is doing: What I need to do to make ends meet.
3. My personal training: How did I develop my skills today?
4. Injuries: How it happened and how I can prevent it next time.
5. Sleep: Am I alert or groggy?
6. Environmental factors: What is happening around me, positive or negative.
7. Nutrition: Food and supplements.
8. Coach-athlete interaction: If I trained with my coaches or teammates or anyone else and how it went. Did I listen? Did I agree? How can I change things that I felt were not right for me?

I based my chart on a performance chart that I got out of a book several years ago called “The Encyclopedia of Weight Training.” The book is an amazing reference and if it’s still on the market I recommend it to everyone. I also recommend that you get a massage once a week if you can afford it. This will make a major change in the way you feel after a hard week of training.

Download Full Size Here

Download Full Size Here

(originally printed in TapouT – Issue 11 2006)

If you’re fighting and not running… YOU ARE NOT FIGHTING!

I have experimented both ways for fighting and found that my overall fitness, footwork and well-being were much better after putting in miles. Bruce Lee said running was the king of exercises and I believe that to be true. Running is moving meditation, think time, and self-visualization for a fight. Running gives you the polishing touch, the icing on the cake. When you’ve done all your pad work, heavy bags, sparring and jump rope, running gives you freedom and clears your head.

It’s controversial whether or not you should do more long distance running or sprints, but I say both. Loong distance running gives you that sustained energy you won’t get from sprints. Sprinting gives you explosive ability that allows you to blast out of a situation.

Near my house there is a steep dirt hill that’s about a half mile long. We take fighters there three to five times a week. Hill running adds a little spice to the same old path or straight, long distance run. Running out in the woods or eilderness is also recommended, as the nature runs wild, the energy is serene and the air is pure.

My all-time favorite run is on the beach either early in the morning as the sun rises or in the evening as the sun sets. The semi-wet sand has a certain energy and spiritual feel to it.

I usually prefer to do sprints at the football stadium and I’ll run the bleachers or the field – sprint 50 percent and jog 50 percent. I read recently in several studies that putting your sprints on the end of your long distance run can produce the same results as isolating each.

My fighters sprint 40 yards then hit the Thai pads, first doing the jab cross or crisscross, then the skip knee and double kick. Also at the end, try to do a focus mitt speed reaction drill and hand speed exercises to help you hit fast and think fast when you are totally fatigued.

When the mind gives up and the body is ready to quit, the spirit takes over. Train your spirit to no matter what, never, never give up! Sweat is the lubricant of success and nothing on this earth replaces hard work. The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war. Train Hard, Train Smart.

Drill Bits

By Erik Paulson

(From Gladiator magazine, November 1, 2006)

I would be the first to say that there is not necessarily a connection between having a black belt and being a good MMA fighter; there can be, but there isn’t always. There are many fighting styles and some of them are more geared towards self-defense, weapons, multiple attackers, pure sport, or simply fitness and exercise. So to have your black belt, black sash, or instructor’s certificate in a style such as karate, kung-fu, silat, escrima, tae kwon do, judo, or a similar martial art that isn’t geared toward one-on-one combat in a cage can certainly be admirable and is a worthy achievement, but that by itself isn’t going to make you successful in the cage. The type of black belt you have is more a measure of potential MMA success than just having “any” black belt.

If you take, for example, an average black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and a purple belt in jiu-jitsu, and pair them up with a gi, there is a substantial difference in their skill levels. Now if you take a purple belt and a black belt and take the gi off, the levels become much closer. Now add striking, clinch work, and takedowns to the repertoire of that purple belt, and put him against that same pure jiu-jitsu black belt without a gi, then that would be a very exciting and well-matched fight.

So my point is that when you get your first black belt in any style that should just be the beginning of your training and not the end. It is definitely not time for you to quit learning from your teacher, open your own school, and stop training. I see a lot of people do that, and they lose sight of why they really started martial arts in the first place.

I’ve been training since 1974, long before some of you guys were a twinkle in your dad’s eye “know what I’m sayin’”? My first black was in judo and then tae kwon do and I really liked both sports. But I didn’t stop training and open Paulson’s Fu-Lin-Yu Academy of Throwing, Kicking and Screaming. I kept on learning and training and growing. I have had over 40 instructors, mentors, coaches, and trainers over the years whom I have trained with and who have greatly influenced my combat methodology.

Due to this desire to learn, I have ended up with black belt or instructor rankings in judo, tae kwon do, Jun Fan Gung Fu, Kali/ Silat, and Shooto. I’ve taken something valuable away from each martial art. Learning is learning, no matter what level of success or failure. Knowledge is potential power. That is why it is so gratifying when high-level professional fighters such as Ken Shamrock, Josh Barnett, Guy Metzger, Vernon White, Sean Sherk, and Vladimir Matyushenko have asked me to help train them for their fights.

