Teacher

I’ve been teaching martial arts, specifically Combat Sambo, Submission Wrestling and Kickboxing for over 18 years. Looking at it now, it’s been a long time. Someone asked me once: “Over the years of teaching, has there been a change in the people that train in your dojo?” Ever since MMA has become more mainstream and […]

PEDs in MMA

  We have heard over the years of pro MMA fighters accused of using or being caught using PEDs. As with all sports that start having higher and higher pay incomes, the usage of performance enhancing drugs (PED) become increasingly common. In MMA they have become more and more predominant, and some pro fighters have […]

Weight cutting wackiness

  There have been reported deaths of athletes dying from extreme weight cutting in MMA recently. Not just deaths, but also athletes in dire condition at the weight-ins. This has happened in other combat sports, even at the amateur level. Wrestling(real wrestling folks), has been a major victim of this, with even reported deaths of […]

My interview with Katsuomi Inagaki

Katsuomi Inagaki was with Pancrase from the start.He participated in Pancrase’s first event in 1993. He is owner and head instructor of Inagaki-gumi P’s Lab Osaka. This past summer, during my stay in Japan, I had the opportunity to meet up with Inagaki-san. I’ve been to the P’s Lab Osaka twice in the past two […]

The Pancrase Happening

Many people have asked me why I chose to affiliate with Pancrase.I have even asked that question to myself. I have a long history with Pancrase. This dates back to me the living in Asia in 1992. My first exposure to Pancrase was while I was living in Taipei, Taiwan. One day at a Japanese […]

Japan Trip 2015

On my recent visit this year to Japan I had a nice opportunity to train with my Pancrase “family”. This time I trained at the Pancrase gym, located in Osaka city, named Inagaki Gumi (Ps Lab Osaka). This gym is owned by Katsuomi Inagaki, a former pro-MMA fighter who was a participant at the first […]

The new combat sport law mishmash

Last years Canada’s new Bill S-209 has been proclaimed as a blessing to legalize pro-MMA in all of Canada. It has been legal in some provinces, such as Quebec, so why now? All this has to go with that MMA has become a real big industry now. Politicians and many citizens have praised this bill, […]

FIASco

Why did I quit FIAS? (Federation International Amateur de Sambo) This a question I get from several people in the Sambo world. I was the Canadian representative for FIAS from 2000-2005, by being the president of the National Sambo Association of Canada. Before creating this association I asked other Sambo gyms in Canada ( at […]

What is the difference between Combat Sambo and Judo?

                                 This is a less complicated search to see the difference between these two styles. The major and biggest difference is Judo has become purely a combat sport, whereas Combat Sambo has both sportive and personal self-defense training. Combat Sambo has deep […]

What is the difference between Combat Sambo and BJJ?

There are several common points between both systems. In first, they are both grappling based systems. In the grappling sense, the main difference is that Combat Sambo emphasizes more throwing, and takedown techniques. Many BJJ gyms start their sparring on the ground, and very infrequently teach takedown techniques. The assumption is that that the fight […]