Wake up with Jackson and special guests live from the Battle of Atlanta in the Cobb Galleria as they preview the day’s events!
0:00 – Phillip Brumme and Judah Sagawa interview
19:06 – Vince Little, Samantha Mitling and John Lorenz interview
38:14 – Ben Jones, Dawson Holt, and Esteban Tremblay interview
53:45 – Alex Mancillas, Cameron Ali, and Darren X interview
good morning sport karate and welcome to this special edition episode of The Jackson Rudolph podcast live from the Battle of Atlanta we start the show today with none other than Philip Brum of Team Competitive Edge and Judah sagawa of team freestyle two of the Leading Men of Team demo uh team freestyle and team Competitive Edge very storied franchises in team demo lots of batt against each other over the years uh and as individuals two guys that are relatively new to their respective age divisions with Judah coming up 14 to 17 but still winning just as much as he was in 13 and under and then same thing with Philip coming off of two overall Grand championships at the panamerican Internationals in his first season as an adult so thank you guys both for taking the time to come on the show today thank you for having us thank you for having us of course and uh let’s start with talking about team demo because Judo will start with you because team freestyle doesn’t have Squad here this weekend but we know that you guys are going to be coming ready for the US Open so just tell us a little bit about what it means to you to compete in team demo and how special it is as a division uh I mean for me team freestyle isn’t necessarily just like a team where we compete it’s more of like a family um cuz we all come from the same Dojo um we hang out outside of karate and other stuff so we’re like best friends basically so it’s more than just competing with a team it’s like competing with our family basically so I love it that’s awesome and then Phillip I know personally that Competitive Edge often feels that very same way that it’s not just a team it’s family right and Competitive Edge making their comeback at the Battle of Atlanta this weekend so what do you have uh to tell us about what’s in store with that so I feel like for Competitive Edge we do have that same kind of family Vibe where everybody you know has that love for each other but it’s almost the exact opposite where we don’t train all the time we get to train at tournaments the rest of the time we are completely spread across the country and so what makes Competitive Edge so special is the fact that we come here and in my opinion it’s kind of like an event like when Competitive Edge does demo it’s a big deal and that’s what’s going to happen here at B of Atlanta that’s awesome and what would you guys say is the most challenging part of Team demo because there there’s a ton of moving Parts in this division right everybody has their individual roles there’s going to be all these hand combinations and weapons combinations where the whole team has to be in sync together in your individual opinions what is the hardest part about all of the chaos that is team demo this time we’ll start with Phillip well we had uh some new pickups between when we last did demo and now so trying to figure out where they all go and then keep the the flow and the difficulty of our demo team up is kind of the hardest part is just making sure everything flows properly and that we’re all in sync together but other than that it’s not too bad and Judah um I think one of the hardest things is we have to adapt to losing some of our best members so just last year we had Aaron C much and Noah Chrisman two of the biggest leaders of our team they were great for us and amazing competitors but they moved on they went to college um so we just had to adapt we added some new younger members and had some other members step up and fill their roles but it’s definitely a big adjustment MH and one of the things that makes freestyle process so special is the fact that everybody’s homegrown right everybody’s coming from freestyle martial arts in San Diego under the the tutelage of will Jackson right um so can you give us a little Glimpse inside of like a team freestyle training schedule how many times a week are you guys getting together okay so firstly I’m just going to explain like a quick format so we have the for the demo team we have the Peewee team junior team and the senior team the senior team is what you see travel uh you might if you go to compete Nationals you might see the junior team uh they compete in the under belt demo division um but basically so we have Team practices three times a week for seniors um Tuesdays Fridays Sundays and we just go hard two hours practice individuals and demo and stuff that’s awesome and going to the choreography of it because we got to give that shout out to will Jackson for what he does for freestyle um so talk about when when he’s in the lab with you guys and figuring out new choreography like how instrumental is he to making you guys’ demo possible I mean he gives us a decent amount of Freedom like it’s not he he doesn’t create everything he tells us to create stuff um and then he just tells us whether it’s good or bad and then he just tells us to like make adjustments and stuff but overall he gives us a lot of freedom that’s cool and then transitioning over to the Competitive Edge side with Phillip from your perspective right I mean it’s uh it’s a lot different the structure of of the Competitive Edge team right we don’t have kind of the the the tiers of the roster it’s kind of just everybody you’re either on the the demo part of the team or you’re working your way there we consider them alternates before they actually make it into the demo right um and you’ve got a whole bunch of cooks in the kitchen you’ve got myself Reed Jake Cole my mom the the demo queen as we call her um so talk a little bit about kind of the the multiple leadership roles within Competitive Edge um and just how you the things that you like about it and how you’ve navigated it um and just a little Glimpse inside that Dynamic so when I first started on Competitive Edge I think the only coaches were still just you um Reed Cole and then even Jake I think was still an assistant coach and then everybody got added as the assistant coaches so Jake was an official coach and then Ben Dawson eston Avery they were the assistants and then just since then just a few months ago me Eden uh Mr Trimble and Miss Williams were ated as the team captains of Competitive Edge so I mean we’re looking at like 12 people with leadership roles in the actual demo team and so there’s a lot of like Eden and I yesterday for example we were leading a lot of the demo we were trying to get everybody together and then when we had questions then we kind of bounc them off of you guys and then like when Ben and Dawson were there we bounc them off of them and so we all just kind of work together as a unit even with um with Miss Kathy like we all work together to make this team work and as far as like not really having tears it’s because if we put you on Competitive Edge then we think you’re good enough to do a demo so I mean if you’re on the team you’re in that you’re in that situation where you know that that’s part of it that comes with the role very well put and I want to transition to your individual divisions now because we can talk about team demo all day long because you guys both have fantastic demo teams but at the same time you guys are each competing for coveted Battle of Atlanta Grand championships this weekend with a very good chance to to win maybe a couple of them right and so Philip we’ll start with you on this one because you were just talking about some of these guys that have been your friends for so long Ben Dawson estabon who are also going to be on the show later and you got to go in there and compete against them and and try to get some of these titles so talk a bit about your experience since being in the men’s division the intensity of that competition uh beginning to share the ring with people that you care about so it’s definitely an interesting Dynamic going from the Juniors to the adults was a different um transition than I was expecting I thought it was going to be a little bit different but the competition level is obviously higher I mean Ben Dawson estabon it’s crazy but there’s like a different feeling to it that’s almost like more calm I think because everybody in it is more tenured and they they have a maturity about themselves it’s not like a frenzy it’s like everybody knows what they’re doing I mean we’re here we’re here to compete we all have the same goal so it’s it’s not like a confused Madness it’s just like a this is what’s going to happen now let’s see who wins you know we’re all throwing crazy stuff I know this weekend everybody’s going to be trying upgrades trying what to do to get that top spot at win the Battle of Atlanta overall so I mean for this weekend it’s just same thing you got to go in and do what you know what to do and that’s it and I remember feeling a a very similar type of transition from the Juniors to the adults and I think part of it is that in that 14 to 17 division everybody’s still trying to prove