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matt thornton
matt just curious, but whom did you study under ( jkd )? for how many years? what levels did you achieve? how many training sessions with this or these instructors did you aquire? was this instructor of bl lineage? why did you leave them or do you still visit with them?
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Here are several posts that were on MMA.tv Site with Luis Gutierrez.
Matt Thornton Interview 5/22/03 (Sitting here & looking back.)
Once and for all Matt, would you please state where you started or who
you're main influences have been in the martial arts / self-defense and
combative sport?
I have had many coaches and influences. In boxing I was coached by the
late Jesse Sandavol, to name but one. I have had many boxing coaches as
I began boxing long before taking up Martial Arts. It was no doubt my
boxing background that helped keep my off the "goofy" path many people
become lost in within the Martial Arts world.
Lately, when I look for inspiration and new direction with my stand up
training, I look to my own people, like Rodney King. I feel Rodney is
probably the best stand up Coach I have ever worked with.
Where then did JKD come in? With whom did you train that called what
they did JKD?
I began training JKD with one of Paul Vunak’s first Instructors by the
name of Mike Patke in the late 80's. I was attracted to JKD because it
used boxing hands, and Mike was not asking me to change that structure.
I worked with Mike for about two Years, and then had to transfer jobs to
Portland. I was encouraged by him to teach at that time, but had little
to no interest doing that. I was interested in finding another
Instructor and continuing training. I met up with some of Steve Golden’s
people here, but was not interested in that as they were not placing any
emphasis on boxing skills. A short time later I met an Inosanto
Instructor. We trained together for about a Year, and then opened up a
school together (the old Portland Martial Arts academy). I began
teaching JKD at this Inosanto affiliated school in Portland Oregon where
I had a partnership with this Inosanto Associate. During that time I
taught about 70% of the classes, and the curriculum was basic Kali, Muay
Thai, and Jun Fan. (Although when left to my own devices it was mostly
boxing).
Around the same time I taught at that Inosanto affiliated school I also
worked out with a PFS Instructor named Tom Cruse, who lived in Eugene
Oregon. I picked up the rest of the PFS curriculum from Tom, and we
became pretty good friends.
I received a Full Instructors certificate from Vunak, through my
training with Tom.
I parted company with that Inosanto Affiliated School after about three
Years due to major philosophical differences. That was over ten Years
ago now.
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Were you then affiliated with PFS ?
No. My PFS training was primarily through Cruse, and Patke. I have met
Paul Vunak three times in my life, once when he attended a tournament I
was competing in, and twice at seminars. Though I was listed as a full
Instructor in his Probe magazine, I never ran a PFS gym and ever since
that time (ten years ago) we went and have gone in very different
directions. The SBG is not related to PFS in any form. I do consider
Paul a friend, and he seems to feel the same way. Because of this
relationship, some people seem to mistakenly label the SBG as a PFS type
school, but our methods are very, very different. Many of the SBG
Coaches are still currently recognized as Full Instructors under Vu and
can attest better than I as to the differences between the two methods
today. I have not trained in that curriculum for many Years
Did you train with any other JKD(c) Instructors?
Yes, During that time, I also had the privilege of meeting and training
with just about every JKDC Instructor out there, from Dan Inosanto (who
taught about four or five seminars at our school while I was there), to
Richard Bustillo, Ted Lucay Lucay, Chai, Steve Plinck, Paul De Thouras,
Chris Kent, Burton Richardson, etc.
Dan Inosanto attended the grand opening of our newer Portland Gym about
six Years later. Although we have very different training methods I
respect the man greatly, and he has given the Gym, my seminars, and our
products, many unsolicited recommendations.
Burton Richardson is probably my closest friend when it comes to people
that are widely acknowledged as JKD. Our weapons curriculum comes from
Burt, and he is a great guy! Burt and I have trained many times with
each other. Most recently when I filmed a video set for his company,
High Performance videos, and taught a seminar at his club. I can
honestly say we train in a very similar manner. And he is one of the
only JKD Instructors I have run across that I can honestly say that
about. Burt is an excellent Coach.
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When did you open your own Gym?
I opened the first Gym in which I had complete control in Salem Oregon
around 1993. At that time I was a blue belt with Rickson, and focused a
lot on my ground game for the next several Years. We kept the politics
and nonsense out of the Gym, and just trained hard, and as the Months
went by the place began to fill up. It was at this time that current SBG
Coaches Tom Oberhue, Dan Robinson, and Steve Boyd began training with
me.
