Don Frye



Don Frye at Four Seasons MMA

Recently I attended a Don Frye seminar at Four Seasons MMA in Lexington KY. When I first heard about the seminar I thought, "who is Don Frye"? I have't heard of this guy before and I was obviously not educated on the early days of UFC nor had I followed any of the Pride fights. After reading through Don's bio and learning about the true warrior that this guy is I decide to attend the seminar.

Don walked in during the meet and greet and looked like he'd walked in off of a movie set; a movie starring a character comprised of John Wayne and the Incredible Hulk with a killer mustache. - I think he may have actually tapped people out with that mustache - ha! So there I am watching the fans get autographs and taking photos with the legend and all I'm thinking is, "what can this guy do for my Jiu-Jitsu"? Being totally closed minded I was wondering if it was worth my $4.09/gal of diesel to drive up here. And yes, it was worth it.

If not just for appreciating Don's sense of humor it was great learning how to crush someones face when the guillotine attempt fails (put your forearm on their cheekbone and squeeze). Or, driving your knuckles in behind your opponent's jaw under the ear to hit a pressure point and get them to squirm their head so you can get the rear naked choke. The double arm russian and the arm drag were good for stand up situations. There were several other fun techniques that would get you disqualified in a grappling tournament but would be good for street or cage applications.

For some reason Don kept using me to demonstrate the armbars. I was nervous coming off an armbar injury from a few months back, but I went along with it anyway. He threw me around like a rag doll and about snapped my arms like twigs. It was funny because several of the participants had a look on their face like "oh crap that must suck - is it ok to laugh?" I imagined it looked something like David & Goliath with Goliath ripping David's arms off so David couldn't knock him out with his sling and stone.

All in all it was fun and I'm glad I got to meet the legendary creature they call the "Predator".

 

 

 

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