themselves right but you know really you create your legacy in this sport once you make it to the 18 plus don’t get me wrong it’s phenomenal to have a bunch of overalls as a junior as I know somebody sitting here certainly does right um but at the end of the day the thing that gets you remembered when when I think back about cman and Matt and I mean these are people that had great Junior careers but it was what they did in the adult division that really cemented that Legacy and so I think that a lot of competitors by the time they get to that 18 plus division when you’re the cream of the crop and those top six to eight athletes um you you recognize it you you recognize that you’re no longer in that 14 to 17 group like of a whole bunch of killers just trying to prove yourself but now you’re you’re in the adult Division and you just appreciate every opportunity that gets set up in front of you which is the perfect transition to now Judah who’s in that hectic chaotic 14 to 17 division right now um where we’ve got a lot of emerging star right you’re somebody that was dominant in 13 and under and are trying to continue that Su Success Through 14 17 but you’re also competing against a bunch of guys that maybe didn’t have that success in 13 and under but now they’re starting to really kind of come into their own and and show the skills that they have so what from your perspective what’s it like being in that 14 to 17 division now and uh the competitors that you match up with um I uh okay so I moved from 13 under to 14 17 and I didn’t really know what to expect placement wise so my goal was just to put on a show for all my forms um I mean my goal was to just change the game musicality wise um and I think I’m working on that um I’ve seen a lot more people doing adding more musicality to their forms I’ve seen a lot of creativity there um but overall I think I think it’s awesome that a ton of new competitors are getting it so much better there’s so much improvement recently um um I mean yeah and and I love that you bring up the the musicality and the choreography as a way that you’ve been trying to set yourself apart from the pack uh because real sport karate fans will know that there’s some history here with Jacob Ellis who obviously is somebody that you’ve looked up to for a long time coming from the team freestyle umbrella um and J gabella is doing the Iron Man form right yeah there has to be a little bit of poetry between Jacob Ellis as Iron Man and then you doing a Spider-Man the form can you talk a little bit about how that came to be whose idea was it how much inspiration did you draw from him just tell us about that process okay so ever since I saw that for him I always wanted to do something similar I never sure was sure exactly what I wanted to do but I know I wanted to do something to that aspect and eventually once I got to a certain skill level and I felt like I could do it well uh I mean I reached out I started on my own and then he definitely was a huge inspiration he helped me create a lot of it um but overall yeah a lot of credit to Jacob Ellis I just want to say that Judah told me he mixed the song himself like he made that whole song like himself that’s crazy to me that’s super cool thank you um and so now I want to transition to you know I was joking a little bit with some of the crew before the show about how yeah the theme of this particular segment was going to be you guys being some of the top demo guys uh because really the schedule just worked out conveniently where we we could pair you guys up uh but the joke was was that well we could also just you know call this the segment with guys who can shuriken cutter right U so I want to talk a little bit about the level of difficulty that you guys bring to your forums because Phil up both with empty hand and commas and then Judah for you with sword as well um bringing an insane level of difficulty whether it’s throwing a comma up doing a Webster and catching it or doing triple spin catches with the sword or uh throwing shuriken Cutters you guys always bring a ton of difficulty to your extreme performances um and so just tell the audience a little bit about that mindset um are you one of those athletes that gets nervous about it but you’re able to overcome that or are you one of those athletes that tries to block out all the nervousness in the beginning just how do you deal with preparing for a tournament and knowing that you’re going to go out there and do one of the hardest forms if not the hardest form in your respective divisions um I’m definitely I get nervous about it um but I kind of use those nerves to help turn into adrenaline I feel like it just pushes me getss me higher on all my tricks um I mean yeah throwing hard stuff definitely makes me nervous but I use it to my advantage I like that kind of channeling it into a different energy and Philip what do you think I I do get nervous like sometimes four divisions my hands will get a little sweaty I’m like okay but then it gets to a certain point where I know I’m like the next four like four people to go I I kind of like calm down cuz I try not to put things in my form that I’m not certain about I mean if it’s in my form then I know I can do it so I try and do things exactly how I practice I think it was cman choka once said he was like you don’t want to be that person that’s like oh when I compete I go faster if you’re doing that you’re not practicing how you’re going to actually do it you’re going to make mistakes that way so for me consistency is like 90% of this like if I’m anything I’m nothing but like a consistent competitor I mean I I hit my forms so for difficulty I mean sometimes you have to push the envelope a little bit but like I like to to know what I’m doing when I go into the division I love that and I think that’s always been a part of my strategy too is like yeah you want to go out there and hit a difficult form but if you’re hitting your form more consistently than everybody else is statistically you’re going to win more than everybody else too because every single time that they have mistakes or they drop and you don’t you’re going to be the person who’s going to come out on top just by process of elimination right um so I think that consistency is huge and I think being able to kind of channel that nervous energy I think all of this kind of plays really well together um and Philip you mentioned cman and so I want to talk a little bit about the influence that each of you have had from past champions Jud I saw you doing a private lesson with cman last night if that was a secret I don’t mean to out it but uh working with you know the greatest sword competitor of all time Philip we know that your commas are heavily influenced by Rudy Ron among others that you’ve worked with over the years um so can you guys just speak a little bit to kind of drawing inspiration and learning from these past champions and how that has shaped your game today whoever wants to go first can take it um I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration um a lot of them just from my coaches such like Jacob Ellis cman choka but um one name I want to give a a shout out to she was from team freestyle kayin wayy um an insanely good sword competitor first ever sword competitor to do a 720 in competition I believe um and her name isn’t necessarily known that much um because she only competed as a junior but as a junior she was extremely dominant and insanely good sword so I was I was around for the kin wayy primes I remember it well I think that that’s a good name drop when you guys are done watching this episode make make sure you do some YouTube searches of some of these names that we dropping uh but Philip what about for you so I started obviously with Alex Manz as my main coach and then from there I transitioned to Tyler Weaver and then my first real experience with well Tyler and rker Shout out rker uh but my first real experience with like the ogs was um was cman choka at this tournament actually in 2021 and it was actually it was super weird it was like almost only one week between battle and US Open so the turnaround was so fast um so I worked with cman and he kind of made a few modifications and it was just kind of like eye opening how creative he was and then that same day I actually worked with Marcel Jones as well and so I worked with both of them and it was just crazy cuz they’re so creative they don’t have to really try they just they kind of stand there like this for a second and then boom an idea just comes out it’s like okay I would not have thought of that and then uh from there I worked with uh Rudy Ron and Matt imig and it’s just uh really helped me like mold what I want to do in the sport I want to kind of bring back some of that OG energy you know bring back that hype that the cleanliness the actual martial arts I mean I think that being able to have proper kicks proper stances all of that stuff is super important and something that we could all as a sport work on so and I think that’s a beautiful way to kind of close this segment is talking about how sport karate one of the special things about this community is the fact that our past champions so frequently pay it