Coach Sonnons San Shou fight

This is Coach Wilsons account of the fight ( Coach Wilson also won gold at the event, an RMAX double victory)

Last Saturday night I was honored to fight along side Coach Sonnon on Saturday night at the U.S. International San Shou Championship. This was the first time that Coach Sonnon and I have ever fought San Shou. San Shou is full-contact Chinese Kickboxing in which you can punch, kick and throw your opponent. You can win by knockout or by points. Each round is scored individually so that if you win two rounds in a row there is no third round. However, if you win a round and your opponent wins a round there is a third round to decide the fight. That is, of course, unless you knock your opponent out.

Like I said before Nether Coach Sonnon nor I had ever fought like this before. They put Coach Sonnon up against a very experienced fighter who had 12 professional fights, he was 28 years old and out weighed Coach by about 10lbs (and he was a SOLID dude), and his sparring partner was another pro named Perry who fights K1 consistently!

Prior to a fight most fighters are moving around shadow boxing with nervous energy. Coach Sonnon was sitting back on a weight bench with his feet propped up looking half-asleep. Another tid bit was that prior to the fights we were all check out by a doctor to make sure our blood pressure and heart rate was OK. The doctor made the comment that Coach Sonnon’s blood pressure and heart rate were the lowest of everyone (a testament to Breath Mastery). Coach was fighting a heavier, younger fighter with 12 Professional fights, for his first time in the ring!

As the first round began Coach Sonnon was cool and in control of himself. The younger, more experienced fighter came out blasting. Coach showed great defense and gave as good as he got. It was a great give and take battle. Coach was, in my opinion, holding back a bit, probably because of first time jitters. He looked like a seasoned kick boxer in there exchanging with this guy. The gong sounded and the first round was awarded to the other fighter. It was a fair call, the other fighter was a bit more active than Coach Sonnon. What this meant was that Coach Sonnon would either have to win the next two rounds on points or knock the bigger, younger fighter out.

At the beginning of the second round Coach came out a different fighter. He was no longer nervous or apprehensive at all. He started working the combinations that we had trained. He used tactical kicking to get into hand range and INCREDIBLE boxing to close in to throw. The first time he threw landing his opponent on his head in the second round, Coach’s opponent was knocked out (at least that is what he told us after the fight). He recovered in the 8 count and continued.

Coach was a picture of calm intensity. He worked his plan over and over. He would kick to punch to throw (just like we had been training him), and was landing his shots over and over. His opponent would not relent. He kept coming with great kick to punch combinations, but could not deal with the precision and force that Coach was dishing out.

At one point in the second round the ref stopped it to check on Coach’s opponent and re-do his head gear (which had been turned a bit by the repeated blows to the face). At the end of the second round Coach Sonnon looked as fresh as he did when we began. Coach Sonnon won the second round.

As the third round began, Coach Sonnon went out with fierce combinations leading into beautiful throws. Each time he was thrown his opponent took longer and longer to get up. About one minute into the third round Coach came out of a clinch with a text book hook (thanks to Brandon Jones' coaching) that put his man down. His opponent was on the mat for about 2 minutes before he got up. Coach Sonnon was awarded the Victory via Knockout in the third round. That’s right! This international champ grappler won this fight with a hook to head, knocking his opponent out! It was the main event of the night and it was hands down the most exciting fight of the night! It was awesome, I have never been prouder!

After the fight Coach Sonnon’s opponent was bruised up pretty good with some blood and a good strawberry on his cheek. Coach looked like he did when he got off the plane the day before. He really wasn't even breathing heavy after this three round battle. It was amazing to watch.

For those who have not let it soak in yet, out Head Coach Scott Sonnon, is now an International Champion in a Striking Art as well as an International Champion (several times) in Grappling arts. He put it all on the line in a competition that he had never done before with only 6 weeks to prepare and a full schedule of other projects (including a MOVIE) and yet he brought RMAX home the GOLD! That is a Leader. That is a man that Leads by Example. He is a man that walks his talk. He told me once that those who can fight, fight, those who can’t fight, coach, and those that do both…innovate. My friends he can do both. I was honored to complete along side him.

Thank you to Coach Jones and Coach Murdock for your help in our ppreparation. We could not have done it with out you guys. Brandon: he knocked the guy out with the exact hook combination that you taught us in Philly! Thank you to everyone on the forum for your continued support! Thank you Coach for allowing me to work, compete and teach with you.

We'll post videos and photos of the fights soon!

_________________
Joseph Wilson,
CST Head Coach
 
His "first time in the ring", eh?

Well, I will say that he looked a lot better by the end of the fight. Good showing, Coach Sonnon. I admit to being a fan of your work.

Any chance of vid showing Coach Wilson's fight?
 
I am glad to read this verification of SS skills...hes been hammered by many wanna-be's in a few forums...but it is a good competitive win for him.

BUT - 'those that can fight, fight'!? Perhaps abit strong.....but I understand the point.

I have very loose contact with SS - but have been a vocal supporter of his offerings, on forums. He has proven himself in the competitive arena -- but many who CAN fight simply dont choose to do that. From my lil bit of contact with SS....I feel he might be the first to quantify the difference between 'fighting' (for real) and in the competitive arena. He WON in a very open form of competitive combat sport...and although none should feel I am less than happy for him and the methods he justly should be pleased to pass along....'fighting' for competition vs. 'combat in the real' are very much different things. BUT - his methods are sound....and he has proven that.

He has verifaction of his coaching -- and the accolades of competition to back it up....congratulations Scott!

