My hat is off to Heath Herring for enduring the Sunami of pain that is Brock Lesnar. I think a lesser man would have given up during all that abuse. It’s sad that along with getting the sparks kicked off him Herring endured an accidental poke in the eye (from the ref) , Lesnar grabbing his groin and then laughing and pointing at Herring after the fight (I guess that’s how you celebrate in the WWE), then many people on blogs claiming that Herring is washed up and should retire. The UFC can be a tough career path Heath. Lesnar is an interesting guy for sure. He reminds me of a cross between Biff from Back to the Future and Ivan Drago from Rocky 3. He is UFC’s version of Kimbo Slice (better groomed however). Lesnar like Kimbo, has glaring problems. Lesnar, unlike Kimbo is the real deal and has incredible striking ability that I would say is unequaled in the UFC. His takedown ability is amazing, his strength is unreal and I bet he has an incredible work ethic. After that I don’t see anything that is really impressive. I’m skeptical of his top and bottom ground skills and his ability to finish guys once he gets them to the ground. I’m not sure he understands the concept of back mount and maybe his camp might have taken the time to teach him how to finish a fight with a rear choke. There is nothing wrong with Ground and Pound but in today’s UFC Lesnar needs more. I’m also dubious as to whether Lesnar learned anything from his ankle lock fiasco against Frank Mir and I’m wondering what kind of chin Lesnar has if he is going to bang with people. I think that Rampage Jackson is a good correlation with Brock Lesnar. Rampage is an awesome genetically blessed fighter, he hits way hard and I bet you could hit Rampage with a baseball bat in the head and he would say “Is that all you got?” but a lot of times in fighting a guy is going to get taken out of his game (like Rampage getting continuous leg strikes inflicted to him). Does he have other skills that will back him up in times of trouble, in this case a world class ground game? It could mean the difference between being the champ , being an ex champ or having no title at all. It’s a lot like a BJJ guy with less then world class striking or kicking ability who thinks all he needs is Jiu-Jitsu but once he gets his take-downs stuffed what does he have..not a lot. Many of you will say that Lesnar is a former NCAA wrestler. He has ground skills but that’s a lot like saying Kimbo Slice has a lot of punching ability because he has knocked people out in YouTube street fights, he needs more technique from everywhere in order to compete at a professional level. Fighters big and small need to be the complete package for when the bad times come and they will, especially when you can win a title on points . A simple mount, back mount or reversal here and there could make the decision in a close fight. I have a hard time believing that a guy is going to get an upper body submission on Brock Lesnar but If a fighter can with stand Lesnar’s punishment and mount a merely decent offense against him it could be another loss for Lesnar simply on points alone. If you think that submission or knockout is the only way to win fights then ask Forrest Griffin or any of the other fighters in MMA, gi and no gi grappling who are champions. Will Lesnar be a UFC champion? He’s got a good chance, but not If these other fighters get dialed in on his weaknesses. Which there are a number. My Last note: Brock Lesnar try not to grab your groin and point anymore. It looks bad for the sport.

The team results for the 13th Annual Grappler's Quest are out and Keith Owen BJJ from little ol' Boise Idaho took 7th Place overall. Team Mica and Cobra Kai rocked the hell out of the tournament! I want to congratulate them for their accomplishments. Our school beat out around 35 teams to take 7th including my old schools an friends the Las Vegas Combat Club, Sergio Penha BJJ and Cameron Diffley's Legion Jiu-Jitsu. I love these guys and respect them to no end! It was a great accomplishment! These are some fantastic teams! My excitement knows no bounds!!!!!! 1st MICA/Machado Jiu Jitsu Las Vegas 7175 points 2nd Cobra Kai 6999 points 3rd Carlson Gracie/Warrior/Xyience 4850 points 4th Charles Gracie 3300 points 5th Santa Fe 3125 points 6th PARAGON 2950 points 7th Keith Owen 2550 points 8th Ralph Gracie 2100 points 9th Las Vegas Combat Club 1850 points 10th West Point 1525 points

Meridian Magazine voted me one of the top most influential men in the Meridian Community! Meridian Idaho is a suburb of Boise with around 70,000 people in it. This was a pretty big surprise to me because I had done an interview with them last year and one of my students brought in the latest issue with me in it. I am in it along with 9 other gentlemen. This was a great honor for me! They cite the reasons that I'm a "Power Player" (there words not mine) because my school is successful, the fact that we teach a lot of lifeskills to children and adults, my dvd's are sold around the world, we took 16 medals at the recent Grappler's Quest, I am a lead instructor at the Idaho Police Academy, I do a lot of work in our public schools and we do an enourmous amount of charity work in our community. Now....If I could only influence my wife a little bit more =) Keith

Team Keith Owen did AWESOME at Grappler's Quest in Vegas this past week end. We took 16 medals with only 11 guys going!! We got 6 Gold Medal 8 Silver Medals 1 Bronze We took 9 medals at the last GQ!

Stephan Kesting recently sent me an advanced copy of his unreleased work called "High Percentage Leg Locks. " I have watched this video several times and the only word that comes to my mind is the word “Masterpiece.” I think this is Stephan’s finest work yet and is a treasure trove of valuable information that novices and experts alike will find extremely worthwhile. Kesting talks in-depth on how to do Ankle Locks and Heel-Hooks as well as, and more importantly, how to enter into them with the proper technique to finish. In his second volume Stephan gives the counters to these moves and then goes into how to recounter them once an opponent defends. Simply amazing! As an instructor I think these DVDs are all one needs to effectively teach their class on world class leg locking techniques. He then ends his DVD’s with a bonus section on Toe holds which are incredibly sneaky and are worth the DVD’s value in and of itself. I have seen numerous videos on Leg Locks from others in my 15 year career in BJJ and this set is by far the best material presented on this subject that I have seen. I wish I had a few negative comments to sprinkle in to make me seem more discerning but really this set is all a person needs to become highly proficient in their leg game. If a student were to couple this video with Kesting’s previous Knee Bar video then they would have all the proper tools to start their journey into becoming a leg lock master. I highly recommend this set when it is released and I wouldn’t let anyone else see it. Make them go get their own copy if they want it. Keep the secrets for yourself.