forward if you look at the top athletes in the sport who are they all being coached by the top athletes of 5 10 15 years ago and that’s one of the really cool things about the sport I mean it’s why I can’t get enough of it right I’ve been retired since 2021 U but I still come back and I love podcasting like this and talking about it and doing commentating at the events um and it’s because I love it and I think that that’s what keeps everybody coming back and that’s what we hope keeps the fans coming back and helps the sport continue to grow um so huge thank you to the fans that are helping us make that possible but also a huge thank you to both of you for killing it on the mat and for also taking the time this morning before you guys get ready to compete today uh to come out and do the show so really appreciate you guys taking the time thank you so much for having us thank you for having us absolutely and so now we’re going to transition we’re we’re going to go ahead and get our next uh set of guests in the booth here uh if you’re just tuning in this is good morning sport karate I’m your host Jackson Rudolph this is powered by sport karate Zone and Century martial arts and we are live here at the Battle of Atlanta previewing a lot of the big events that are going to be coming up one thing that we were just talking about in the production room before the show started Battle of Atlanta Facebook we are probably going to do a live stream and announce the full open weight fighting bracket we have a ridiculous bracket for you guys a lot of elite heavyweights some killer lightweights that have a chance to win this whole thing the openweight division at the Battle of Atlanta is the Premier Point fighting division in all of American sport karate and we’re going to have a chance to see that action today so stay tuned for more information about that and uh we are now transitioning to get our our next set of guests in the booth you guys go a and take your seats in any seat you want Vince I want to sit on yourp and so now we welcome to the booth the americk national competition team immediately to my right we’ve got Vince little one of the coaches of this squad with Samantha midling and John Loren so thank you guys for taking the time this morning to jump on the podcast a and uh you know I I knew so you and Derek Megan are kind of the the captains of the ship driving the americ national team and I was texting Derek about this show and he warned me to uh to be very careful about having Vince behind a microphone and seeing what happens I’m just so passionate about this story you know no I love it I love it and really that’s one of the big reasons that I wanted to have you guys on the show was the passion that you guys’ whole Squad brings to the sport uh you guys are super active on social media I really like all the things that you guys are doing not to mention the fact that we’ve seen these two kill it on stage multiple times this year and so I want to start with You Vince can you just tell us a little bit there’s obviously a long history of americk and americk adjacent sport karate teams so tell us a bit about the natural history of you getting involved with this squad and how this squad came to be so I guess going back years ago well I mean I used to compete on Amer back when I was doing NASA so I think I stopped in like 2016 2017 um and I got out of it I opened my school about 2017 and I always kind of missed it you know I really liked competing I did it for a really long time and I did Coach here and there kids that were still competing on NASA I just didn’t have a lot of time to kind of put into it because I was focused on building the school up and probably 2019 202 like right as Co started to hit I was like you know I kind of have this buildup where I can do a little bit more so I started getting a little bit more into the coaching and then I was actually planning on going to more tournaments then the world kind of shut down so I kind of Ste back and I focused a lot on like kids that were really stuck at home and I focused on a lot of like prep for when NASA would open up again and then when it did I think this was like the first tournament I kind of popped back into in 2021 and um yeah I just kind of got into doing it again really liked it um these guys are pretty cool so um and the squad just kind of grew dererk was the same way he kind of stepped out he had the whole College thing going for a while and then he graduated he I mean we both do like full-time separate things so like I mean he has like a full-time job out of this but we just both loved this so much as kids and um I guess we really like you guys too and um I don’t know it just kind of we got the opportunity to do it and it kind of just steamrolled into what it is now and now we’re kind of going to most I mean pretty much all the major tournaments that squad’s building they’re getting better and um you know it’s been fun that’s awesome and as somebody that has shared the mat with both you and Derek I think that exactly I did I did creative forms once past the age of like 12 um and I still wasn’t very good at it it was it was don’t look up the YouTube video uh but uh but it was a lot of fun and uh what I was getting to there was uh two two great guys to be leading the team so appreciate you giving us a little bit of that context of course and uh now transitioning to you guys I just want to hear you guys’ origin story for how you first got into sport karate up to getting involved with the American team Samantha we’ll go ladies first so I had started competing with sport karate back when I was 12 years old that’s when I started doing more of the competing I started off with going to Chicago and then Battle of Atlanta Diamond Nationals of course because live in Minnesota and then the American Internationals and I had started off with those few tournaments and really liked it I mean at first I was always just getting finalist or last but I just kept on pushing and kept on working hard and then um back in 2019 actually was the year when I started to win and I started to just I guess kind of make a name for myself and then a mirick had picked me up in October after the diamond Nationals and then I have been competing with mirick ever since and it’s been it’s been awesome awesome good overview and then uh John what’s your story so I like originally started karate cuz my sister bought me like a two-e membership kind of thing like for Christmas um kind of in a magazine yeah basically she kind of did that and then um I started competing at Aki was my first tournament cuz it’s like an hour away Amer Internationals yeah Amer International just for the people watching the home I got you um and I dropped and I did really bad cuz I was an under belt and it was my first tournament and I was nervous but then I just kind of like kept training and it spiraled into what it is now I went to AKA when I was a red belt so I was still an under belt and I W Division and it just kind of like kept going from there you know MH and then got on national team like three four years ago and yeah been a good good run that’s awesome and one of the big things that I wanted to talk about in this show was each of your Styles individually because we’ve seen you guys in these night shows multiple times now and I think a big part of it is the individual unique styles that you bring to your divisions right Sam the way that you do Bow is is reminiscent of one of my favorite old competitors that I shared the ring with and Scott Cornelius which is a name that more people should recognize but every time I watch your form I just I see Scott all over it which is a compliment yes um and so exactly and for me it’s the it’s the unique combination of being able to mix in releases and Body Rolls you don’t see it very much in my own style of bow I was so focused on releases that there was very little time to put body rolls into the form but I think you do a really good job of balancing the two and still bringing some of those OG Body Rolls as well as some new stuff that people maybe haven’t seen before and bringing some of the releases um that kind of the meta in sport karate is you need some of those releases to be competitive right definitely so talk a bit about developing that style any inspiration that you got from Scott sure Becca Ross had some inspir inspiration along the way as well um so just speak a little bit about how your bow style came to be yeah and I always because I feel like you’ve always told me you’ve always gone up to me you’re like you look just like Scott Cornelius and that’s funny because I’ve actually never worked with Scott Cornelius I worked with Nick Schneider so I worked with Nick for like three years and I think he was the one that kind of helped Scott get to where he was with body rolls and Nick was very I mean he did releases but he also did a lot with Body Rolls so he was the one that taught me like the Voodoo Child the different variations with that the different like I do this one body roll where he actually made it up where you swing and then it goes around your body you step and you catch behind Nick Schneider made that up I believe so that’s cool that’s cool