Company: Matt Furey
Tape Name: Mongolian Grappling Secrets Revealed
Tape
Cost: $99 plus $6 s&h for set of two videos
Length of Tape/Time: Volume 1
= 56 minutes
Number of Moves/Techniques: more than 30
Return Policy: Unknown
Experiences
in dealing with this company: Excellent
The Instructor: Matt Furey
Company's
Address: Tampa , Florida , see website
Company's Phone Number: new number on website
Web
Page: http://www.combatwrestling.com
E-Mail:
mfurey@best.com
Primary Grading Criteria:
1. Production/Tape
Quality: 8
2. Instructors demonstrated skill level: 10
3. Comprehension Score/Immediate
Understanding: 10
4. Degree to which this will make someone a better Martial Artist:
10
5. Score on delivery vs. hype: 9
6. Degree to which we'd recommend this
product: 10
7. Wasted Time (The higher the number, the less "fluff"/repetition):
9
8. Playback Score/Watching it over-and-over again: 10
9. Would I purchase
more of this company's products: 10
10. Overall grade based on cost vs. value:
10
Grand Total: 96 %
1. 80%-100% = 96 %
2. Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent
= Excellent
3. 0-5 stars = 4 stars
Secondary Grading Criteria:
1. Beginners
benefit: Good
2. Intermediate benefit: Excellent
3. Advanced benefit: Excellent
4.
Time to benefit: As per usual, the more you practice…..
5. The need to buy additional
tapes to understand this one: None
Written Summary:
Ladies and gentlemen!
I give you the fantastic, controversial, outspoken, hated as much as loved, Matt
Furey!! Doing a review of a Matt Furey video feels somewhat similar to defusing a
landmine. The man has so many enemies that the reviewer feels as if he were writing
an article on the charitable deeds of Saddam Hussein. Whatever one says, there will
invariably be many MAVR readers disagreeing with one. So be it. Matt Furey exists
and is putting out lots of instructional videos and has submitted a few of these
for review, so here goes.
How would you defuse a landmine? Very carefully,
obviously, step by step. As a video reviewer, it is important to remember that one
is reviewing a video, i.e. one is not being asked to comment on the opinions, lifestyle,
personal habits etc. of the person on said video, except in so far as such personal
details are on the video itself.
The recent Internet war between Matt Furey
and another well known instructor and his supporters is utterly irrelevant to this
review. Both instructors involved are highly knowledgeable and it is a great pity
that such disagreements might distract from the fact that much can be learnt from
both of them. It is clear that Matt Furey believes in the maxim "Any attention
is better than no attention at all " and that he loves provoking reactions by
finding things to say that are as un- politically correct as he can make them. This
can be seen in the introductory comments on this video, as in when he says that these
techniques are " not for wheelchair people" , not for those in the "Special
Olympics". Off course this could be said in a nicer way, i.e. "people with
any kind of structural problems should not attempt these techniques", but said
like that , it would stop Matt having fun, and Matt sure likes to have fun !!
Three
more details before getting into the review as such. Firstly, Matt Furey has just
moved to Tampa, Florida and his new adress is not available on his website at the
time of writing of this review. I am sure he will change this as soon as possible
and he is contactable via e-mail . Secondly, this video is advertised as the first
one in a set of two. Only the first one was submitted for review, however, a review
of volume one will give the interested reader a good indication of what both videos
are about and furthermore, should there be sufficient interest out there, one could
always ask Mr. Furey to submit the second volume. Finally, saying that our "experiences
in dealing with this company " were excellent reflects OUR experiences. It has
become obvious that some people have problems communicating with some of the instructors
whose videos we review, however, this does not necessarily mean that we have similar
problems. Also, the reviewer corresponded with Mr. Furey in a private capacity before
becoming a MAVR reviewer and never had problems communicating.
Now to the
video contents as such: This video deals with so- called Mongolian grappling techniques.
I say so-called simply because these techniques are probably not only found in Mongolian
wrestling or even Shuai Jiao for that matter. The more practical and combat tested
a technique is, the more likely it is to be found in the combat arts of different
cultures, historical epochs etc. It may be worthwhile thinking about that for a moment
: If your style of "Sichuan Cockroach Kung Fu" features complex flying
kicks the likes of which are not to be found in any art anywhere else, chances are
that this uniqueness is due to their not working very well in combat. As others have
pointed out before, there are only so many ways in which one can move. The more functional
ones have been discovered and rediscovered by many fighters in many cultures. In
terms of grappling, for instance, one needs only to look at the drawings found on
the walls of Egyptian tombs which pre-date Christianity by one or two thousand years
or at Antique Greek vases, which show grappling techniques many of which are similar
to Shuai Jiao or modern Greco- Roman wrestling and were probably used by Turkish
wrestlers, Indian wrestlers etc. ..Differences lie not so much in the techniques
themselves but more in the rules of engagement ,which may have differed significantly
from culture to culture. Depending on the rules, certain techniques may be done in
very different ways. A clear example of this would be the differences in the punching
techniques of boxing when comparing bare knuckle boxing to punching with boxing gloves.
The video starts with a brief overview of entering skills, briefly outlines
Mr. Furey's personal interpretation of Bruce Lee's "Five Ways of Attack"
and then moves into the actual throwing techniques. It is here that the reviewer
feels that Mr. Furey really stands out. If you want to learn the ground game, go
to the Brazilians. If you want to learn to really be combat competent with the stick,
learn from the Dog Brothers. If you want to learn how to lift up your opponent and
drop him viciously onto his head (or back or shoulders or whatever), Matt Furey is
your man. That, as far as this reviewer is concerned, sums it up. There are more
than thirty throws or variations of throws shown on this video, which is what certain
other video companies might stretch into three or even four videos. In this case,
one throw follows the other, there are a few repetitions of each throw, just enough
to get the broad picture, the finer details can be worked out on the mat. There are
throws following on from a single leg or double leg entry, fireman's carry, hip throws,
throwing defences against full nelson and bear hugs, throws from Chi-na type locks
and a lot more.
A few precautions should be noted. Firstly, as Mr. Furey
also says on this video, you would want to practice these throws on a gymnastics
crash-mat or something similar. Doing these throws on a standard thickness grappling
mat would mean you are either very experienced, very tough or very stupid and about
to need a doctor. A fair degree of physical conditioning would also be recommended.
The
video is clearly self produced and this shows. Mr. Furey himself comments on this
by saying that he doesn't give a damn, the quality of the techniques is what matters
to him and what should matter to you. O.K. , fair enough, The only thing off course
being that if production costs are fairly low, maybe one could pass on the savings
to one's customers. To which Mr. Furey would probably reply by saying that it took
him decades of hard work to acquire this knowledge and why should he sell it cheaply,
since this is how he makes his living. He would off course phrase it less diplomatically!
Someone once said that he would try to learn from the devil himself (Herself?) ,
if s/he had a technique worth learning. To summarise , whether you like Matt Furey
or whether you would like to put out a contract on him with your buddy Gino, this
tape, in the reviewers opinion , has a lot to offer to someone who wants to learn
more about combat effective throwing techniques.
E.P.
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