Getting Your Black Belt

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.

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The new filming begins!

Hello All,

We start filming today for Erik’s Student Levels 1 – 5 and Coach Level DVDs!

Remember, the CSW 2008 Camp starts Thursday, May 1 and runs through Sunday, May 4. We will be filming this as well and it will be a new DVD and booklet set.

I will keep all of you posted as we film new material and I will also try to give you daily video previews of what we are working on this week!

Keep checking in! This is going to be a lot of new material!

Bob Burgee.
Administrator for Erikpaulson.com 

Erik Paulson Article From Karate Kung Fu Illustrated – February 1997

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.”

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