yes so he had underrated bow competitor by the way people don’t realize how good Nick Schneider was I was on a uh a WKA uh USA team that went over to Spain in 2009 which that roster was crazy I was just a kid uh but we had Jarrett lier and Becca now Becca lier both on that roster Matt imig was on that roster the reason I bring it up is because Cory lutus and Nick Schneider did a sync form which was wild you can go find that one I think I did see that on YouTube aome I’ll let you keep going but I had to I had to Fanboy over like Nick Schneider being a dog for a second yeah no he was an amazing competitor and I feel like that my body rolls and everything like that I give him credit for that and Becca Ross I mean she also did stuff with Body Rolls too and she was able to help create like different variations off of what I was doing before and just teach me different kinds of releases which that has a little bit more of like the Cory luus inspiration I feel like to some of those like the levy Corpus where you toss it off of your hand when it’s flat there’s another one where you toss it from behind your back and I give them a lot of credit and I feel like they working with them has really helped like set me apart as a competitor because of their unique Styles and then just putting that all together to create my style MH and you’ve got a great bow lineage as your name dropping there Becca Ross Cory lgus we talking people that watching gr up absolutely and so I want to transition now to John because similarly to how we were talking about Samantha with b and kind of finding a way to create her own style that’s different from kind of uh what most people in the sport are doing right now I think that you’ve done that very effectively with Chucks in two ways from the way that that I analyze it one is you bring power to the Chucks that I think a lot of people don’t appreciate and recognize um I think that often times it’s it’s easy in Chucks forms for people to just kind of spin their Chucks around they’re throwing strikes but they’re really just spinning their Chucks around right uh but you do a really good job of making them look like strikes you look like you’re hitting people with your nunchucks and that’s how it should be and then the other side of that is difficulty right Beach wish cat catching your intro having multiple spin catch releases with Chucks so talk a little bit about how your nunchuck game came to be so number one one I’m like I know I’m like large like bigger than everyone in most of my division so that yeah that is like a big focus of mine is just putting power behind everything because I know I’m just I’m not going to be as fast as them so that’s just a focus of M putting power into it um and I think a lot of where my style came from actually came from myself and Vince cuz I’ve never I’ve never taken a lesson from someone who does Chucks as their main weapon that’s czy I’ve taken like one lesson with Danny actually but like I’ve never really like had consistent lessons with someone who’s does Chucks so I think that’s a lot of um like where my original like originality comes from and um yeah basically just focus on power being original cleansiness being clean MH so yeah and I think it’s wild that you’re as good as you are at Chucks without having like you got one private lesson from Danny under your belt but otherwise like no formal Chucks specific private training necessarily other than obviously this is one thing that a lot of people don’t realize like you look at what Vince’s career was with commas and open forms you look at Derek with Bo and people don’t realize that most of these guys can all teach a little bit of everything because as martial artists we all had to learn a little bit of everything coming up and so you know I think that in a coaching role you’re able to identify these things as well as just anybody else would be able to identify it so although it’s it’s surprising that you haven’t had more private lessons with Chuck’s people in some ways it’s not that surprising because it’s like you still got guys know what they’re doing to look at it and kind of mold your own style and that is a good opportunity to transition to Vents and as a coach when you look at these guys specifically what is it that makes them special what is it to you that helps each of them stand out uh that’s just them or everyone starting with them but then you can expand to other team members if you want to yeah I guess that’s kind of the whole thing in coaching right like everybody it’s like you have to find their superpower and then kind of focus in on that while building up the weaknesses and you know I guess kind of what John said about him he has the whole size thing going on with him and um we’ve really kind of worked on playing off of that with empty hand and even with um with weapons um and then the other thing with his tricking is like he’s good but like I mean he’s not throwing triple FS so it’s about kind of like playing off of what he has and like he’s really good at his coordination with the weapon so it’s like all right like let’s take the trick that we have and like let’s do something crazy with the weapon at the same time because like he has such good control over it that we can just mess around like the B twist catch and some other variations that may be coming out in the tournament or two um Sam I would say it’s just I mean it’s it’s the body rolles really I mean like it’s I’ve seen her do some crazy stuff with those things you know I mean her strikes are clean she has the performance and she can do all the releases that all the other competitors are doing but like the way she kind of the composition of it with the body rolls and where she kind of throws the ation in there I think that’s what really sets her apart I don’t think anybody is doing as many as she is when it comes to stuff like that but she’s still at the same time keeps the strikes clean keeps the releasing difficulty up there she just kind of throws her own flare so I love that and I also want to give you the Aly oop to talk about any other americ members that you want to give some shout outs to there’s too many um I know recently on sport karate Zone we posted about uh light bulb himself the fireball that he isord I mean that kid’s special man he’s I he just like a quick story he was at he did demo at Pam’s and like he had a section where he like he ripped a triple in the demo and like he hit it and he like was walking off and the demo is like still going on and like he’s still on the stage like waiting for his turn and you just see him go yes I was the funniest like he’s just generally so excited that he hit it during the de but the demo is like still going like he’s his own hype man yeah he’s he’s he’s just so much energy so much hype he’s great I mean um I have a couple kids from my school that are here that um that do they’re consistently like in runoffs I had William Isabella they’re both n and under um my student Carter who started as like a 5-year-old in my school he’s taking some runoffs and overalls this year which is pretty cool um and then we we cool thing about americk is like we have a lot of drafted talent but I mean not even like because Sam is drafted but she came up under like Becca and then you have a little bit of Derek so like you had a lot of lessons with them Maria same thing came under Becca um I do forms with her a little bit she does bow with Vinnie scardio who was also an americ guy like so a lot of our guys come in like if we even draft them from a coach that is AER and then a lot of them are coming from the schools like John started Amic when he was what like four uh seven seven yeah Carter was when he was five at my school my student William started when he was three at my school Bella five I started Amer when I was five like like we’re local school like homegrown people so I think that’s what’s kind of cool about this you know so and I think that’s one of the things that’s so special about sport karate as a whole is that everybody that you’re going to see competing on stage here at Battle of Atlanta or at any Nasco World Tour event at some point was just a kid at a karate school you know what I mean and there are certain schools the americ system Infinity we were just talking to Judah from freestyle there are certain schools that are known to be able to develop the talent but at the end of the day everybody’s just some kid from a karate school at one point and that’s one of the things that’s so special with open registration anybody can show up and compete against the best in the world and you can’t say that about to my knowledge any other Sport and so I want to transition back to Sam and John for this because of course we are here at the Battle of Atlanta which is one of the premier sport karate tournaments in the world um registration is looking ridiculous this weekend multiple divisions of over 30 competitors meaning that we’re going to have to split those divisions in two and run those divisions off it’s going to be wild it’s a crazy weekend of stacked competition especially on the forms and weapons side and so for you guys as a competitor going into that tournament particularly in weapons