My Sambo championship highlight clips

[Scott Sonnon]

Evidently, there has been quite a chummed frenzy across the internet because of the Softwork movie trailer. Some are saying that we're incapable of "Hardwork" and that's why we released Softwork material. Others are even brash enough to state that I never even won a match in Sambo - that my records were all fabricated.

Well, our film company went through the archives and composed a montage of some of the championship matches I won as early as 1994. My "Softwork" approach even in the heat of competition was in its early years back then, but it's still obvious against some of the nation's and world's best grapplers; and by watching the clip montage... successful even a decade ago.

94-96 Sonnon Sambo Championship matches (12MB Quicktime MOV)

BTW: No, I wasn't wearing a Jason Priestley costume. :oops:

[daniel juson]

Looks really intense Scott. I really see passive-burst-passive in the clips. Really nice of you to share your early stuff. I can only imagine how much more you have improved over the years now with the practice of Softwork and clubbells. Kinda scary I'm really excited to see more manifestions of effective efficiency with what others do with RMAX methodologies and in my own humble practice.

[Charlie]

you were pretty sneaky digging out those leglocks from the flying scissors ... and boy i thought you were in trouble in the middle -- that guy in red passed your guard and was crouched over you working for a cross-armlock himself, but you had his arm tightly, and somehow you rolled over and armbarred him instead, beautiful! thanks for posting it

[Jarlo Ilano]

Thanks for sharing that Coach! I've never seen Sambo matches before, very quick and explosive.

I continue to be fascinated by your hair evolution!

A conversation with my wife a few weeks ago...

Wife: "What are you watching? Who is that guy?"
Me: "What do you mean, you've seen him before. That's Scott Sonnon."
Wife: "Huh? Oh yeah, he looks different in every tape you have! Look at that hair!"

:P

[Chuck Kechter]

Excellent!

Thanks for sharing it coach!

Chuck

[admin]

Wow! Very impressive, Scott, but I doubt anything will really silence your detractors...way too much ego to give up.

What will make the difference in the long run will be the chorus of RMAX enthusiasts who are discovering and growing in their own life mastery. Its one thing to shout down a single person, but when others keep stepping up as examples, numbers will eventually silence the nay-sayers. The people who spend precious moments of their lives dissing you (or anybody) are obviously hurting on some deep emotional level and venting their old wounds on others.
Ironic, isn't it, how those who could use RMAX the most are so vocal in their opposition? Silly wabbits!

[Coach Jones]

I have to echo Chuck. Thanks for sharing the clips.

Now the fun begins. Now we get to see what kind of wierd spin the naysayers will put on this. LOL.

[dave_rusin]

I continue to be fascinated by your hair evolution!

LOL!!

Right on too, Michael! You are right. Life is way too short and time goes way too fast. For anyone to be taking up their own precious time trying to disparage Scott's work can be seen as an endorsement! :shock:

It has been said that all truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed, then it is violently opposed, then it is accepted as self-evident. Revealing a path to self-mastery that ANYONE can walk... now there is some much needed truth in the ego-maniacal world of martial arts. Too many martial artists are presently in the first and second stages.

Thanks for sharing this stuff Scott!

[Scott Sonnon]

Thank you for the kind words. (Though, Jarlo, I'm afraid I've exhausted any further hairstyle changes, save the creeping grey. )

[Jinzai]

Nice clips! Makes me wanna go randori...

Anyway, about the detractors. After 20 years involvement with the MA, experience has taught me it's a given that whenever someone comes along with something good to share, there are always going to be doubters and critics.

In fact, I've been guilty of this myself - the first time I saw Royce Gracie in UFC I, I was just sure that it was a fluke. I mean, how could this little guy be tearing up these other fighters like that? It took my experiencing grappling first-hand to gain an appreciation for the utility of it. So, I would expect that eventually Coach Scott's ideas and methodology will gain more and more acceptance and meet with less and less resistance in the MA community.

You know, when Einstein went public with his theory of relativity he had a slew of detractors that tried to debunk him. When a reporter asked him what he thought about having so many other scientists trying to prove him wrong, he simply replied that if he were really wrong, it would have only required one person to prove it.

-Mike

"Some critics are like chimneysweepers; they put out the fire below, and frighten the swallows from the nests above; they scrape a long time in the chimney, cover themselves with soot, and bring nothing away but a bag of cinders, and then sing out from the top of the house, as if they had built it."
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow