I fought frank back in 2000 and I was only a purple belt. I was able to hang with him on the mat and I didn't feel like I was ever in danger of being submitted. Frank is an amazing MMA fighter. His grappling is geared towards MMA and that's why he's so effective. It's not about points, but about looking to finish the match.
Frank was just in Australia recently and I was hoping to hook up with him and do some training with him. Sadly our busy schedules conflicted and we were only able to catch up socially. I have alot of respect for Frank and what he's achieved.
Frank never claimed to train in BJJ. He was a submission fighter. Just because a fighter is superbly skilled in submission doesn't mean he got those skills from BJJ.
Never rolled with him, but from watching him and talking to some people who have, I would probably say his physical attributes are his biggest asset. IMO it's probably not a style many people can be successful at because a lot of his success comes from being able to push a fight at a high level and cause his opponent to fatigue. That being said I have nothing but respect for Frank.
an old training partner of mine rolled with him for fun, and said that he could put him in an armbar (with frank's approval, of course) and frank would just escape from it in less than 1 second. just like that, he lost it. frank has craaaazy escapes, i believe he does has that natural intelligence that makes one just know how to get in and out with your eyes closed..
Frank has rolled with Penn and he helped train Penn at the AKA.From what i have heard when Frank went to Ralph Gracie's school years ago (before his UFC days) he was getting ready for a fight with TK who is or was around the 230lb mark i believe.
Frank wanted a big guy to roll with and Ralph said "im a big guy" so they rolled for awhile and afterwards Ralph let Penn (who was either a white or Blue belt at the time) roll with Frank and from what i've heard Penn totally dominated Frank useing positions,i didnt hear about anyone tapping.
After that is when Frank was running around saying that BJ Penn will go has far has he wants.I think Frank's exact words were "Nobody will beat Penn untill he gets bored with the game"
Frank mention the Ralph Gracie...and Ralph was going hard so Frank decided to crank a heel hook or kneebar. Frank trains with BJ and he believes BJ is the best at his weight. Frank rolled with Chris Brennan who also said he outposition Frank but for some oddity Frank doesn't care since he's alwayz going for a submission. I agree that MOST people cannot roll like this...they'll get tapped and Frank's attribute is what set him apart and gave him this style of fighting.
Thats just it, guys who say he has trouble against bjj guys have no damn clue what they are talking about. They want to think of mma as a bjj competiton. Frank DOES NOT CARE about position at all. In a old issue of Grappling magazine, he talked about early on in his training he put himself in every worst/disadventagous possible position so that he would not panic while there, and learn how to defend and deal with it in the event he ends up there. He went on to say that he doesn't care about his position, as nobody is going to take adavantage of it as he has been there, done that. He really is all about the submission, so if he did do a sub grappling match he might lose to guys who rack up points, but I HIGHLY doubt he would be tapped.
frank is one of the best in MMA but not in grappling. As stated on here, his grappling style worked GREAT for MMA but you never saw him in adcc or the like.
and i DONT BUY that he "doesent care" about position. You are telling me "wouldnt care" if marcello garcie was on his back? lol.
no he wouldn't, now he may not LIKE Garcia on his back, but he wouldn't panic. I thought it strange too in that article, but hey it worked well for him. And from the testimony on this thread by others, its just the same now as it was then. He said he made himself start off in the worst of positions so he wouldn't panic and could work his way out, and obviously it worked. YOU may not agree w/ that training methodology, but he does.
If you don't "buy" his theories on postion, watch his fights. His fight with Horn he kept falling back for leg locks, giving up position. His fight with Lober he lets Lober mount him then just bridges him off. He gives up his back to roll for leg locks, etc etc. He very rarley tried to pass anyone's guard. His way of fighting is hard for some BJJ guys to understand. He tried to create scrambles, where is he is best with his subs. Won't work for most people but it worked for him.
well i had trained with mikey burnett for a number of years and when i aked him about frank he would say franks exact words are position is not important at all its the submission that matters.
I had the opportunity to train with Frank in Monterey, CA at one of his seminars. It was just before his Tito fight and he was still the UFC champ.
After the seminar he rolled with most of the class. I took his back, but couldn't submit him ( I was just happy to of lasted that long). His game wasn't as tight as Rigan Machado (I rolled with him in Hawaii, crazy tight game), but like everyone said his athletisism was outstanding. Needless to say, he escaped my attempts, we scrambled and he arm barred me. I expected nothing less, he was the champ. After the class we spoke and he asked were I came from, I told him my background was from Egan Inoue (95'-97) and he said he had nothing but respect for the Inoues. He put on a great seminar and taught me the proper dynamics of leg locks.