Year of the ‘Dog’
Tim Leidecker Jan 14, 2008
An old-school legend of European mixed martial arts, Samy Schiavo (Pictures) delighted his fans recently when
he announced that he had signed a four-fight deal with the UFC.
The 32-year-old Frenchman known as "The Dog" has paid his dues. In fact, the story of Schiavo the martial artist goes back 26 years to when he started training karate.
After doing katas for two years he became bored and took taekwondo
lessons with his older brother, James. At the very first training
session, Schiavo challenged a kid who was the French junior
champion in taekwondo and got knocked out. However, the incident
set the his heart on becoming a better fighter.
"The guy has beaten me up, but at the next training session, I will come back and beat him up instead," Schiavo remembered thinking of his modest beginning.
Schiavo won many tournaments in France and also competed at the international level, bringing home numerous medals. At 20, he started kickboxing as well. His first trainer was Jerome Turcan, a multi-time French champion and eventual world champion who later became one of the main instructors at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif.
Schiavo also added a French kickboxing championship to his many accolades in taekwondo after only one year of training.
He stopped competing in taekwondo when he was 26, though, because he felt that the sport had become more about politics than performance. At the same time he met Michel Ramon, a seventh degree judo black belt, who asked him a crucial question: "What if somebody takes you down? Your taekwondo and kickboxing is very good, but how do you behave in a ground fight?"
At first Schiavo shrugged off the judoka's objections.
"It is very hard to catch me," Schiavo said. "I have good hands and very good kicks. I also used to fight in the streets -- that's enough for me."
His opinion changed, though. "But only after a short sparring session with the judo master I understood that I should also learn how to wrestle and how to grapple," Schiavo recalled with a smile.
That is how Samy and brother James started to learn grappling. Once a week they studied the art of throwing and submissions. Unfortunately, 18 months later Ramon stopped teaching and Turcan moved to the United States, leaving the brothers without a teacher.
Trying to make the best out of their situation, they decided to train on their own under a small carport in front of their mother's house.
"We were alone now, with no gym and no sparring, so we bought a carpet and put it on the floor of the carport of my mother's house," said Schiavo, who remembered those days vividly. "There we trained for two years, during the summer and during the winter, two hours every day."
Their problem was that, without an instructor, how do you improve your game?
"We didn't know exactly how to train," Schiavo said. "So we watched videos of old UFC and Brazilian vale tudo fights. I remember that I bought the complete Marco Ruas (Pictures) instructional series and learned a lot from that."
After training independently for two hard years, the brothers entered amateur MMA in France. As the older of the two, James made the first step and fought in the stacked Golden Trophy eight-man welterweight tournament. In his first MMA fight, he had to go up against none other than reigning Shooto world champion Hayato Sakurai (Pictures).
Even though "Mach" submitted his brother in a mere 26 seconds, the experience was additional fuel to Samy's fire.
"Back then, we didn't even know who Sakurai was," Schiavo said. "But James, at age 29 and with no teacher, no gym and no one to help us had just fought the best fighter in the world. That gave me the feeling that we can really do it."
That was the moment Samy and James decided to open a gym, Bushido Academie. They bought a small place to train and started teaching local fighters to get some sparring. A year later Samy won the Golden Trophy against Shinya Tsuchida, a world champion in daido juku at the time.
At the turn of the millennium, MMA started to kick off in the United Kingdom as well, and Schiavo was invited to take part in the first Cage Wars show in Portsmouth, England.
"I remember that the promoter called us on the phone and told us that because this was the first MMA show in England and he didn't know whether there would be any spectators, we couldn't be paid for our fights," Schiavo said. "I just replied, ‘It's not about the money; it's about fighting. Give me a chance, and I'll show you what I can do.'"
Schiavo has kept this remarkable attitude to this day.
"Nowadays, you hear about money and contract issues in MMA all the time," he said. "If it was for making money, I certainly wouldn't have entered the sport, but went into politics or the economy instead. I'm an old-school fighter and I like that. Even today, give me the chance to fight a top-10 opponent and I'll fight him for free … just for the pleasure and the opportunity to beat him."