where you’ve got so much difficulty what is your mindset as you’re approaching these stacked divisions knowing you’ve got to hit great forms to be competitive what is the way that you approach that in training now that it’s the day of just kind of give us a glimpse Inside the Mind of the competitor uh John you look locked in on this one we’ll start with you I see him play with his hands I was like oh he’s thinking so um are we talking about like prep before the tournament or like day of both kind of prep and leading into now that we’re the day of where’s the head space so for prep um we most of the time I do a training with uh Vince and like the whole national team and it’s a lot of drilling a lot of conditioning just doing our forms like over and over and over again and then I just like rest for the whole week I might do like a little bit on on Monday and Tuesday just walk through my sections but um other than that just mostly rest and that big Training Day of I would normally sleep in a lot later but down here doing the podcast so um sorry no you’re good sacrific his whole routine yeah but um just I come down eat good food rest up I don’t like practice a lot between my divisions like I just kind of stood on my phone rest up rest my mind Crush yeah Clash of Clans you know course um but yeah nothing really special I mean just kind of rest and Sam what about you yeah so I had lik that you had brought up about how big this tournament is because I remember competing my first time competing at this tournament was back in 2018 I think it was a 5A at the time and just seeing now how much this tournament has grown and I think I had heard from somebody that the numbers at this tournament are larger than they were at Warrior cup in January which is incredible um so but I definitely love the challenge with that I really like that and I let that feel me in my training like okay I have some really good competitors I mean Haley glass Sarah Campbell they’re all really really good there’s some other ones as well um and I just let that feel my training like I said um I’ve been trying to do a lot a lot of like full out sections full out forms just trying to really push that speed and power and that intensity and making sure to keep that up throughout the whole ire form so that’s really a lot of what I’ve been trying to do also just working on my strength like preparing for this tournament um and then leading up I mean to the day of the tournament I just try to just get in the zone as much as I can and listen to some music you know run through my stuff and just kind of let that challenge feel me when I compete awesome I think two great answers that give us a glimpse inside of these these top competitors mindset and uh as we start to transition to our next segment just want to say thank you guys for taking the time wishing you guys good skill I actually like to hop in really quick I’ve waited my whole life this you got to hit the handshake first I have something I extended okay you got oh I’ve got something for you king oh my goodness you know when I told my mother I was going to be part of this podcast she told me to get this sign if you could just [Laughter] please Vince has brought out hey he just printed this off of like Microsoft Word it’s a picture of me from a bow fishing trip pin I got you I marked all over my hand starting on eBay we’re GNA be going 500 oh my God that is that is that’s the best thing that’s ever happened on this show um but in all seriousness thank you man oh of course thank you guys for coming on the show we’ll go ahead and get our next guest in the booth we’ll catch up with you guys later thank you for having for having us Jackson so uh ladies and gentlemen you are um this is good morning sport karate and if that didn’t wake you up I don’t know what will so now we welcome to the booth um the the Three Musketeers The Three Amigos from Team Paul Mitchell all guys that are going to be competing for the adult forms and weapons overall Grand championships this weekend Ben Jones Dawson Holt estabon Trimble in the house and it seems like this is becoming an annual routine this is the first time I’ve seen estabon this weekend by the way hi estabon how’s it going um but uh we do this every year and it’s because you guys have stayed at the top of your game for so long and it’s such a unique opportunity to have three guys who are the best of friends and we can sit here and just talk shop for a little bit and then uh you guys can go try to kill each other in the ring right yes sir uh but let’s start with just a little oneliner from from each of you so that if anybody watching from home has been uh living under a rock they they know who you guys are uh so we’ll just start with a oneliner and we’ll we’ll roll right into it cool I’m Ben Jones um obviously member of Team Paul Mitchell 19 years old currently living in Madison Wisconsin all right well I’m Dawson Holt I’m um Team Paul Mitchell as well 20 years old and I’m currently uh in Nashville Tennessee well my name is eson trumbl I don’t really know where I should look like right there I guess so I’m going to talk to do you guys that way my name is ason trumbl I’m from Quebec Canada I’m 19 years old representing team Paul Mitchell as well I think that’s it and obviously the common denominator here is team Paul Mitchell but you guys’ history goes way back we’re all teammates on Competitive Edge together and I think sitting here at the Battle of Atlanta this is a tournament that you guys have attended for a long long time right and so I want to start by just kind of reminiscing over the years uh any favorite memories that you have from the Battle of Atlanta before we kind of shift our Focus to this weekend and the here and now um Ben are there any stories that come to mind of just great battle of Atlanta memories yeah I’ve got two I’ll make them fast so um one that was pretty cool kind of like a full circle moment was I believe 2015 or so when the Competitive Edge Camp started here I was a camper on that um and learned a ton was able to make a lot of friends through that as well and then um last year I was able to and a couple years before I was able to start helping out and then teach that camp last year year so that was cool in terms of a leadership standpoint being able to jump up and take that role as an instructor as well and not just a camper and a student um and then also in 2018 I believe you said it was history at least so I’m going off of you um I was able to win my first division ever in nasca and first runoff and first overall Grand within the same weekend so that was here in 2018 so that was a big a big moment for me um so yeah I have to say that those two probably be the big two big special moments from this tournament and I’ll confirm that is a historic run it is not normal for somebody to win their first Division and then 24 hours later they have their first overall under their belt uh that’s pretty wild but Dawson will’ll throw it to you uh any great battle of Atlanta memories well as far as this tournament man it’s uh this will be my 10th year 10th Battle of Atlanta I guess does that make you feel old uh not not yet but it’s getting there um it is kind of crazy it’s a bit of a milestone but uh yeah I got a so 2015 um kind of had the same similar story so we both attended the camp U that’s how we became good friends with each other is through taking the Competitive Edge camps and that’s how we got to know each other then we became teammates and here we are today um so yeah we took the the camp and then it was a believe that year was a hyper Camp so all the pro athletes got to choose like at least two uh people that attended the camp and then those two students athletes um had the opportunity to perform on stage in front of you know with all you guys including car Michael so um funny enough cman uh actually chose me um so that was pretty cool so I got to I believe you could still find it on YouTube actually if you look it up so there’s if you see it there’s myself there’s Ben Jones there’s PJ there’s some other people in there um so yeah that was a pretty cool memory um I guess for another one I’d have to say is the overall Grands last year um competing in men’s weapons I think that was a definitely one of the coolest moments coolest divisions I’d have to say that all of us participated in including Rashad Eugene um shout out to Rashad he right now he’s in business with World Caribbean um he’s not with us right now but yeah I just um had to give him a shout out cuz he’s definitely pushed all three of us um and he’s doing great things right now so yeah that was um definitely a cool moment so I’m definitely looking forward to hopefully we can you know do another great division this year so yeah love it and then eston your history at Atlanta is a little bit more complicated because the uh the Canadian education system is uh their scheduling is not conducive to the Battle of Atlanta yeah I was about to say that um so I attended I think in my junior years battle like 2016 I think maybe 2019 something like that but like I think that’s those like only two times I went here and then I started back after Co when we came back I went in 2021 2022 