American Shaolin by Matt Polly

[BrokenTitanium]

I must say that this one good book to read. It even makes reference of Mr. Gene Ching in it.

[godzillakungfu]

http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/foru...ght=Matt+Polly

Yes, good book.

[ktkungfu]

http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/foru...ght=Matt+Polly

Yes, good book.

Awesome book!

Make it a movie Matt!!!!

[Timrock]

Just wanted to say good luck to Matt in his upcoming fight.

"Another interesting story is that of Matt Polly. Author of American Shaolin, martial arts enthusiast and practitioner, his travels have led him across the world and back. He spent two years training under Shaolin Monks in China. Now he wants to test his skill in the ring at Future Stars."

http://tuffnuff.net/index.php?option...d=218&Itemid=1

[Lucas]

Yes definately, good luck!

[Chief_Suicide]

Matthew Polly, the author of American Shaolin wins his first and 'only' MMA fight.

Evidently he trained at Xtreme Couture for six months as part of his study for a new book on MMA he has coming out next year. Turns out he won the fight.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009...elling-author/

I've like kung fu all my life, but reading his book about his trip to China kicked it off for me all over again. I admire a guy who takes the time to get in the thick of things himself.

[solo1]

American Shaolin is one of the best books Ive read in a while and I read alot of stuff. Literally couldnt put it down, he has a remarkable writing style.

[Chief_Suicide]

http://forum.kungfumagazine.com/foru...ad.php?t=55076

I posted it in the MMA section, I didn't think about posting it here. oops!

[GeneChing]

Plus I just gotta cut&paste this here. This is awesome - I knew Matt was going to do this but had lost track of when. Anyone got vid?

Couture’s son victorious, as is best-selling author
Six months of training in Las Vegas gave Matt Polly confidence, skills to walk away a winner in his first, ‘and only,’ MMA fight
By Andy Samuelson (contact)
Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009 | 1 a.m.

Future Stars of MMA results

* 155 lb Main Event:Ryan Couture (Xtreme Couture) def. Jimmy Spicuzza (Excel Defense/Team Mica) via submission (armbar) 1:22, Round One
* 135 lb Title Fight:Jimmy Jones (Xtreme Couture) def. Chris Brady (Legend) via disqualification (kicking downed opponent)
* 145 lb Title Fight:Justin Linn (Tapout R&D) def. Chris Holdsworth (Cobra Kai) via submission (triangle choke) 1:58, Round One


The biggest storyline Saturday night at the Tuff-N-Uff event at the Orleans was Ryan Couture winning the main event against Palo Verde grad Jimmy Spicuzza.

But what the couple of thousand fans crammed inside the Mardi Gras ballroom didn’t know, was the best story of the amateur show was that the middle-aged, pudgy, semi-awkward looking fighter being cornered by UFC legend Randy Couture was actually best-selling author Matthew Polly.

“They basically took me from pudgy and over the hill and beat me into enough shape to win one here,” said the smiling writer-turned-fighter, who won his mixed martial arts debut with a victory over fellow rookie David Cexton when the 24-year-old stationed at Nellis could not continue after the second round.

While the performance wasn’t the prettiest display of the night, it certainly was impressive considering the 38-year-old Polly — known for his national best seller “American Shaolin,” a two-year journey he spent with Shaolin monks in China — had to leave his wife, Marla, alone just a month after being married in March to train exclusively at Xtreme Couture for six months to create his newest literary project.

“I was talking to my editor about various projects (after the book came out in 2005) and was thinking of something easier like investigating gardening or something,” said Polly, who has also penned articles for Playboy, Esquire and Slate. “He was like, no. So I said, how about monasteries, that would be interesting. ‘No.’

“Then I told him this UFC thing is huge with young guys and frat boys that don’t know anything about martial arts. He was like. that’s it. ‘Do I have to get in the ring, I asked?'

‘Yeah.’

So there was the New York author surveying the surreal experience against the better-physiqued Cexton.

