Gunfighter

fm2 · Joined: 16 Jul 2007 Posts: 67

I thought this one might appeal here.

The author, Sam Sheridan, joined the Merchant Marine after high school and then attended Harvard.

From the dust jacket:

"In 1999, after a series of adventurous jobs---working construction at the South Pole, ranching in Montana, fighting wildfires in New Mexico, and sailing private yachts around the world---Sam Sheridan found himself in Australia, loaded with cash and intent on not working until he'd spent it all. He quit smoking and began working out at a local gym, where it slowly occurred to him that now, without distractions, he could finally indulge a long-dormant obsession: fighting.

"Within a year, Sheridan landed in Bangkok to train at the legendary Fairtex gym with Apidej Sit-Hirun, the greatest fighter in Thai kickboxing history. Driven by a desire to know only what a fighter can---about fear and violence, about the dark side of being a man, and most of all about himself---he stepped through the ropes for a professional bout against a man from Japan, a karate champion who may have been a member of the Yakuza.

"That one fight wasn't enough, so Sheridan set out to test himself in an epic journey into the world of fighting. In Bittendorf, Iowa, he trained with Ultimate Fighting champ Pat Militech and his team, sparring with world champions Tim Sylvia, Matt Hughes, Jens Pulver, and a who's who in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. Off the beaches of Rio and on the road in Tokyo, he hit the mats with jiu-jitsu superstars Mario Sperry, Murilo Bustamante, and Rodrigo Nogueira of Brazilian Top Team. And in Oakland, he traded punches with Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward..."

A few entertaining quotes from this fine book:

-On the Militech DT program for LE:

"...the problems with training police officers in the use of physical force weren't what you'd expect. Pat (Militech) said, 'It used to be that they didn't really want to train police officers too much in martial arts because they were afraid of them going around beating people down. The reality is the opposite: a trained officer is relaxed and able to cope with a physical situation without the panic and adrenaline that an untrained officer might fall into, which leads him to beat someone down.' Black Belt magazine agreed with him in its March 2004 issue: 'Untrained officers, when threatened physically, are three times more likely to resort to deadly force..."

-On BJJ-trained street guys in Brazil:

"...the fighters---instantly recognizable by their bulk, the pite-boys (from "pit bull", pronounced "pitchey-boys") with heavily snarled cauliflower ears, battered noses and eyebrows, and thick heavy shoulders and hands---and their respective teams were milling around. One guy was absolutely immense and dark black, with arms like separate people attached to his shoulders, a steroid wonder, with bloodshot eyes in a handsome, chiseled face. A lot of black and olive skin, skullcaps, eyes searching one another out. Being with Scott and the other gringos, it was if I didn't exist because I was so obviously not a fighter, or least not one to be concerned about.

"They call them pite-boys, somewhat like the motorcycle guys are called moto boys. It's almost a fashion thing, but the pite-boys are a little more extreme. They often show up to a club or party and if they aren't let in will kick everyone's ass in the line, or pull the tent down on the party. They are essentially social terrorists. There are stories about how poor street kids will sometimes take rocks and mash up their own ears, in order to look tough, like pite-boys.

"'Once you get pretty good at jiu-jitsu, beating up someone who doesn't know any jiu-jitsu is pretty f*****g easy. So you get this whole power trip,' was Scott's explanation for the phenomenon. Pite-boys were notorious throughout Rio. "'The've got a gun and you don't; and these guys abuse the power.' Most pite-boys were upper class, with the freedom from legal persecution that privilege affords in Brazil.

"While shaved heads, tats, and cauliflower ears are the uniform, some of the most notorious pite-boys don't quite fit that stereotype, like Ryan Gracie and Georginio. And it's usually not the best fighters who are the bad pite-boys; for instance, Murilo and Ze Mario aren't out in clubs beating people up.

"There are some particularly infamous incidents, such as one battle between Ryan Gracie and Macaco that destroyed an entire sushi restaurant in Sao Paulo. Now just as every dog bite becomes a pit bull attack, every public fight is blamed on the pite-boys."

-On the BTT-Chute Boxe rivalry:

"One night, the liaison woman from Pride came in with some urgent news: Sakuraba had gotten hurt. Sakuraba was a storied Japanese fighter who had crossed over from pro wrestling and become famous as the 'Gracie Killer' when he beat Royce, Royler, Renzo, and Ryan Gracie, and he had fought some of the legendary fights of Pride. Wanderlei Silva, a Brazilian fighter who was undefeated in four years of Pride, had beaten the living sh** out of Sakuraba three times, and they were going to fight a fourth time, but Sakuraba had busted a rib (I felt his pain) and was dropping out of the fight. The translator asked Ze half jokingly (but half seriously) if he or Rogerio would be able to step in and fight. Wanderlei was nicknamed the 'Axe Murderer', with good reason. Ze shook his head strongly that neither was ready, and he was absolutely right. They weren't ready for Wanderlei; he ate fighters like them for breakfast (Wanderlei was at the height of his powers and seemed invincible). I think Ze could have fought Wanderlei and beaten him if he had been super prepared, in the best shape of his life. He would've needed a strategy and a plan and months and months to mentally prepare, because the Axe Murderer handled jiu-jitsu guys like they were tissue paper. Wanderlei was the principal fighter for a team called Chute Boxe, which traced its roots to the old battles of box Thailandes and luta livre with the Gracie students. He was a stand-up fighter, a devastating striker with boundless animal ferocity."