and then 2023 and then we are so yeah I don’t have a lot of stories for battle because I didn’t wi here a lot a lot of times but I would say like dson just mentioned uh men cmx weapon last year was crazy I think that’s like if we take all the tournaments from last year only one of the finals that would like one of the most special one we ever had so and as a guy who’s been in some of those moments right where it’s it’s you and a couple of buddies and you’re the best in the world and you all go out there and you hit a form and you leave it up to the judges there’s really no feeling like that because nobody wants to go to the tournament and then win because your your buddy dropped or whatever you know what I mean everybody wants to go and have everybody hit and then see what happens right that that is the most thrill moment that you can get as a weapons competitor is being in that weapons final and everybody hits right and so I wanted to be creative because I’ve talked to you guys on podcasts so many times at this point I wanted to make sure that I asked a question that I’ve never asked you before I’m genuinely curious as the three of you let’s say that the way the divisions work out it’s just the three of you going into a men’s open weapons final what order do you want that division to go and why including what order do you want the other two to be in so not only because if you guys all just say oh well I want to go last well that’s not very fun but do you want to set the bar if you go last do you care if it estabon if it’s Dawson first or Ben first how do you look at that Division and what’s your ideal scenario that plays out in your mind are are we the only three in that you’re the only three that’s it who wants to go first I’ll take it so I think the easy answer thought about this I mean strategy right so the EAS the answer is go last and then you know what has already happened in that division so if there are any unfortunate things that happen for the other competitors if there’s a bobble or stumble or drop whatever it may be then you know how to gauge that form but I’d like to say um in terms of performance if that’s what I’m going for if I go first I know I have to hit a a really great form if I’m going to beat them right no matter what they do after it um so I would like to say first which I know may may seem backwards and usually you want to take that last spot and just kind of have the easy way out um but overall I think if if I’m going first I’m going to have to hit everything so in terms of the form that I’m going to have to then nail on stage I would want to go first and maybe that’s some reverse psychology maybe Ben’s just saying he wants to go first so that in reality he’ll wind up going last this weekend trying to get some good karma I’m teasing uh but Dawson what do you think about that question I know it’s it’s an interesting one right yeah I mean we’ve all experienced all we’ve all experienced having to go first middle or second or last um for me I mean going first we all know it the whole forms competitors know it it’s very difficult to do well when you’re going first because let’s just say if you set the bar High great but sometimes you know the other competitors will see that and they can strategize and they can go on ahead and plan ahead if they’re good enough to do that um so sometimes um if the other two do really well sometimes that first competitor it it happens um not all the time but sometimes they can the judges can kind of forget that performance and how well it did not saying it happens all the time but there has had moments where it’s happened I’m not I don’t speak for the three of us but I don’t speak for anyone but we’ve just seen it I’m not trying to say any names but I’ve seen like I don’t even speak for myself actually just not not trying to call anyone out man we’ve just seen stuff like that happen but for me I guess I think I would prefer to either go second or last second would be cool because of I’m the only one out of the three that doesn’t that does a different weapons so I think it would just be it would just have a kind of a cool look as far in terms of order right B better for the crowd you’re saying yeah bow sword bow um last is always good but there’s also like I mean I feel the pressure when I’m going last definitely especially if these two guys hit some of the best forms in their lives I was like oh man now I really got to go and you know so yeah I think middle second or last to be honest just in terms of like you know far as I guess from an audience perspective I feel like it would just have a good look well you bring up a good point about going last that is a valid point to consider like if everybody hits and you’re going last all of a sudden everything all the falls on you right so eston we’ll close with you what are your thoughts about all this uh I would say it really depends on the CIO if we take like a actual tournament scenario and we don’t know what will happen with other competitor performance or anything like that um I would say it’s a it’s a safe option to say last right yeah you can like Ben said you can say you can see what the others did and their form and everything and just adjust what you have to do in your performance to try to win um but overall I think if if I like would know for a fact that everybody would hit their form in advance I would probably choose first because whatever I do like I’m I know exactly which form I’m going to hit and just to like start the show right away and bring the AL down you know so that would probably it and I think just to add up and that order stuff uh I think second is like the worst spot for me like you said second or last but for me going like in the middle I feel like it’s kind of hard because the one who start just like just put the pressure in the division and the one who hand like hand the sh right so being in that metal point is like you have to bring it to make sure that you have those lines like it’s I think for me I I personally think that the middle spots is the harder spot to get some lines when you are in that division mhm and the cool thing about this topic is that all three these guys have the ability to win these overalls from any spot in the draw and so at the end of the day this is just a fun little topic of discussion but really any of you could win from any of those spots and that’s one of the things that I really hope people tune in to the Battle Zone finals for on Saturday night uh because assuming business is taken care of tonight there’s a good chance that we’re going to see at least some of your faces if not all of them in the nighttime finals and I think that that’s something that everybody can look forward to um so before we close the segment I just want to really briefly ask of you very simply what is the thing that you are most excited for this weekend at the Battle of Atlanta just being back in the ring being ready to just nail some great forms again um from last tournament to now I’ve definitely made some good adjustments to my training personally and to the forms that I’m doing um and so I feel more prepared I feel like than the last tournament obviously this is a big event this is my first ever NASA event so I really want to come in and hit everything really really strong so I’m feeling good all around so being back in the ring with these guys and all the other great competitors and just doing what we do best love it Dawson how about you well it’s not just well I put in all the hard work I put in all the hours the early mornings the late night so I’m just ready to go out and execute now um I have a lot not only to prove to people but I have to prove myself that you know I’m good enough um and I think that I speak for all of us that you know we want to be able to prove that this modern era can is competitive it’s in terms it’s now evolved than the previous great now so you know there’s some you know stuff stuff or talk on social media that you know people in the past are better now um sometimes you got to ignore the hate sometimes but you know sometimes you can kind of go back and you know for us I think we all kind of look back sometimes and you know we see elements you know in previous competitors that you know could still be competitive today and you know now I think we’ve kind of I don’t know how I’m saying I’m just ready to go out and show and kill um so yeah I think there was there was a lot of profound stuff in there that like I feel like sometimes Dawson’s like coolness about his his whole temperament can sometimes take away from like some of the things you were saying there are really profound like yeah there’s people on social media saying that previous generations are better and it’s our job to prove them wrong right like that is that’s a really profound accurate thought that you got to cut out all the noise and the only way to do that is to perform at a high level right um and then after that he pivots and he’s like I’m just ready to go out there and kill you know what I mean he says so calmly but that’s like that that’s the Instinct that a top competitor needs right and then EST M will close with you what are you excited about this weekend yeah well