Even with all of that experience, when Brazilian jiu-jitsu first came to the U.S. with the Gracies and the Machados in the 80’s, I recognized the value of that training and started learning the jiu-jitsu way. Basically, I got bitten by the grappling bug! Just this past month I was awarded my black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu by the great Rigan Machado. Rigan Machado and Royce and Rorian Gracie were actually my first teachers and I trained in their Redondo Beach garage, before there was any “real” academy in the U.S. and having a blue belt then was like having a black belt today.

The black belt was not my goal unto itself, and I was actually somewhat surprised when Rigan awarded it to me. What is significant about the black belt to me is that it reflects a continuing search for knowledge and self-improvement, which will not end now that I have it, but rather accelerate it. Using this knowledge along with everything else I have learned will enable me to help my fighters and students in my gym and all over the world to achieve world-class skills and the positive mindset and respect to back it up.

About Erik Paulson

(Excerpt from Karate Kung Fu Illustrated, February 1997)

When Erik Paulson was just a little guy, he used to tell his wrestling fanatic brother, “If you’re a good puncher and kicker, nobody can take you down.”

One day, Paulson’s brother answered with a challenge: “You want to bet? A wrestler will always beat a karate guy”

So Paulson and his brother went at it — on several occasions. ” I could hit him a few times, but he could always get lucky and take me down, ” Paulson remembers. “Later I started to realize that that he kept on getting lucky. I’d hit him, but I’d end up on my back. Then he’d get me in a side straddle or side headlock. From that time on, I knew in the back of my mind that wrestling was the thing I liked most.”

Cut to the Present…

If you saw last year’s World Combat Championship, that one-shot no-holds-barred event martial artists are still talking about, you probably remember Paulson. He the grappling expert who ended up fighting in the striking division. He did all right, too, until opponent James Warring entwined his mitts in Paulson’s ponytail and refused to let go for nearly the duration of the fight. Man, that’s gotta hurt!

Well, that was just one page out of Paulson’s pugilistic portfolio. Since then he’s made history by defeating Japan’s reigning light-heavyweight shootwrestling champion, Kenji Kawaguchi. Paulson became the first American to take the title and the belt out of Japan. In case you are wondering: No, he did not prune his locks for that competition, because hair-pulling was not allowed.

Only 30 years old, Paulson already has an impressive martial arts resume that includes judo, boxing, taekwondo, muay Thai, and jeet kune do. He got most of his takedown skills from shootwrestling, which he started learning in 1989. Yorinaga Nakamura, an instructor from Japan, provided Paulson’s introduction to the multifaceted art and has continued to guide at the Inosanto Academy, where both men teach.

Paulson also absorbed a lot of grappling truths from Larry Hartsell, a former student of Bruce Lee. “He did a few grappling seminars for me,” Paulson says. “Larry helped change my mind about everything.”

Paulson, who moved to Los Angeles in 1989, also took up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Yet there was something about shootwrestling that held his fancy. “I was doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and I loved it, but Yori showed me all the other options I had,” he says. “I went home and tried some of the stuff on my buddy, who was a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I made him tap with the ankle locks, and he was surprised as I was. So I stuck with it.”

Paulson claims that shootwrestling’s effectiveness stems from the way it gears its grappling toward taking a kickboxer down and its kickboxing toward keeping a grappler off. “Combined, they are a pretty good mixture” he says.

Because of this unique mixture of realistic combat arts, Paulson has been able to refine his grappling techniques. That means they’re reliable moves for the training hall, the ring or the street.

Erik Paulson Beginnings

This article features an exerpt from “Master Level Shoot Wrestling, Part 1″ by Erik Paulson

I first became aware of Shooto (Shoot Wrestling) in 1989, when Yori Nakamara, the founder of USA Shooto, did his first seminar at the Inosanto Academy at Marina Del Rey, California. Up to that time, there had been a clear delineation between the striking and grappling arts. You either punched or kicked somebody or you took them to the ground and grappled ? there was really no cross-training mixing striking, throwing and ground. About the closest anyone had come to that was Bruce Lee and Jeet Kune Do in the ‘60s and early ‘70s. Yori, who had come from Japan where he had learned the art from Satoru Sayama and then went on to teach it in the Shooto dojos of Japan. Nakamara (accompanied by wife Hiromi) eventually moved to America to learn JKD from Dan Inosanto, and to meet Brandon Lee, Shannon Lee, and the rest of Bruce Lee’s family. Upon arriving to begin his study, Dan Inosanto asked Nakamara if he had learned any of the Japanese fighting arts. Nakamara then demonstrated a torrent of integrated punches, knees, kicks, throws and submissions that was unlike any blend the JKD master had seen before. In only took Inosanto a few days to share this new form of fighting with JKD grappling expert Larry Hartsell, who agreed that it was a noteworthy advancement of the combat sports. Nakamara soon began teaching America’s first Shooto class at the Inosanto Academy.

