in MMA?
the guy seemed to be a good judoka. plus at the early stages of mma, there were still many folks unfamiliar w/ subs. hell even when karo came on the scene people had no idea how to not get tossed w/ judo throws.
Getting put in with the likes of a raging Shammy didn't help.
Because Judo is an inferior art!
j/k!
he did get destroyed by shammy. so basically shammy was to leininger what frye was to amaury bitteti. I supposed don frye was never the same after the ass beating coleman put on him. so basically you're saying that getting beaten broke him?
Yup..I wanna say he was an older guy at the time in competition. After that loss he probably decided it wasn't for him.
what was he like.. 38? his body never took the assbeating from yrs of mma.
buvaiser - what was he like.. 38? his body never took the assbeating from yrs of mma.
but it did take an 'assbeating' from years of judo.
He was a master of judo throws and groundwork, but he never mastered the judo chop. Without the judo chop, you will never be great.
buvaiser - in MMA?
the guy seemed to be a good judoka. plus at the early stages of mma, there were still many folks unfamiliar w/ subs. hell even when karo came on the scene people had no idea how to not get tossed w/ judo throws.
Unforunately for him, Shammrock, Mezger, and Dewees weren't unfamiliar with subs. He probably figured he was at an age where it wasn't worth sticking around much longer.
To put things in perspective, Royce Gracie was dominant in the early days of MMA, but didn't really stick around much longer than Christophe, fighting only periodically after the early UFC tournies.
Props to Christophe for getting in there though.
He pulled off a 'tomage with a roll to mount' - James T Kirik is the only other man to ever do that..
When I first moved to Phoenix in 95, i was wanting to try my hand at this new "ulitmate fighting" stuff. Having never trained in anything before and not knowing where to start, i looked in the phone book and saw Chirstophe's school. At that time, he had already fought in the UFC so i figured i would start there.
I walked into the school and watched the class. He came up and intoduced himself and said i could take a free class to see if i liked it. I trained with Christophe for only maybe 5 or 6 months, but even after going to another school I was always welcome to come and train any time. I would go once in awhile just to see how i did against different training partners. For years i would go and train there every now and then. I havnt seen him for a couple years and not sure if he is still teaching or not.
As a person, I just dont think Christophe had the mentality to become an elite MMA fighter. He loved compitition, but the Christophe I knew really didn't try to hurt people. And physically, ya he wasnt beat up from years of MMA but anyone who knows what it takes to be a top level judoka knows the beating you take from it also. His physique as Guy Mezger i believe once put it was like the terminator. But in the dressing room of the gym, he had ace bandages hanging everywhere that were used to keep his knees and elbows together. He always had wraps on his feet and toes were pretty ugly. His body was definitely abused.
I once had the pleasure to compete against him at a grappling tournament. Now this was about 97 or so and at that time i was doing every local tournament i could get into, sick or not, and once competed a week after breaking my foot in a cage fight. I also was only 150lbs at the time. Now at this tournament, i competed in my weight division and also entered the open division. Well, Christophe was the only other guy to enter it. The gi was optional so i obviously took my top off. I might have been crazy to go against him, but i wasn't stupid. Well, Christophe beat me of course but he didnt take advantage of the fact that he could toss me at any time. And he also didnt hold it against me that i had left his school and maybe he would want to show his students what would happen if you did. He beat me, technically. Left me some dignity.
Christophe I believe wasnt made to be an MMA fighter. But he was a great judoka and good guy. Someone I consider a friend.
Cool story :)
VERY HONORABLE
Great story parrishmma. I've always wondered how he'd do against a second-tier guy like Hackney, Jennum, etc...
Did he only fight Shamrock?
No he had other preliminary matches in which he won leading up to Shammy
"what was he like.. 38? his body never took the assbeating from yrs of mma."
While you dont have to absorb any kicks or punches, JUDO takes a serious toll on the body. After all the years he had been competing I am sure his body had taken a significant "assbeating". Getting thrown thousands of times will wear out anyone's body. 38 is old if you have been competing in judo for 20+ years.
voorhees - Did he only fight Shamrock?
I remember him fighting Guy Mezger too.
Yeah Mezger beat him but it was a good fight
ferox13 - He pulled off a 'tomage with a roll to mount' - James T Kirik is the only other man to ever do that..
That was an epic Tomoe-nage on Metzger's g-string.