“I was really nervous. I actually went and hid in one of the bathroom stalls to try and calm down,” Polly said of his routine before the fight. “My first thought when I got out there is, I got Joey Varner (Xtreme Couture trainer), Robert Drysdale (world-class Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert) and Randy Couture walking in with me, I was like, I can’t shame them. I can’t go out there and get knocked out in five seconds with them in my corner.

“Then it was weird. There was a calm right as the music started. I can do this. I can do this.”

Well, maybe if Polly could find his corner and take his eye off the big screen.

“It was so smoky in there I got lost going to my corner. That was my first panic,” he said. “Then I honest to God got caught myself looking at myself on the big screen and said, ‘Can they see the backfat?’”

But after sizing up his opponent prior to the fight and taking a couple of shots early in the first round, the 6-foot-3 Polly settled down, recited the lessons and game plan his coaches had taught him and countered Cexton’s strikes.

“After awhile, I noticed I was hitting him two to one with strikes and felt like I could kinda see the discouragement on his face — like he didn’t want to be here,” said Polly, who said the working title for his book that will likely be published in a year is “Full Contact Writer.”

Either Polly’s assessment was correct or Cexton, who left the arena immediately afterward for medical attention, physically could not continue after the second round.

Polly gave a subdued “Rocky”-style celebration, pumping his arms in the air as Randy Couture slapped him on the back in his corner.

“Anybody worth their salt is gonna give anybody willing to step into that ring, whether they are a talented athlete or not, that respect,” said the five-time UFC champ who earlier Saturday afternoon helped raise some $60,000 for injured troops with his “Operation All In” poker tournament at the Golden Nugget.

“He’s earned that for sure. He’s got a ton of heart. He did the work and played the part.”

So, too, did the younger Couture (3-1), who bounced back from the first setback of his career in March to record the victory over Spicuzza after locking in a first-round armbar.

“I definitely was on my heels and reeling, trying to figure out where I was at. I did get rocked in that last fight, too,” said Couture, who lost a unanimous decision to Elisey Yarovoy in his home state of Washington.

“Same idea. I got rocked, grabbed the clinch and taken down looking for an armbar. This time, I locked in on tight enough to finish.”

Couture — who said he likely would fight one more time as an amateur before weighing his options near the end of the year — was equally excited to see Polly’s standout performance.

“When he told us all he was fighting we were like, ‘Really? The old, unathletic-looking guy,’” the younger Couture said with a big laugh.

“But then in the workouts he showed he has a little more athleticism than he appeared to. And he was really dedicated in there several hours a day just busting his butt and doing everything you're supposed to do. To see him go out there and execute the game plan like he did and see everything go off without a hitch was really cool.”

But cool enough that Polly thinks he’ll call it quits while he’s ahead?

“You know, there’s a lot of people that think it’s easy to get in there and fight or easy to write. ‘I went to English school, I can write a book,’” Polly said.

“I never approached it that way. All the amateurs at Xtreme Couture are probably twice is good as I am. But just training with them made me good enough to think I could just stand in the ring.

“The fight life is a tough life. I don’t know how these guys do it. And I thought Journalism was hard.”

[GeneChing]

I gotta hand it to Shixiong Matt. Stepping into the ring at his age (and weight )

Mon Aug 24, 2009 12:25 pm EDT
Author puts aside 'backfat' worries to post his first MMA win
By Steve Cofield

There's always ineresting stories at the many amateur events around the country. Fighters trying to live out their dreams with the hope of one day reaching heights like Randy Couture. Matthew Polly took that first step on Saturday night. Fighting out of Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, Polly posted a win in his first MMA fight during an amateur card at The Orleans Hotel. On to bigger and better things, right? Not even close. Polly is one and done. His MMA fight was all done to benefit a book he's writing about MMA:

“I was talking to my editor about various projects and was thinking of something easier like investigating gardening or something,” said Polly, who has penned articles for Playboy, Esquire and Slate. "Then I told him this UFC thing is huge with young guys and frat boys that don’t know anything about martial arts. He was like. that’s it. ‘Do I have to get in the ring, I asked?"