Since his successful U.K. debut, Schiavo has continued to compete in England. His most remarkable fight, though, came right after his debut.
At the second Cage Warriors show he took on Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and eventual Cage Rage lightweight champion Jean Silva (Pictures). Both men battled for almost three rounds in a fight that was years ahead of its time in terms of skills displayed both standing up and especially on the ground. Even though Schiavo lost, the fight made him famous in England.
For three years Schiavo fought exclusively in the U.K., and then he received an offer to take part in a country-versus-country battle between Japan and France at GCM's D.O.G. 3 show. All six French fighters lost. However, despite Schiavo's defeat to PRIDE veteran Eiji Mitsuoka (Pictures), GCM President Kubo invited him to train at Wajyutsu Keisyukai, a network of mixed martial arts gyms in Japan.
In sparring sessions with fighters like Caol Uno (Pictures), Yushin Okami (Pictures) and Keita Nakamura (Pictures), Schiavo surprised everyone with his high skill level. On the day he left, GCM called and asked him to return to the land of the rising sun soon. As a result, the Bushido Academie in Avignon and Wajyutsu Keisyukai in Tokyo became sister gyms.
Schiavo is full of praise for the Japanese grappling school.
"The training there is excellent," he said. "In my opinion it is the best gym in Japan. I especially love their spirit: hard training, true budo. Training there brings me a lot. After rolling with guys like Hiroyuki Takaya (Pictures), Katsuya Inoue (Pictures) and Yuji Hoshino (Pictures), now I know that I can do it."
As of right now, Schiavo is riding a six-fight win streak in which he finished each bout inside the first round. With three quick knockouts, he has underscored his abilities as a standup fighter in addition to his excellent grappling pedigree.
Even though he doesn't have an opponent yet for his UFC debut, Schiavo expects that the first of his four fights will take place at UFC 83 in Manchester, England.
"Finally making it to the UFC feels like a consecration to me," Schiavo explained joyfully. "Now I will be able to test myself against the best combatants of this planet. I have already started preparing for battle and I'll be giving everything I have to make 2008 the year of the dog."
The 32-year-old Frenchman known as "The Dog" has paid his dues. In fact, the story of Schiavo the martial artist goes back 26 years to when he started training karate.
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"The guy has beaten me up, but at the next training session, I will come back and beat him up instead," Schiavo remembered thinking of his modest beginning.
After training for only a couple of months, he became one of the
best in the gym and would later become one of the youngest third
degree black belts in taekwondo at only 23 years of age.
Schiavo won many tournaments in France and also competed at the international level, bringing home numerous medals. At 20, he started kickboxing as well. His first trainer was Jerome Turcan, a multi-time French champion and eventual world champion who later became one of the main instructors at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif.
Schiavo also added a French kickboxing championship to his many accolades in taekwondo after only one year of training.
He stopped competing in taekwondo when he was 26, though, because he felt that the sport had become more about politics than performance. At the same time he met Michel Ramon, a seventh degree judo black belt, who asked him a crucial question: "What if somebody takes you down? Your taekwondo and kickboxing is very good, but how do you behave in a ground fight?"
At first Schiavo shrugged off the judoka's objections.
"It is very hard to catch me," Schiavo said. "I have good hands and very good kicks. I also used to fight in the streets -- that's enough for me."
His opinion changed, though. "But only after a short sparring session with the judo master I understood that I should also learn how to wrestle and how to grapple," Schiavo recalled with a smile.
That is how Samy and brother James started to learn grappling. Once a week they studied the art of throwing and submissions. Unfortunately, 18 months later Ramon stopped teaching and Turcan moved to the United States, leaving the brothers without a teacher.
Trying to make the best out of their situation, they decided to train on their own under a small carport in front of their mother's house.
"We were alone now, with no gym and no sparring, so we bought a carpet and put it on the floor of the carport of my mother's house," said Schiavo, who remembered those days vividly. "There we trained for two years, during the summer and during the winter, two hours every day."