I met up again with Burton shortly after that, and his focus in Kali was
really shifting thanks to the Dog Brothers. Thanks to Burt, and the DB
influence, I completely changed the weapons curriculum at that time.
In the past I had been told over and over again by all the Instructors I
had known that you could NOT run a Gym the way I was running it. . .with
no titles, no ritual, and lots of Alive drilling and sparring. . .
'people won't stay, they want the b*llsh*t drills, so teach them to keep
them in the door, or you wont make any money!'.Long story short, they
where ALL wrong. So many people where making the 40 minute commute from
Portland to work out in the tiny Salem Gym that I needed to open a
Portland location to respond to the market. Within 12 Months we had
moved to a large Salem location, a fair sized warehouse, which was the
first Portland Gym, and was able to quite my job.
I had assumed that those that had spoken about the need for those drills
to me in the past, knew what they where talking about when it came to
running schools. But I could not bring myself to teach people what I
knew was nonsense, just to make money. So I figured I would also always
have to work a 40 hour a week job.
The thing that I am happiest about is that all those people where
completely wrong, and it turned out to be just the opposite. People
loved the way we trained, and I have been able to make a living without
ever teaching anything I found questionable, or 'watered down'. That's
been a great satisfaction for me.
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What about the other elements that JKD enthusiasts claim to call their
own besides boxing did you directly train with experts in the field? In
other words, in researching your very own experience, where else did you
look to fill the apparent gaps you were finding in JKD?
I shared a lot of training with my Friend Daniel Duby, and his Savate
material still remains part of the SBG curriculum. As far as I know
myself, and Paul Vunak are the only two people authorized to teach
Daniel's version of Savate which he organized when he left the French
Association in the early 80's. His influence is certainly visible in my
own game, but I rarely teach it to beginners, or at seminars, as I feel
a more basic boxing structure is what most people need. I have also
trained with various Muay Thai fighters throughout the Years. I think
Muay Thai is a beautiful, and highly functional Art.
For wrestling my main coaches have been Randy Couture, and Dan
Henderson. Most of our Clinch curriculum has come from them. It was a
few Years after I opened my second location that I met Randy Couture,
and that completely changed the way the SBG trained "trapping", or more
aptly put clinch range. We had always taught a strong boxing base at our
facilities, and in addition BJJ had become a HUGE part of the curriculum
from the start, but now they had the full package.
How where you introduced to BJJ?
For BJJ, I was introduced to it by Fabio Santos. I consider Rickson a
friend, but have only rolled with him a few times, and that was long
ago. Rickson gave me my blue belt and he still remains one of my role
models for what Martial Arts can become. He is a fantastic human being.
The last Five Years or so all my BJJ coaching has come from Machado
Black Belts such as Chris Haueter, Bob Bass, Rick Williams, and Rigan
Machado. But my main Coach has always been my friend Chris Haueter. He
has taught me more about my guard game then all the others combined.
I received my black belt in Machado Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in 2002.
How did the Seminars you teach come about?
I began doing seminars in 1995 at the request of the USA's first Savate
Instructor, Daniel Duby, who asked if I would fly to his Island of
Reunion to teach a series of seminars. Daniel provided the Savate
influence they we have at the Gym, and also became a great friend of the
SBG. Since that I am sure I have given over one hundred seminars. It's a
wonderful opportunity because it has allowed me to travel all over the
world to spread the message of Aliveness, the curriculum of the SBG, and
the beauty and Art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I have had the privilege of
teaching in places like Africa, France, the UK, Denmark, Ireland,
Reunion Island, the Seychelles, and all across the USA.
Where does all this take you and your organization now? Much of what the
SBGI is now, from a philosophical stand point, evolved because I wanted
to create an environment that was markedly different from the ones I had
encountered along the way; what I had witnessed during those first few
Years exclusively involved in JKD.
Certification has remained a meaningless concept to me. What "certifies"
you as a good Instructor is the 'performance levels' of your students.
Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing else matters.
The modern day SBG curriculum is one that has evolved from lots of Alive
sparring. Sometimes people mistake what we do for an NHB or combative
sports gym because many of our athletes compete and do well in NHB and
martial sport. That is actually just a nice side effect.
We are an all ages, all inclusive self defense Gym that trains
athletically, and remains autonomous from other JKD Organizations.
-Matt Thornton www.straightblastgym.comComment
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Hope this enlightensComment
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thanks
Thanks buckethead.