The answer was yes, so Polly left his wife of one month, moved to Las Vegas and trained for the last six months at Xtreme Couture. Polly told the Las Vegas Sun what it was like to approach the ring for a fight:

"I was really nervous. My first thought when I got out there is, I got Joey Varner (Xtreme Couture trainer), Robert Drysdale (world-class Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert) and Randy Couture walking in with me, I was like, 'I can’t shame them. I can’t go out there and get knocked out in five seconds with them in my corner.' Then it was weird. There was a calm right as the music started. I can do this. I can do this."

Only one other thing made Polly cringe as he climbed through the ropes:

"It was so smoky in there I got lost going to my corner. That was my first panic. Then I honest to God got caught myself looking at myself on the big screen and said, ‘Can they see the backfat?’"

The dreaded backfat. I'm sure Georges St. Pierre worries about that too. Imagine a soothing Greg Jackson speech in the corner about channeling the power of the backfat. Probably doesn't happen often.

Polly is now done with fighting. It's time to write a book. His last book "American Shaolin" was a bestseller. He traveled to China and spent two years with the Shaolin Monks.

[GeneChing]

Still hoping to find some vid. Anyone?

Write stuff: Author wins amateur fight
Polly trains, competes for sake of a good story
By ADAM HILL
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Some mixed martial artists step into the ring hoping to gain the fortune and fame that come with reaching stardom in the sport.

Others see it as a way to stoke the competitive fire that still burns inside, or simply to prove something to themselves.

Matthew Polly did it just for the story.

The best-selling author of the 2007 book "American Shaolin" earned a victory in an amateur fight on the Tuff-N-Uff card at the Orleans on Saturday night when his opponent could not continue after the second round.

The bout was the culmination of six months of training, mostly at Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas. Polly plans to pen his second book, tentatively titled "Full Contact Writer," about the experience.

After his first book, which documented the two years he spent studying kung fu and Chinese culture at the Shaolin Temple in China, Polly was looking for a new challenge for his sop****re effort.

"I was talking to my editor about various projects. I was thinking of something easier, like I could go investigate gardening or something, and he was like 'No, no.' I said, 'How about monasteries,' and he said 'No,' " Polly recounted. "I said, 'Well, this UFC thing seems huge with young guys and frat boys who don't know anything about martial arts,' and he's like, 'That's it.' I was like, 'Do I have to get in the ring?' "

Polly knew the answer that was coming.

He did some training in New York, where he lives, but it wasn't enough.

"(I thought) if I want to fight, I really need to change my entire life. I need to go to one gym, somewhere else, and only live there and only do this," he said. "I had just gotten married, and I told my wife a month (later) that I needed to go to Las Vegas and train at Xtreme Couture."

He planned on training there for eight weeks, but one of his trainers told him he still wasn't ready. So he extended his stay and spent three hours per day training and the rest of his time watching "bad TV" and sleeping "a lot" in preparation for the fight.

"They basically took me from a kind of pudgy, 38-year-old man, middle of the hill, to kind of beat me into enough shape to win one here," Polly said.

To be fair, his opponent had no experience either. David Cexton is a 24-year old based at Nellis Air Force Base and has no established camp behind him.

Still, one of Polly's trainers said the author stuck to the script.

"He did a good job. He went out and followed the game plan," said Shawn Tompkins, a trainer at Xtreme Couture. "He was consistent in the stuff he learned. At this level, it's just about getting in there and manning up."

That doesn't mean Polly, a Princeton alum and Rhodes scholar who has also worked for several magazines and Web sites, will be taking any more fights.

"This is as far as I'm going," he said. "The fighting life's a tough life. I don't know how these guys do it. And I thought journalism was hard."

[Lucas]

Congrats!

I cant find any vid, im hoping something will surface soon.

[sanjuro_ronin]

I am sure he has the rights to it and is holding back untill the book is ready, publicity and all that.

[Timrock]

You can watch the event on this sight http://www.ibnsports.com/ just click the on demand tab the events called Tuff-N-Uff - The Future Stars of MMA at The Orleans in Las Vegas and will cost you 3.99.

[Chief_Suicide]

http://www.youtube.com/user/TuffNUff.../0/1F4fmu1ssFc

It is on TuffnNuff's youtube channel.

Watching it now.