Their problem was that, without an instructor, how do you improve your game?
"We didn't know exactly how to train," Schiavo said. "So we watched videos of old UFC and Brazilian vale tudo fights. I remember that I bought the complete Marco Ruas (Pictures) instructional series and learned a lot from that."
After training independently for two hard years, the brothers entered amateur MMA in France. As the older of the two, James made the first step and fought in the stacked Golden Trophy eight-man welterweight tournament. In his first MMA fight, he had to go up against none other than reigning Shooto world champion Hayato Sakurai (Pictures).
Even though "Mach" submitted his brother in a mere 26 seconds, the experience was additional fuel to Samy's fire.
"Back then, we didn't even know who Sakurai was," Schiavo said. "But James, at age 29 and with no teacher, no gym and no one to help us had just fought the best fighter in the world. That gave me the feeling that we can really do it."
That was the moment Samy and James decided to open a gym, Bushido Academie. They bought a small place to train and started teaching local fighters to get some sparring. A year later Samy won the Golden Trophy against Shinya Tsuchida, a world champion in daido juku at the time.
At the turn of the millennium, MMA started to kick off in the United Kingdom as well, and Schiavo was invited to take part in the first Cage Wars show in Portsmouth, England.
"I remember that the promoter called us on the phone and told us that because this was the first MMA show in England and he didn't know whether there would be any spectators, we couldn't be paid for our fights," Schiavo said. "I just replied, ‘It's not about the money; it's about fighting. Give me a chance, and I'll show you what I can do.'"
Schiavo has kept this remarkable attitude to this day.
"Nowadays, you hear about money and contract issues in MMA all the time," he said. "If it was for making money, I certainly wouldn't have entered the sport, but went into politics or the economy instead. I'm an old-school fighter and I like that. Even today, give me the chance to fight a top-10 opponent and I'll fight him for free … just for the pleasure and the opportunity to beat him."
Since his successful U.K. debut, Schiavo has continued to compete in England. His most remarkable fight, though, came right after his debut.
At the second Cage Warriors show he took on Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and eventual Cage Rage lightweight champion Jean Silva (Pictures). Both men battled for almost three rounds in a fight that was years ahead of its time in terms of skills displayed both standing up and especially on the ground. Even though Schiavo lost, the fight made him famous in England.
For three years Schiavo fought exclusively in the U.K., and then he received an offer to take part in a country-versus-country battle between Japan and France at GCM's D.O.G. 3 show. All six French fighters lost. However, despite Schiavo's defeat to PRIDE veteran Eiji Mitsuoka (Pictures), GCM President Kubo invited him to train at Wajyutsu Keisyukai, a network of mixed martial arts gyms in Japan.
In sparring sessions with fighters like Caol Uno (Pictures), Yushin Okami (Pictures) and Keita Nakamura (Pictures), Schiavo surprised everyone with his high skill level. On the day he left, GCM called and asked him to return to the land of the rising sun soon. As a result, the Bushido Academie in Avignon and Wajyutsu Keisyukai in Tokyo became sister gyms.
Schiavo is full of praise for the Japanese grappling school.
"The training there is excellent," he said. "In my opinion it is the best gym in Japan. I especially love their spirit: hard training, true budo. Training there brings me a lot. After rolling with guys like Hiroyuki Takaya (Pictures), Katsuya Inoue (Pictures) and Yuji Hoshino (Pictures), now I know that I can do it."
As of right now, Schiavo is riding a six-fight win streak in which he finished each bout inside the first round. With three quick knockouts, he has underscored his abilities as a standup fighter in addition to his excellent grappling pedigree.
Even though he doesn't have an opponent yet for his UFC debut, Schiavo expects that the first of his four fights will take place at UFC 83 in Manchester, England.
"Finally making it to the UFC feels like a consecration to me," Schiavo explained joyfully. "Now I will be able to test myself against the best combatants of this planet. I have already started preparing for battle and I'll be giving everything I have to make 2008 the year of the dog."
