 Brown Belt
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Posts: 2,505
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I was just Jason Miller's grappling dummy. (VERY LONG READ - UPDATED 4/27/06 page 5)
First of all, let me say that I am true and loyal student of Relson Gracie. A lot of people here on the forums know this already but I am a older, big, blue belt, just got 3rd degree and the plan is in another 12 years or whatever time to get a black belt under Relson. That being said, a friend calls me and says,
"Hey, Jason Miller wants to train with you." To which I reply, "Not Mayhem Miller huh?" He says, "Yeah, Jason Mayhem Miller." Thinking that it was a joke I say, "Yeah, um, right." He goes, "No, Jason is fighting some big sumo turned mma guy and needs to roll with a big guys. Some one called me and I said he should roll with you."
Now my friend is a brown belt under Relson and no small fry himself in the "size" category. Jason Mayhem Miller? I remember seeing him in ICON, UFC, some greenwhale dvd Southern Classic? and mucho other videos. But no guts, no glory. I agree.
When I get to the place I see other people I know who are little (normal size) and think "What are these guys doing here?" Seems this "training" with Jason Miller was actually a seminar but still he wanted big guys to come to train with. And it seems that me and the brown are the biggest guys there.
A little blurb about Jason "Mayhem" Miller. I only had videos of him, watching him fight mma in person (beating pretty much everyone ICON throws his way), his lost and behavior at UFC and yes, the recent arrest in Hawaii to go by. I was at the Shogun and Ninja Rua seminar with him and BJ Penn. Yes, that was a great training seminar from Chutebox, thanks to HMC and Central Jiu Jitsu for hosting that seminar and inviting me.
But his seminar, drills, and the new technique was fun and very useful for me and probably everyone there. If I had the chance I would do take another one, for free, that is. I also feel that his "Mayhem" persona, is two things, good natured fun and marketing.
People can say what they want about the guy but I think his interviews, his behavior is to get at the minds of the other fighters and grapplers to make them think more about the behavior than the man. It is also very marketable as he is funny as hell.
I was a fan of his even against the local fighters because I felt that his grappling was just head and shoulders above his competitors and when he gave Niko Vitale flowers to give to his sister (Prior to the ICON fight, so she would not jump in the ring ala the Robbie Lawler fight), I just about died laughing and felt that this simple act had already won him the fight mentally.
BACK to being the grappling dummy:
So he comes to the training on Hawaiian or Brazilian time (late - hahaha) and starts his warm ups. The place has about 20? or so guys on puzzle mats stretching, talking and doing their own warmups. While warming up, Jason eyes me and my buddy and goes, "Oh yeah, some big guys, thanks for coming." Then he looks at me again and goes, "I know you huh? You come to one of my seminars?" I say, "No, I never took one of yours before but we were in the Shogun and Ninja Rua seminar together at HMC." He says (jokingly), "Oh, so you can go to theirs but not mine? eh." I reply (jokingly but truthfully), "Theirs was free, anytime a seminar is free I'm there." Hey, I'm frugal and part chinese.
We run through a couple of drills that were excellent even though I was gassed as hell and my knees were being eaten up by those puzzle mats. After about 45 minutes or so of doing that we line up on the wall and its time to roll.
Jason says, "its time Big Guy, you and me, here", pointing to the mat. We slap hands and I jump closed guard immediately, Jason postured up and with a little work passes and goes straight to knee to belly. I defend the knee to belly and Jason attempts an arm bar. I protect the arm and Jason takes my back, after fighting and defending for a while, he gets the rnc on me. We go again and I jumped to closed guard again to switch to half guard but this time Jason is prepared and shucks my guard like yesterdays rubbish. He goes cross side and mounts. I fight and defend as best as I can but ultimately get americana'd or kimura'd I forget but it was from the mount. Before we go again Jason tells me, "This time take top. Let me work my guard, I need to feel your weight for the guy I am fighting." So he sits down and is working something that looks like a half butterfly, half guard combo. Being a half guard guy, I trap the half guard leg and Jason hips out and goes full closed guard. I posture up and break the legs. Using a over-under grip I attempt to pass and Jason defends as I switch legs and grips while trying to stack him. As Jason switches his unheld leg over me and himself I switch legs and grips to the one that is preventing the pass while putting all of my weight on him. Back and forth it goes until I finally pass and as I am resting just getting to establish my side control, Jason scrambles and takes my back. I defend and attempt escapes but the hold is tight and the control amazing. Finally he sinks the rnc and its tap time again. We go at it one more time but being the older larger grappler I'm about as gassed as I can be and try as I might I can not get the energy or technique to pass the guard this time and Jason calls "TIME!"
I don't know how long it was and I was 0 - 4. But Jason thanks me for rolling with him and takes on the brown belt who asked me to come. He fairs worse than me (smaller thats why because he is a true brown belt under Relson = 10 + years) 0-7, he says to me as I was not watching as I was rolling with someone else. Jason probably knocked his game down for me and turned it ALL the way up for the brown.
Other than Jason, no other person there subs me, another Relson brown belt prevents me from passing his guard using a butterfly but I was gassed beyond belief by that point. As a blue, I subbed two purples who came, but one wanted to try to use his half guard and I subbed him from there so that really does not count, and the rest of the blues I knew plus a few who I rolled with I did not know their ranks but it does not really matter. A total of 14 matches and I was 10-4.
So I was Jason Mayhem Miller's grappling dummy for a day. But it was a worthwhile for me. I continue using the drills and moves that he taught me there and better for the experience. I told him thanks and he says, "No, thank YOU. Forget the bottom game and guard. Take top. As a big guy you should always try to be on top." We take pictures and then he asked my friend if we could train with him again. My friend says "sure", without asking me, and they exchange contact information.
Last night on the local Hawaii Channel 4 KITV news, Jason Miller announces the fight with the ex-sumo mma PRIDE guy, ICON has lifted his suspension and I guess are throwing him against a big boy. Looks like I might get another call to try to "squish" Jason, i.e pass his guard and take side or mount. Getting to that position is the problem however.
Wish me luck.
Last edited by jjmuaythaiguy; 04-27-2006 at 02:03 PM.
Reason: Update on training.
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