The boys at BFW sent me a rashguard to check out, so here goes!
Let’s look firstly at the competition. Surf rash guards and Underarmour. While both these options work fine, I’ve found that they start to wear down rather quickly after extended use and care. I’ve got Underarmour short sleeve tops that began breaking down after just a few washes. These BFW rash guards are burly. I’d guess that they’re about twice as thick as its competition.
The screen printing is just as rugged as the fabric itself. It looks like it’s some sort of rubberized paint that stretches so it doesn’t crumble with repeated use.
The stitching… the stitching is pretty crazy. I’d say borderline extreme. Almost as extreme as the athletes that wear them. XTREEEEEME!!! Just kidding. The thread they use is heavy duty to begin with, and the stitch pattern is difficult to see because it’s so dense. Bottom line is that it’s pretty much indestructable at every seam, so you don’t have to worry about anything coming loose.
If you’re not into the rah rah Brazil colors, BFW has some other options available as well. The rashie also comes in a long sleeve. Go check ‘em out!
Erik Paulson is one of the trailblazers in early MMA, being among the first to train and compete in hybrid martial arts. He’s like a modern day Bruce Lee, putting together the best aspects of BJJ, Judo, Muay Thai, Catch wrestling, Sambo, Savate, and JKD into a fighting system he’s dubbed Combat Submission Wrestling. His expertise in leg locks makes his groundfighting style really dangerous since everything from the waist down is vulnerable to dozens of attacks in any given position. Seriously, his knowledge of leg submissions is encyclopedic. You’ll see him coaching and working Josh Barnett’s corner at Pride events. Erik is a super cool guy too. Very down to earth and just a good human being.
Oh, and if you ever get the chance to take one of his seminars or visit his school down in Anaheim, you might want to take a notepad because you’ll learn like 20 different techniques in the span of an hour. He definitely makes it worth the money.
It looks like his site has had a facelift recently, and there are some Grappling Magazine instructionals available for download showcasing some of his no gi submissions:
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee! Here’s a great highlight reel of Ali, whom I consider to be the greatest sport fighter in our modern times. Not just for his skill in fighting, but also for his colorful personality and what he has accomplished in a social sense.
As soon as Silva locked that Muay Thai clinch, Ace was done. The first thing they teach you in a clinch is to smother your opponent so he doesn’t have room to wind up full-force knees. Of course this is easier said than done against a strong, lanky opponent such as Silva. The Brazilian played the course beautifully switching to knees to the head as soon as Franklin dropped his arms to protect his battered midsection.
This marks some of the most brilliant Muay Thai I’ve seen in the UFC thus far and I’m happy that we have some new blood holding belts that aren’t from the Miletich School of Assholery. Oh, and someone needs to notify Tim Sylvia that after you win the belt, you don’t actually have to use it to hold your pants up. It’s really more like a trophy, Tim.
John Fitch made his first televised UFC performance this weekend against Japanese Shooto dude Kuniyoshi Hironaka. Fitch has been touted as one of the best kept secrets in the UFC with a solid, well-rounded game. A lot of people have been waiting for Fitch to get big-time. Fun fact: Fitch was supposed to be on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter but was cancelled on last minute. And by last minute I mean he was at the airport ready to go kind of last minute. Yeah… thanks Dana. The former Purdue wrestling team captain pwned Hironaka for three rounds and by the end of it, Hironaka was looking Korean. I was rather surprised that Hironaka didn’t get cut with the bazillion elbows that dropped on his face.
Speaking of cuts, Kenny “Eyebrow” Florian surgically opened up the head of Sean Sherkroids with two little elbows turning the fight into a crazy bloodbath. And Sherk. He’s basically a four-foot-tall bicep muscle. How the fuck do you fight that? I was hoping Ken Flo in all his Muay Thai-ness would try to time a knee as Sherk came in for the takedown, but of course that never happened.
Did anyone else find K Flo’s entrance amusing? I was thinking that maybe he forgot that he was fighting that night because he got the date confused with Comic Con down in San Diego. And if you’re going to dress up like a samurai, at least find a decent fucking straw hat. Especially if you look like you’re about 14 years old. Otherwise you just look like you’re out looking for candy this time of year.