Roz, again, interested in what we do? Meet an SBGi coach sometime and find out.
I don't know where you live, but odds are we may have somebody near you. If your sincere it's worth the effort, and the only real way to learn anything meaningfull about SBGi.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy new year.
-Matt Thornton
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buckethead, enlightened indeed.
matt you never trained with mr. inosanto or vu one on one! what an awesome bunch. you should try. thanks for the invite.Comment
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Actually Roz, you have no idea what my experience as far as training environments has been. We have never met, nor have you ever met anyone from SBGi. You also clearly have no idea what we actually do.
What points to this so honestly is your own lack of undertstanding on what we do. This is based simply in ignorance. And it's an easy matter to solve.
Regardless, if you feel there is an element missing, or we are simply doing the same thing as others, then come by and SHOW US. Come see for yourself, as simply put, nobody who has ever actually TRAINED with us has ever drawn that conclusion.
That is simply a fact, and it speaks volumes.
For anyone with a sincere interest in what we do, seeing it for yourself is clearly the logical route, and it would indeed answer all your questions.
An unwillingness to do so, coupled with a desire to speak on a subject you know nothing about equals an issue within yourself, not with the Gym. It in truth has nothing to do with the reality of SBGi.
So for those answers one would need to look within.
Regardless, have a safe and happy new year.
-Matt Thornton
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matt, thats where the misunderstanding comes from! i do not doubt what you do is wrong but you are telling me what i-we- do is wrong. you drive a chevy and like my ford. apples and oranges. you think what we do are dead drills, i disagree, they are alive because thats the way we train. my group and i are well rounded in the streets', and know what works and what does not. jack mcvicker for instance recieved his bb in jj from megaton thru rickson, and jack is awesome. eric paulson another well rounded person. vu a lethal street fighter. joe another lethal street fighter whom was doing a drill that was taught to him from elders from mexico, a couple decades ago which is very similar to the crazy monkey. so both clubs are awesome thru the dedicated individuals. so i am not disagreeing with you on your approach, but i am disagreeing with you on your approach that what jkdc people are doing is wrong or dead drills. maybe some of us are, but not all of us. once again you seem to be doing very well and you have some very good talent, with innovative approaches.Originally posted by smartmonkey
GOD SPEEDComment
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Roz,
I am not interested in speaking of "lethal streetfighters". As my friend Luis would say, that is "boy" speak. Let's talk about what is actually written.
At no time have I ever named another Instructor, or said 'roz YOU train dead patterns'. And that has absolutley nothing to do with the message you cut and pasted there? What I speak of is training methods. If that causes a defensive reaction, then that has to do with you, not what is written.
If you don't train dead patterns, then more power to you. However, if that where true then you wouldn't feel that reaction unless you simply don't comprehend what is actualy being said.
Regardless, to understand any distinctions regarding SBGi curriculum and other curriculums one would need to experience that. The door is always open for you to do that. Based on your posts it's quite clear you don't know what we do, or what we are about.
Enjoy the New year
-Matt Thornton
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Matt-
Is the Carson City, Nv SBG still working? Ive met and trained with Cory once or twice in Cold Springs (Reno, Nv.) Couple of years ago they had a site in reno listed in the phone book that has since dissapeared. The numbers my teacher has for Cody and Jimmy Walker etc are no good. How do I find your boys 'round here...
Thanks!Comment
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Excellent, thanks!Comment
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Roz
Many of those mentioned who were Guro's students have used a form of aliveness to test their skills in conjuction with the "dead" patterns or "set patterns" as Guro prefers to call them. Matt's is stressing the importance of training and testing your skills against a resisting opponent in a safe structured environment. In Matt's curriculm it comes through constant training in the gym and competition.
I believe the more gifted Guro students have done it also in the gym and in competion. Erik Paulson is a perfect example of this. Others have pushed it further. Vu has been more controversial by testing his methods and skill sby getting into frequent bar and street fights. I remember reading an article where he described waking up in a jail cell with bloody knuckles and a hangover.
I personally have been able to pull off in sparring technique I drilled with set patterns, but the point is I tested those skills with sparring against a resisting opponent. Guro in seminars has said the first series of students spent a lot of time working the patterns, isolation sparring and full sparring. IMHO sparring has taken a backseat to the set patterns due to liability and a lack of interest in hard sweaty work.
When we train the set patterns, it is hard training with resistance so if we miss it may hurt a little. If you don't miss once in a while then there is not any resistance.
Good Luck and Be SafeComment
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