Jason High News and Updates

It’s always nice to be on a road trip amongst a bunch of unfamiliar and possibly adversarial fighters and run into someone you haven’t seen in awhile. This morning as i was making my way down to breakfast alone i ran into Tyron Woodley. Many of you may know him as one of the best up and coming welterweights in MMA today, i know him as a guy I’ve grown up wrestling with. Some history….Tyron and I first met, I’d guess, around 1997 or 98. Me being from Kansas City and him from St Louis we say each other frequently at a lot of wrestling tournaments. I can still remember the wars between him and one of my best friends in high school (who later wrestled at Northern Iowa) on the wrestling mat. From high school I went to STLCC at Meramec and later, to the University of Nebraska. Tyron ended up at the University of Missouri where he would, again, participate in some classic matches with another close friend of mine. Later he would end up a 3 time all American for the University of Missouri.

It’s funny to me how we ended up at breakfast this morning, talking about everything from our kids to MMA organizations. It occurred to me that him and i have taken a somewhat similar path to this place. From wrestling to MMA. I’ve always thought very highly of Tyron and it was gratifying to know that he thinks the same of me. I realized, sitting with him this morning, that we are in similar spots in our career, both trying to take care of our families and make ourselves a name while doing what we love. And then i realized that one day, i may stand across the cage from Tyron. When and if that day comes, i know I’ll probably be in for one of the toughest fights of my life. But for now, it’s just good to share the spotlight and catch up with an old friend.

Before i begin these reviews I’d like to first apologize to the three companies that supplied me with their products for review. I wasn’t getting quite as much training time with the gi as i would have liked, therefore it took me a little longer to get a feel for each one.

The three companies in question are Vulkan, Ouano and Gracie Barra. I’ll be reviewing them all independently in three separate entries. I hope you gain some insight into which gi may be better for your needs.

-Vulkan Ultra Light
The first gi that i received was from Matheus at Vulkan. I asked all the jiu jitsu players around the gym about the quality of Vulkan’s products and received rave reviews about Vulkan’s quality, weight and durability. I received the gi and the first thing i noticed was how light it was, like, really light. This would be a great gi for training in the summer and also competition. I’ve never done a gi jiu jitsu tournament but from what i understand you must weigh in your uniform right before you compete. The Vulkan weighs in at just under 3lbs, about 2.7. The fit of the Vulkan is ideal, i wear an A-2 but my legs are a little bigger than normal so i was worried that the pants wouldn’t be big enough. Fortunately the pants fit very well with plenty of room for my thunder thighs to breathe. I was worried that the gi would shrink when i washed and be too small afterward but Vulkan’s claim that their gi’s are “pre shrunk” held up, i hung dry the uniform and the fit was the same as pre wash. I also noticed that the Vulkan dried a bit quicker than the other two, i presume because it’s lighter and is made of less material. Overall this is an outstanding gi that i think is perfect for summer training as well as competition. It’s light, durable and stays true to size. For more information about Vulkan and their products check them out here:

It’s been quite awhile since i’ve written a blog entry and for that i apologize. Initially i promised a new entry every three weeks or so but recently i’ve felt that i haven’t had much to write about. So i thought to get started again i might leave it up to you all. Right now i’m on a plane to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to corner Jesse Juarez and Emmanuel Newton for MFC 23. I foresee an ample amount of free time so after i post this “entry” along with requests for topics on Twitter i’m going to try to knock out the next entry. I’ll also be working on the long over-due gi reviews for the three companies (Vulkan, Ouano and Gracie Barra) that sent me gi’s.

I always thought it’d be cool to have a blog and let everyone know what i think, but once i got one i realized that it’s very difficult to keep up. Partly because i wanted to write something engaging and interesting and not just , “well, i went to wal-mart today”…I’ve got Twitter for that kind of stuff. Every time i started writing one i scrapped it because i thought it sucked. I started one defending Mirko Cro Cop after his last fight, but it didn’t make the cut. Then i started another one about my training partner, Emmanuel Newton, and his last fight (a loss). I began writing about my frustrations with Emmanuel, his level of talent, some bad decisions he’s made blah blah blah. The problem with this was, not only was i rambling, but i felt like this wasn’t the kind of thing that needed to be talked about on my blog, but with Emmanuel personally. It wasn’t meant to be insulting to him, but if one read it without explanation it would’ve seemed that i didn’t care for Emmanuel, which isn’t the case.

So, I’ll post this and if you have ideas either leave comments on the blog, or if you’re on Twitter shoot me an @ message (@kcbandit) with you’re idea. There’s really no prize for getting picked…except that you get to hear me ramble about your choice of topic.