if we want to prove the doubt of RS um I would say we need to bring the level that we had last year in the men cmx weapons finals and just Elevate that even when it’s more like to make it even better than the last year and that’s probably my the part that I’m most excited about because I know what we did last year and I know we all got better so I know that this division can be fired this year awesome I love it well I want to thank all of you boys for taking the time to come on the show I know you guys have sync divisions to get ready for and so I’m going to say a big thank you to you guys you guys go get focused and uh for everybody tuning in stay tuned because we’ve got one more set of guests coming up we’ll go ahead and dismiss you guys from the booth and if you guys could grab uh your fighting friends that would be great and that is the uh the perfect segue to say that our last set of guests for this show good morning sport karate brought to you by sport karate Zone live here from the Battle of Atlanta we’ve got the men’s fighting team for team Paul Mitchell Alex Manas Cameron Ali and Darren X are on their way into the booth as we speak these are guys that have been tearing up the circuit all year long multiple team fighting wins on the season and also each of them threats to win the huge openweight division today of 67 Fighters and Counting make sure you stay tuned to the ball of Atlanta Facebook around noon when we’re going to be releasing the bracket for that massive openweight Division and that was beautiful timing because we’ve got everybody in the now again we’ve got Darren X Alex Manas Cameron Ali thank you guys all for taking the time to come on the show today yes sir anything for you we’re excited man let’s do this and so we’re going to keep it simple to start off with first let’s just go around with a quick oneliner introduce yourself give your name where you’re from how long you’ve been in martial arts and then uh we’ll just keep rolling from there Darren we’ll start with you uh my name is Darren X and I’ve been in martial arts for 11 years and I’m from New York I’m Alex Monas I’m 21 and I’m from Brownsville Texas Cameron not Le 27 years old doing martial arts for 24 years and uh from Baltimore Maryland I love it and so as as we were doing the lead in for this segment we were talking about the open weight and how big that division is going to be today so as you guys I mean I know you guys are just chomping at the bit to get in that division anytime that you see a huge lineup that many fighters especially that many fighters at a high level you just want to get out there and have some fun on the mat right U so I just want each you to give us a preview of what your mindset is like and what you’re looking forward to about being in that openweight division Darren we’ll start with uh I’m just looking forward to just taking one fight at a time you know not really worrying about the big number just one just focusing on the fight that’s in front of you that’s all I love it Alex you know I’ve had an interesting start to the beginning of the year so I think this is only my second tournament and I guess NASA in the states um had to go off and work for a little bit but I’m excited to be back I haven’t team fought since AKA so I’m excited for that and that as far as the openweight division it’s one fight at a time just like Darren said and to take my my training fully trust myself and so that on the mats cam discipline simple simple I mean this this is not something I uh haven’t done it’s not something I’m new to it’s just being disciplined at that’s all and and it just depends on where I’m at for how I want the tournament to go you know you know it could get real hot or it could get real colder here just depends on how I feel right for sure and I think the common theme across the way that all of you guys are looking at this is there’s this calmness to it that comes with being a professional right and then there’s this mentality of every single fight you step into you’ve got to take the fight in front of you whether it’s kind of exactly verbatim What Alex and stacks were saying we call them da Stacks by the way we’re going to call him Darren but we’re going to call him da Stacks too uh and then of course cam like the discipline of like keeping yourself honest taking it one fight at a time that is part of discipline as well right there’s a hundred different ways that we could dive into that definition but I love the way that you introduced that and Alex brings up team fighting Alex back in the team fighting division for the first time since Chicago right little bit of a different Squad because we don’t got we don’t have our brother dehop with us this weekend right uh but for each of you just tell us a little bit about why you love team fighting what makes it special to you and then what you’re looking forward to in team fighting for the weekend we’re the best team in the world like nobody has a squad like us it’s really that simple really that simple not much to say I love it confidence I love it and as a Paul Mitchell guy you guys know I love it but anyway Alex absolutely no I look forward to team fighting just because it’s one of those divisions when I got into adults I didn’t get to do much of initially um you know and then I’ve looked up to cam also when when he was on the team and I grew up with Stacks you know fighting the same division so it’s it’s a beautiful thing when we can come together and just take over and dominate like that like like stack just said we’re the best team in the world so we’re going to go out and show it I love it and cam team fighting is really what I truly train for man it’s just being able to look to your left and right and know that you sacrifice to be your absolute best you know for your brothers that are beside you um not for myself so much but just to just to see these guys happy you know and to get the just do that they deserve for the work that they put in you know because it’s it’s definitely an unspoken uh Aura around event you know that it’s going to be easy to move us because Devon’s not not here so you know we we’re gonna we’re g to see where everybody is and see you know how things uh pan out but I definitely don’t think that these are two that you can take lightly or remove them off the table cuz hop is not here but um you know they have two hands two feet and a brain anybody with two hands two feet in a brain to me is dangerous I don’t trust no damn but and uh for for any of that talk that’s been buzzing around about maybe if the team’s going to look a little bit different without dehop we certainly wish that we had him with us because he’s our brother but uh I I would not be placing any bets against Paul Mitchell this weekend and maybe maybe that’s me playing favorites uh but I think a lot of it is what you guys have proven over the course of the Season you guys at multiple tournaments this year both individually and in team fighting have been in those situations against some of the top guys and proven that you deserve to be wearing the black and white logo um because it’s unlike any other team it’s an achievement in and of itself to put on that uniform right other teams you just represent the team but when you get on Paul Mitchell like that is on the pedestal of winning a major title or or any individual achievement being a member of this family is at that level and so I want to give each of you a chance to just elaborate a little bit more on what it means to you to be a part of this 37 plus Year Legacy that is Paul Mitchell what it means to me is is like uh I’ve been like chosen out of millions of people that could have got the opportunity so I don’t I don’t take this opportunity really lightly it it mean it means a lot because I really didn’t have to be on the team I didn’t have to be picked so for for them from the outside to look in and to see that I really deserve this opportunity it means a lot to me and I and I very do appreciate it for sure so got to cherishing the opportunity to be on the team is a huge part of it absolutely Alex it means everything kind of just like SX was saying it’s means everything to me because I didn’t get here alone you know along the journey or to start my journey my mom sacrificed a lot you know in the beginning to get me to every tournament to get me uniforms and to get me introduced to the the circuit and the competition world and you know obviously without that sacrifice it wouldn’t be in the black and white today so to represent this team it means hard work means everything it you just got to give it all you got because there there’s no excuses and it’s a it’s a blessing so I’m blessed to be on this team I’m blessed to be able to met you meet these guys and call them family and to continue to build on a very prestigious and successful leg so means everything beautifully said Alex and cam you can just simplify by saying you know it’s the same uniform that Ka War amen allar is to it absolutely put a dot right there that’s it absolutely and uh for anybody if you hear the the KA uh nickname talking about Kevin Thompson and if you didn’t know that then you haven’t studied enough sport karate you need to you need to