I personally expect great things from your continued travels into what you offer. Your students are lucky to have you as their leader.

RMAX may not be everybodys cup of tea.....but to each, his own - ya know?

BTW - my PC would not let me view the offered links, for some reason...but I have seen enough of SS vid work to know it is a very sound method with much to offer.
 
Interesting. I'm really not all that familiar with the RMAX system but Coach Sonnon looked good in the clip though.
 
Andrew Usher said:
Here is a link to the video of Coach Wilsons fight.

http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/wilsonsanshouchamp.wmv

Andrew.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Andrew. It was good to see.

You know, the more I watch Coach Sonnon's fight the more I think he shouldn't have lost the first round. Coach Sonnon's chosen strategy isn't very flashy to start out, and it's clear that it's his oppenent who tires and begins to make the fight look like its going in Scott's direction - when it was Scott's fight from the very beginning.

Was the perception of winning less improtant than the result through the first round?
 
Kudos to him for not only getting into the ring but also winning.

However from the description of the fight and and descriptions of his prefight state I wonder if he was to relaxed which might also account for losing the first round. Current research into the psychology and physiology of combat indicates that there is an optimal level of arousal for different types of combat activities. Either going above or below that level or arousal can impact the performance negatively.
 
People, I don't see anything special in SS fight. Is there anything wrong with me?

I saw SanShou tournament last year, people from warious MA's. Kick-boxers, Kung-fu guys, MMA fighters, BJJ guys with some standup skills. All those guys were amateurs (up to 3 trainings per week). SS is a professional sportsman. Professional Sportsman! With all this marketing about circular this and that he should have disassembled the opponent (which by the way didn't show nothing of his "experience in this kind of competition", "12 previous fights"...).

I don't know, maybe it's just me being ignorant. Or it is my impression from this san shou tournament I saw.. but I don't see anything here but few good sambo throws.

This match on the video was final fight? How many fights did SS have to get to the finals? Fighting for gold straight ahaid? Is there any information about this tournament? How many competitors, where is the audience...

HM, interesting

I am not questioning SS qualities, FAR FROM THAT. It am just a bit fuzzy about this video.
 
From the clip I thought he looked pretty good. There were some very nice throws and finally a nice shot to the head for the KO. However, I
would really like to see the whole fight and not just the edited
version. That would be the only way to make a fair judgement. Knowing
how kickboxing, Muay Thai and San Shou matches work I am imagining
that this was the only fight he had. Tough to call yourself a champion
in San Shou with only one fight. Having said that though, I enjoyed the
clip and felt that Sonnon did good. I just would have liked to see the
whole fight but I also understand bandwidth on the internet as well.
Kudo's to getting in the ring at 36 and putting his name on the line.
Overall good job!

Brian R. VanCise
www.instinctiveresponsetraining.com
 
I appreciate the chance to view the clip of Mr. Sonnons San Shou match, but the match itself was pretty slow moving, almost boring.Neither Mr. Sonnon or his opponent had very much aggression for fighters, they almost looked a little asleep in the beginning.They both just kind of walked around, and traded techniques here and there.As the match went on Mr. Sonnon did some pretty cool throws and takedowns, but his opponent never did much at all during the whole match. I don't believe that Mr. Sonnons opponent was very experienced at all.His opponet just threw a few kicks here and there, but never realy attacked Mr. Sonnon one time.His opponent looked like a very strong guy, but it never looked like he was realy trying to knock Scott Sonnon down, or hurt him in anyway, just threw a couple hard kicks here and there.Towards the end Mr. Sonnon did do some cool throws and takedowns, but some of those takedowns would have been hard to pull off against someone that realy knows how to fight and was hell bent on hurting Scott Sonnon, or defeating him.His opponent just did'nt look like he was trying to win, or he was very new to the game.

I would realy like to see Mr. Sonnon compete in a MMA tournament, or in a MMA type of match.Now that would be something to see.I would like to see Sonnon go against someone that is realy trying to knock him out, or make him tap out.I know that it mentioned that Sonnon never competed in a striking tournament before, and I think that it is very comendable that he tried it out.I know he is a very knowledgable guy, I've read his articles and his writing is impressive.I heard he is a very good grappler, but that video clip seemed more like an advertisement for his RMAX stuff, or what ever his products are called.I've heard alot of good things about Mr. Sonnon, I heard he is a very good teacher, but that match just did'nt do much."This is by no means a slam on Sonnon or anything", I'm just saying that match was a bit boring.
 
As I understand it, he was a multi showing Sambo champion so I would suspect that he could fare well in an MMA tournament.

Now I must agree that looking at the clip it seems odd that an "International San Shou Championship" would be held in that setting. Not much of an audience and looked almost like a ring setup in a garage. How many competitors were there and how many fights did he fight? Not to belittle his skills or the fight, just trying to raise awareness that their are MANY flavors of tournaments, only some are worthy of mention a win in IMHO. For me, the tournaments that count tend to have a large audience, with professional jusdges and often require you to fight many times in a day to get to the final fight. More to the point, I prefer the whole Local to Regional to National to World progression, requiring several tournaments and many winning fights to get to the title of "International Champion"

Here's another San Shou clip that it is a bit more aggresive and seems a bit more, I don't, high end?

http://www.sanshou.com/footage/2003clip.html

Sonnon's stuff is very saturated in marketing so you have to put a lot of effort into reading through it, but he does have a lot of good stuff. Hmm, it seems that he is calling himself a Grandmaster now...that's new I think. And he is affiliated with the World Head of Family Sokeship Council...:shrug:

http://www.rmax.tv/sonnon.html
 
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