Truths, Half-truths and Observations on the World Combat League
Denver, CO 10-19-07
Written by Mickey & Mallory, The MMA Times
Quote of the night from Denver Fury Coach Steve Alley, “If there is a tiebreaker, the coaches should go at it and I know I would kick their asses.”
Ok, that wasn't even a half truth, he really didn’t say that. But if he did, Malory and I would volunteer to stand ringside and hold the towel in the air. Friends do that for friends.
The WCL takes B-level kick boxers and because of the “full throttle” rules, improves a sport many find too similar to boxing.
Better explain 'full throttle': 1) no clinching, 2) no ground fighting, 3) no passivity, 4) two 3-minute rounds, with a 20 minute break of coaching and rest in between. Also, each fighter has a backup and the coach can pick a backup after the break instead of sticking with their first fighter.
By B-level fighters I mean in terms of experience, exposure and yes, skill. I don’t want to take anything away from them but they are not K-1 fighters. For example, Duane Ludwig didn't fare well in K-1 and he is considered A-level MMA fighter.
Truth - Did I mention that Chuck's wife is hot? Fellas, if your 67 years old and your wife looks like her, your living right.
Chuck’s in good shape himself. Even though he has 30 years on me, I still wouldn’t talk shit to him.
Not that I would. Chuck, anyone that meets him thinks their friends and you can immediately refer to him like I do, as Chuck. Anyway, Chuck really is cool. I don’t think it was media suck-up and the guy really cares.
For instance, Chuck shows some great humor when describing how he was praying the Rockies would win, so they wouldn’t compete with his Friday night event.
‘JKD’ asked us to ask if the WCL would ever cross promote K-1 and Chuck said he wouldn’t rule anything out but has no immediate plans.
‘Drago110482’ asked us to ask if it will air in Germany. Tony Fay, PR director for the WCL, said it will air in Europe within 30 days.
‘Cuni09’ asked us to ask if there will ever be a Grand Prix and Chuck adamantly said no. “I'm committed to the team concept where coaching and team effort comes into play.”
‘Lord of War’ asked us to ask what Chuck thinks of today's MMA stars. “I love watching all martial arts events but my favorites are the strikers in the sport, like Chuck Lidell, Fedor, and Quinton Jackson. I feel I’m taking what people like best about MMA, striking, and emphasizing it in my league.”
‘Crocop's Thigh’ asked us to ask if Chuck's legs are really called “Law” and “Order”. I didn’t want to ask this but thought what the hell, so I did. He laughed and told us about the guy that runs the site (
www.ChuckNorrisFacts.com) and how funny he thinks the whole thing is. He didn’t, however, ever answer the question.. Let’s just assume they are “Law” and “Order”.
The best write-in question though was by ‘Lord of War’ who asked where Chuck Norris feels that he and Bruce Lee fit into the history of mainstream martial arts. “People need to understand the timing of us, Bruce shortly after I made my first movie.” Chuck made his first feature movie, Return of the Dragon in 1972. He also went on to say, “Bruce was the pioneer, he made it cool, he was the whole start and he was also an actor the entire time. While Bruce started in movies, I started as a professional fighter and moved to movies after my fight career.”
Chuck would not answer any question about his role in mainstream martial arts and just smiled and wanted to talk about something else.
We tried to bait him on Dana White of the UFC and he wouldn’t take it. “I won't talk badly about anyone, anytime. Dana is a great businessman.”
Chuck also trained under and received his black belt in Brazilian-Jiu-Jitsu from none other than Helio Gracie and he also trained under Machado. That was the real surprise of the evening.
Truth - Texas coach Tra Telligman is awesome. Stay tuned for a wealth of info we got from him on topics such as Mark Kerr, fighting in Pride, and many others from the early days.
Truth – How ironic is it that Chuck Norris has a body guard? Chuck Norris’ body guard looks like Fabio, or maybe Dog. Just in case we see him again, maybe this one is Half-Truth... (Mallory takes credit for this one regardless)
Written by Mickey & Mallory, The MMA Times
mickey@themmatimes.com
mallory@themmatimes.com
www.themmatimes.com