go and watch the tapes and watch some Kevin Thompson uh but truly I mean there’s a reason that all of our uniforms and all the gear that we where has that #k strong on it because of what he meant to this team and what he meant to the sport as the greatest of all time the only guy that could do every single division at the highest level for as long as he was able to do it for um so I love the fact that you’re you’re giving him that shout out and showing him that appreciation um and the fact that he was on this team it means the world to us right uh and so I want to transition back to some of the action this weekend but really with this question I want to get at what is going on in the mind of aight CU I feel like for spectators at home that’s one of the hardest things to grasp is when you’re watching a point fight is it I’ve heard Fighters talk about how they just kind of like black out and then you’re just kind of out there doing your thing and a lot of its muscle memory but I’ve also heard Fighters be very cerebral and like constantly thinking and adjusting and strategizing throughout the match and I know that’s different for everybody so for each of you as you’re in the ring bouncing throwing fakes and trying to you know in those first 10 to 15 seconds of a fight bring us inside your mind what are the things running through your head most of the time when I’m fighting I I’m focusing on the mistake of the other fighter because it that that’s what it really comes down to whoever makes the less mistakes wins it’s it’s really that simple it’s it’s not more so what they say now the game attack is is is whoever makes the less mistakes I love that so it’s not so much thinking about the game as who gets there first which is how most people think about it but whoever opens the opportunity to get got first is ultimately gonna be who gets scored on right I like that Alex what about you for me I go when I’m balancing or fighting in that ring and first couple of seconds I tell myself it’s mine this is my ring so when I tell myself that it’s a reminder that I can’t be backing up I got to stick to fighting how I really fight you know and don’t worry about what your opponent is doing focus on what I’m doing and control the fight so I slip in there and I just tell myself this is my ring this is my fight and I’m going to take it uh and that’s the mentality yes I focus on the techniques and what not but I think it always it has to start from you too as well so starts with me and that’s that’s like I said just tell myself it’s mine that’s awesome so we’re looking for the mistakes we’ve got some positive selft talk some affirmations going on and then cam what’s going on in your mind uh I’m more so analyzed you know I want to make sure I know where the clock is get a feeling of you know where the crowd is is this somebody who they are are cheering for is it a momentum fight um and I evaluate where the judges are man have they been standing there all day can I throw complex techniques you know what is the mind of who’s looking at me because if their mind cannot understand what’s going on then you find a frustration or they’re not calling my points they’re not doing this but you need to pay attention if they’ve been judging all day long you need to keep it super simple and create big pictures so you know a lot of people do say and I’m one of them I’m not a fan of punching out of punching range I’m not not a fan of it but I can understand if the judges of fatigue in their mind and fatigue in their eye you have to give them a big picture so that they don’t have to work hard to call it so um because self- protection and and protection is so important to me I deal with the environment not more so the person but the environment so uh I want to make sure I know where the clock is is this a loud crowd does the judge in the corner seem overwhelmed by the power of the head judge I read all those things so that I know where to take a fight what judge is a fan what judge doesn’t like I’ll take the fight right to somebody who I know enjoys my fight I’ll move the fight right to that person as as opposed to taking it to somebody’s side who I know may not be uh and when I say fan I just mean somebody who enjoys to watch me fight because everybody who shake your hand is not your friend right I think that that is a a really really detailed and uh kind of a fine- tooth comb way to look at a fight because there are all of these external factors to go into it I think the one that most fans can recognize is when somebody’s on a comeback in like the last 30 seconds of a fight and they get a couple of points going narrative all of a sudden a dside that touches but maybe isn’t extended it’s a lot easier to throw up two points because the momentum is starting to shift in that way and so even though as forms competitors we often think of fighting as the more more objective part of our sport because it’s points based it is still an extremely subjective game it all it all comes down to the way that you’re portraying every single class to the judges the way you position yourself on the mat being aware of those runs and the pace of the fight I think that that is a really really beautiful analysis and what I want to close with is uh really just one more kind of sound bite for the fans because I know sport karate Zone the Battle of Atlanta YouTube Facebook we’re going to be tracking all this throughout the weekend and I’m hoping to catch one of these highlights and then maybe edit it together uh but simply the question is what is your favorite technique to hit somebody with that’s a tough one and you can’t say all of them sidekick sidekick yeah but the proper one a clean sidekick I like it yes sir Alex tax I have two I you can say two I’ll give you two I’ll give you too all right I I like to hit somebody like with a good axe kick like the one that just like like that one slap one and a good back f is real like it just just bring something to your body I me yeah a good good sidekick solid sidekick and if you could hit somebody with that front leg front hand combo one two that’s also really nice but psychic for me I love it I love it so all weekend I’m G have my phone out trying to catch a camide kick trying to C I really want to see the axe kick man we got to see the axe kick come out uh but then Alex with the side kick with that little onew I love it well again hey anything can happen you never know some like certain situations man something can come out of nowhere so might see a cork in there I don’t know Webster we better I think coach Damon might have a stroke if you throw a cork think and a good lead hand Rich oh my goodness I was talking to somebody yesterday like poow right there I was talking to somebody yesterday about how uh a d Stacks ridg hand is like one of the most beautiful techniques in point fighting like especially with the tape on the glove like there’s something about the way it looks I’m fanboying right now but I love it and then uh the other thing and actually because you bring up ridg hands I’m I’m GNA take this as an opportunity to say something because I doubt that very many judges are listening to this but I want judges to listen to this do you know how many times this season I’ve seen Cameron Ali ridg hands somebody in the face and it not get called Cameron Ali does a defensive kind of fade back lead hand ridg hand and he pops people with it all the time and people don’t call it he’s rid handed somebody in the face call the point just just throwing that out there cam I’ve seen it I’ve seen it I’ve seen it land they’re still standing they’re still standing I love it hey thank you guys so much for taking the time to come on the show um I know you guys got a lot of business to attend to today team fights open weight again for everybody tuning in we are going to be releasing the open weight bracket 67 plus Fighters practically an NCAA Tournament of Fighters today we’re going to be releasing that bracket live on the Battle of Atlanta Facebook right around noon so keep an eye out for that really really exciting division that we’ve got ahead of us this weekend one more time for you guys thank you so much for taking the time to come on the show um I’ll catch up with you guys a little bit as soon as I get off camera but I’m going to close the show here sir apprciate you and so this has been good morning sport karate a special production of the Jack Rudolph broadcast brought to you by uh the Jax Rudolph broadcast the Jax Rudolph podcast brought to you by sport karate Zone The Amazing production team here at the Battle of Atlanta and centry martial arts thank you so much to everybody that has tuned in as you can see we’ve been interviewing some of the absolute top athletes in the sport that are going to be competing for titles this weekend this has been good morning sport karate make sure you stay tuned tomorrow morning same time same place Battle of Atlanta YouTube channel at 8:00 a.m. eastern for the Battle Zone countdown where we’re going to be interviewing even more athletes once all of the Dust has settled from the Friday eliminations looking forward to the saturday night show I’m your host Jackson Rudolph and I’ll see you there