My personal martial arts journey began with judo in 1974 in Minnesota, which I studied for two years and competed in regularly. However, I soon had my eyes opened to the realities of streetfighting when I was jumped, tried to use judo to subdue him, and got my hair pulled (the story of my life), my head stuffed into a snow bank, my ears boxed, and my eyes punched in. At that point, I decided that I needed something else and made my way down to the local karate school. At around this same time I saw my first Bruce Lee movie and thought to myself “I need to learn that.” Through reading in magazines I found out that Bruce Lee taught a style called Jeet Kune Do that was great for street fighting (an aspect that was later emphasized by Paul Vunak). Inspired by Bruce Lee, I decided to learn stand-up striking. From judo I then began studying taekwondo sport karate (which would last for 13 years!). Wanting to learn how to better use my hands in a real fight, I began taking boxing in 1978 and competed in Golden Gloves in Anoka, Minnesota. In 1981, I met Rick Faye, who was an instructor under Dan Inosanto. Faye just happened to be teaching at my karate school on Saturdays. Faye taught a mixture of weapons, trapping, boxing, Thai boxing, interception and destruction. Then he would take the fight to the mat and teach ground fighting (striking and grappling). When I asked him what this well-rounded art was, he told me that it was JKD, kali, and muay Thai and that is was based on the art of Bruce Lee. Until that time I had never met anyone who taught the art of the man who had inspired me to learn martial arts ? Bruce Lee. I immediately got Faye’s phone number, quit the karate school, and began studying JKD.

After graduating from high school in 1984, I decided to move to California to try to break into the television and movie industry and to be close to the center of JKD ? the Inosanto Academy. Ending up in Palm Springs, I worked as a bouncer and bartender for five years and got work as model and commercial actor. During this time I continued my martial arts odyssey training in boxing, taekwondo, and JKD in Redlands under Dennis Blue, Tim Tackett, and Burt Poe. In 1989 I took a chance and moved to the City of Angels. Being from Minnesota, the Land of a 10,000 Lakes, it only seemed natural that I move close to the water ? so I ended up Manhattan Beach, where I finally started following my dreams and broke into feature films, getting work in “Baywatch,” “Spygames,” “The Abyss,” “American Ninja,” “Bloodsport,” et cetera. At this same time, however, I had another much more important goal ? to use my martial arts skills to actually fight in international full contact matches. I had no idea that I would eventually become the first American to win the World Shooto title, hold it for six years, and then retire undefeated in title defenses, with two Shooto world belts.

Once I was in Los Angeles, my first three stops were to sign up for classes at the Jet Center and the Inosanto Academy ? run by two of my great idols, Benny “The Jet” Urquidez and Dan Inosanto ? and Rorion Gracie’s garage. I began classes at the Jet Center and Rorion’s garage in 1988, before I had actually moved, and then continued in both in 1989 when I was an official “Angelino,” which was when I joined the Inosanto Academy. In 1989 I took a seminar with Yori Nakamura in Shooto and was hooked! I loved the combination of striking and grappling. I knew I needed the groundwork of Gracie jiu-jitsu because of its positional control, but I also wanted to combine it with the wide-open attacks and dynamic intensity of shootwrestling. During this time I also had boxing coaches, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling training from Rico Chiapperelli, and continued taekwondo and gymnastics for kicks and flexibility and to help my movie stunt work.

I 1992 I decided to “get real” with my martial arts training and fight for real. I was asked to fight a five-round fight with three minutes per round ? the highest level of professional Shooto! I had thought it would only be a three round fight for my first match but I was “thrown to the wolves” so to speak. My opponent was Shooto’s top ground fighter, Kazuhiro Kusanagi. To everyone’s surprise I beat him with his own submission ? the reverse triangle, which I actually learned from watching tapes of him! From that point on I defeated four world champions before being given a chance to fight for the Shooto light heavyweight belt ? two years after my last victory! Finally, when given the opportunity, I defeated Kenji Kawaguchi, by reverse figure-four toe-hold from the knee-bar, for the title. I became the first American to ever fight and win in Shooto, and to take their belt away from them. I would hold the title for five years and defended it against Suda (pounding him into submission via TKO referee stoppage), after he publicly challenged me for the belt in the media. My final Shooto win was against Ronald “Machine Gun” Juhn, in Superbrawl 2000, after which I voluntarily retired the two Shooto title belts I had won.

People often tell me that my style is unlike anything they have ever seen ? and that is because my martial arts journey has been unlike any others. I break up what I teach into three parts: striking, clinching, and groundwork. Each of these three parts are used in varying degrees in submission fighting, submission wrestling, and self-defense (with and without a weapon). The two terms I have coined for my methods are “Combat Cross-training” and “Martial Athletics.”

I have had over 40 different coaches, teachers and guides, over a span of more than 30 years, who have contributed to my knowledge base and influenced my fighting philosophy and teaching style. Some people can influence you with one second of their time, and others will influence you with a lifetime of interaction. But only your mind, body, and spirit can help you determine the difference between an instructor, a coach, a teacher, a guide, or a guru.