HAPKIDO in the UFC...

[IPON]

Gary Goodridge: Well, there was a Kuk Sool Won club in my area, and I told them I wanted to go into the UFC. They had a little 158 pound guy that wanted to go as well. They had a little donation thing to help this guy out too. Now, people are coming in to support the gym or whatever, giving change here and there trying to help this guy go to the UFC. I was thinking "This guy's 158 pounds!" And at the time, the UFC didnt have weight classes. He just wanted to go and try to beat up somebody. So, I'm 260, 275 lbs at the time, and I'm thinking, "You know, I could wrap this guy up into a pretzel and have him down on the grass sucking himself off in no time at all!" So I said "You know what, I'll beat up your boy, then I want all that money, and I'm going to the UFC!" So we had a little sparring session, and of course, I was on top of him all the time. I didn't know what do to, I was just on top of him. So we just wrestled around until we got tired.

Gary Goodridge celebrates after his win in the recent 2 Hot 2 Handle show.
So they said, "Are you goin to the UFC?" I said, "Yeah, I applied." They told me if I got in I could represent them, and they'd give me a 4th degree black belt. I said "No problem! I want it legal though, I want the paperwork." So they got me the paperwork for it from the Grand Pubah of Kuk Sool Won, from Korea, and he let me know I was the man. And about a month and 12 days later I was fighting in the UFC!


CKD I more than stand corrected!!!! Dude, I din't even read the article. I just went to sherdog for the stats. But The gave him a 4th dan to rep. Kuk Sool - I can't say I respect that. But I damn sure respective his hustle

[CKD]

Check out the other articles. One says he has only taken one kuk sool class in his life and then the sherdog reporter is like so there is no kuk sool in the ufc? and gary goodridge just says no. Whats your real style mt/boxing, wrestling and bjj. Thats funny he takes those styles only has taken 1 kuk sool class and he is a 4th degree.

[Tom Yum]

Free publicity.

Mark Hall was a 4th dan master of a style called Moo Yeah Do. Unlike Goodridge, he spent something like 12 years in the style.

In his UFC debut during the prelims he TKO'd sumo wrestler Koji Kitao, then got subbed by Don Frye. Korean TMA fighters tend to do so-so in MMA competitions and can hold their own on the street.

For a real demo of Kuk Sool, watch Jay Lee's police video with the angry pimp. He's a 6th dan, I believe.

[silapathai]

catching a kick than throwing/sweeping in MT

I dont think I have ever seen anyone in the UFC, K-1, or Pride or any of the other full contact organizations thats comes from a Hapkido background. I was wondering how do you think someone with a strong base in Hapkido who has also trained in Muay Thai and BJJ would do in these events?

Im not sure about other Hapkido schools but in ours we are also taught how to throw the opponent off a kick. I havent really seen that in any other Hapkido schools except maybe 1. Our defense against kicks really work well with the TKD guys, and other karate or whatever. My Muay Thai trainer told me in advance that those types of sweeps and throws werent allowed in Muay Thai so I dont use them in Muay Thai.

So what do you guys think?

Well, some of them might not be allowed in muay thai competition but your trainer should still be teaching them in MT. Every muay thai and kickboxing gym I have trained at has taught at least some throws/takedowns that aren't necessarily allowed in competition but are in Muay Thai as a whole art. My first Muay Thai instructor also had somewhat of a background in kakutogi/shoot boxing/and bare knuckle karate..so maybe I was fortunate but I don't think so because I trained a little bit at Master Toddy's in Las Vegas a few summers back and he went over some of the same throws and sweeps that I was allready taught and than some.

[silapathai]

Strange comment...does learning chess hamper you in a fight, does learning how to play the guitar hamper you in a fight.

Someone trained in Hapkido could do all the kicks that someone trained in Thai boxing could do...and more. They dont have to use them all in a fight. It all depends on how you apply what you know.

Most of the people i speak to in class, many of which who can do very flashy kicks, wouldnt do them in a fight.

I have respect for someone good at Hapkido, Judo, Aikido, and some styles of Karate-do but lets get real here..someone good in Hapkido could not do all the kicks someone good in Thai boxing could do and than some ) I'm actually laughing at the thought about this. Do you realize how many different variations of the roundhouse are used in Muay Thai? Many of the Thaiboxers in Thailand are also good in TKD and modify TKD kicks to work in Muay Thai..watch a Thaiboxing match in Thailand sometime and you'll see what I mean.
If a good Hapkido person hasn't trained in Muay Thai they won't be able to do the kicks a good Thaiboxer can do...A good Thaiboxer won't be able to do the joint lock applications that a good Hapkido practitioner can do, too! You really need to get outside and watch good Thaiboxing.
If a good Hapkido practitione could do all the kicks a good Thaiboxer could do I would have never invested time in MT, only in Hapkido. This statement also doesn't apply to the all the different schools of Hapkido..you do realize that there is a type of Hapkido that hardly has any of the TKD kicks(and hardly any kicks period.), right?