the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

bailewen wrote:I think that may be a poor tattoo choice.

Means "pioneering", "groundbreaking", so the meaning is fine, but I feel like it's just weird for a tattoo. Need to ask one of the locals to be sure though.

Chris Huntemann on May 30, 2017 wrote:Fighters also typically earn their nicknames in pretty random ways. They usually just keep a moniker given to them in childhood, or maybe they create one on their own. But have you ever heard of a fighter taking his nickname from a rejected name for a school?

That’s what this “Trailblazer” did. When Holland’s kung fu teacher was looking to open his own gym, he was deciding between the names “Trailblazer Academy” and “Just Warriors.”

“He originally wanted to name it ‘Trailblazer Academy,’” Holland told Combat Press. “I thought it sounded cool, like a badass Western character. But my teacher thought ‘Just Warriors’ sounded cool, and I told people I thought ‘Trailblazer’ sounded cool. My coach said I just do things my own way, like a trailblazer.”

Holland started doing things his own way early on in life. He took martial arts starting at age seven, advancing to yellow belt. He participated in other sports, too, including basketball.

“But I learned I was not a fan of team sports,” Holland said. “I also helped some guys on the football team prepare for games, but I decided to take up skateboarding and even got a few sponsors out of doing that. And I always enjoyed punching people in the face, so I ended up getting kicked out of school for headbutting a security guard.”

Holland was sent to a special school run by a 50-year-old man who knew kung fu.

“He smacked me around,” said Holland.

It was also around this time that Holland began watching the UFC and the now-defunct WEC. Holland watched Urijah Faber and Mike Brown square off in the WEC. He saw the landmark UFC 100 pay-per-view. These experiences were the spark that led Holland down the road to a career in mixed martial arts.

“I went to UFC 101, and when I saw Anderson Silva knock out Forrest Griffin while backing up, I knew I could do that,” Holland said. “I started training in kung fu and grappling, and I started out being trained by [former UFC fighter] Travis Lutter.”

When and why did you start training for fighting? I started training for fighting at 16 years old when I walked into a gym for a kung fu class. I thought I was hot stuff, but the trainer gave me a whooping.

What titles have you held? KOTC 170 interim champ, XKO 170 and 185lb belt. Second-degree black belt in kung fu. Black belt in jiu-jitsu under Travis Lutter

marvin8 wrote:
What titles have you held? KOTC 170 interim champ, XKO 170 and 185lb belt. Second-degree black belt in kung fu. Black belt in jiu-jitsu under Travis Lutter