When I was a kid, my parents instilled in me the importance of helping others, which is what drew me to teaching. Martial arts is what I know and love best, and I honestly hope the information between the pages of Jackson’s MMA, The Stand Up Game will either help people defend themselves or win professional fights. Whatever you’re looking for, I hope I can help you find it.
Over the years, I’ve been in hundreds of corners and trained hundreds of fighters. From world champions to the military and police forces—in addition to the everyday guys off the street—I’ve had to learn what works best through trial and error…and error…and error. When my students convinced me to start coaching grappling tournaments, I faced many obstacles. Because I had no Jiu-Jitsu instructor, I had to figure out what worked and what didn’t and figure it out fast. These techniques, coupled with my students’ drive, helped us defeat more experienced opponents and we were able to win nearly every grappling tournament we entered.
Our transition into MMA started early, and we went through a similar progression. Using what moves worked and discarding what did not, we continued to evolve. We began winning all the bare-knuckle fights. From there, we progressed to winning the established events, eventually holding almost every King of the Cage belt as well as championships from many other organizations. In due course, my higher level fighters were introduced to the bigger stage of the UFC, WEC and Strikeforce. We have been lucky enough to earn a few of their belts, but more importantly we have been fortunate enough to have had a front row seat in the near-global recognition of the art we love.
The lessons I learned through this process are invaluable. All of the years of experience in corners, behind the scenes and working game plans have led me to a point where I feel like I sincerely stand behind the techniques I promote.
The result of my dedication is captured in the pages of my first book for Victory Belt Press called The Standup Game. These are the things I want people to know so they won’t have to go through all the pains I did to figure out what works and what doesn’t. I hope it helps.
Over the next three months, readers of FIGHT! Magazine will get an exclusive look at a few of my favorite techniques from the book as well as a sneak peak at some of the material from my next book, which will be out in February 2010.
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